Buchanan Shareholder Leonard L. Silverstein to Receive French Legion of Honor

Washington, D.C. – March 24, 2015 – Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney Shareholder Leonard L. Silverstein will be recognized on Thursday, March 26, 2015 with the French National Order of the Legion of Honor, the highest decoration given by the French government. The Legion of Honor was created in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte to reward exceptional accomplishments and great services rendered to France. It is awarded based on a decision by the Legion of Honor committee in Paris, through the French Embassy in Washington and the French Foreign Affairs ministry.

The award is divided into five degrees of increasing distinction: Chevalier (Knight), Officier (Officer), Commandeur (Commander), Grand Officier (Grand Officer) and Grand Croix (Grand Cross). His third time being ranked by the Order, Mr. Silverstein will be presented with the Commandeur ranking for his involvement in the French-American Cultural Foundation, a non-profit foundation devoted to fostering enhanced bilateral cultural relations where he served as co-founder and inaugural President. Over 15 years, Mr. Silverstein has helped the foundation to become the leading force promoting French culture in the mid-Atlantic region. Collaborating with major cultural institutions such as the National Gallery of Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the Library of Congress, the foundation brings French programming to the Washington area and beyond.

Mr. Silverstein, a shareholder in Buchanan’s Washington, DC office, concentrates his law practice in estate planning, nonprofit organizations, charitable contributions and representation before the Internal Revenue Service and Treasury Department.

He is a member of the board of directors of the White House Historical Association, the Alliance Française of Washington, the National Symphony Orchestra and a member of the trustees’ council of the National Gallery of Art. He was a member, now honorary, of the board of directors of the Movado Group, Inc., was a director of Chevy Chase Bank and has served as a director of the Choral Arts Society of Washington. He is also treasurer of the Madison Council of the Library of Congress and member (formerly chairman) of the Rostropovich-Vishnevskaya Foundation. Mr. Silverstein served for 10 years as vice chairman of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and is currently an active honorary member of the board.

He served as an officer in the United States Navy during World War II in the South Pacific.

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