Teri Silvers joined Columbia Law School as a lecturer in law in 2002, teaching the Arts Law Externship. She was previously the assistant director of studies for the Law School's Kernochan Center for Law, Media and the Arts, where she also assisted in running various programs of the center, including the arts law summer internships, from 2000 to 2002. From 1998 to 1999, Silvers served as the director of Legal Services at Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, where she supervised the Law School’s clinic students directly in their client work.
After graduating from Harvard Law School in 1991, Silvers practiced arts and intellectual property law in New York at both private firms and public interest organizations, after which time she joined Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts and spent a year in San Francisco teaching copyright law to graphic arts students.
She is a mentor for those seeking an arts-related legal position and for those seeking to combine interests in law and creative pursuits.