The third annual AL DÍA 40 Under Forty event serves to highlight and showcase some of the most diverse and impactful young professionals across the Philadelphia region. 

At this year's event, taking place Friday, Aug. 26, Diana Silva will be one of the 40 honorees. 

Biography

Diana Silva is a partner with Manko, Gold, Katcher & Fox, LLP, where she concentrates her practice in environmental litigation, including statutory contribution and cost recovery actions, toxic tort claims, contractual disputes and administrative enforcement actions. She also counsels clients on environmental regulatory compliance matters, as well as permitting related to land development issues.

Prior to entering law, Silva was a municipal planner and grant coordinator for the Borough of Norristown's Planning & Municipal Development Department in Montgomery County.

Among Silva’s professional career highlights include representation of one of the largest international pipelines entities; defense of subsidiaries of Tenneco, Inc.; defense and resolution of claims asserted under the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (“CERCLA”), the Clean Water Act, the New Jersey Spill Compensation and Control Act, the New Jersey Solid Waste Management Act, the New Jersey Environmental Rights Acts, the Pennsylvania Clean Streams Law, and the Pennsylvania Hazardous Sites Cleanup Act; and many others.

Silva is a magna cum laude graduate of Drexel University Thomas R. Kline School of Law, where she served as a teaching assistant for Civil Procedure and the Academic Skills program and was also a member of the Drexel Law Review, where she published an article regarding land banking and urban redevelopment issues. She is also a founding member of the Drexel University Thomas R. Kline School of Law Inn of Court and serves as the Inn's Treasurer. She's also a summa cum laude graduate of St. Joseph's University, where she also serves as the Vice President of its Law Alumni Chapter. 

As part of the lead-up to the AL DÍA 40 Under Forty event, AL DÍA asked each of the honorees a set of identical questions and collected their responses. 

Here are Diana Silva's responses: 

What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced in your professional career? 

Learning how to effectively juggle all the balls you have in the air at one time – and trying your best not to let any of them drop (or picking them up really quickly if they do).

What are steps that can be taken to improve diversity, equity and inclusion in your industry? Why is it important to do so?

Continuing to foster self-awareness among the legal profession of how DEI issues can impact lawyers, judges, and clients, both in small and big ways. There has always been a lot of focus in the legal profession on improving metrics, for example how many diverse members there are in a firm or in-house legal department.  But DEI issues are so much broader than pure number counting, and improving DEI issues starts with a more holistic and broader range of thinking on what the issues are and how to improve them.

What does being a leader mean to you? 

Being a leader means recognizing opportunities to help people progress to and achieve the next step – whether that is on a project, client representation, or personal goal – a leader fosters the confidence in others so that they can be ready to take that leap forward.  

Where do you see yourself in five years?

Continuing to practice environmental law at Manko, Gold, Katcher & Fox, raising my (by then) 11-year old son, and enjoying all of  life’s twists and turns.  

The 2022 AL DÍA 40 Under Forty event will take place Friday, Aug. 26 at The Vie at Cescaphe. To learn more or purchase your ticket, click here.