Sam is an AV Preeminent–rated attorney whose practice focuses on personal injury, wrongful death, criminal defense, and general litigation.
He has represented clients in serious injury matters, including serving as co-counsel in the catastrophic Bluffton University bus crash at the Northside Drive exit off Interstate 75 in Atlanta. He also successfully represented a young disabled student in a claim against her school district after she was injured when left unattended and fell from her wheelchair.
Sam has handled hundreds of criminal cases across North Georgia, including jury trials and asset forfeitures. Notable results include helping obtain dismissal of witness-tampering charges against a private investigator in connection with State v. Tonya Craft (2010), securing dismissal of drug charges and recovery of a wrongfully seized vehicle (2011), and negotiating an armed-robbery case down to a lesser offense resulting in a three-month jail sentence while a co-defendant received a 55-year sentence (2012). In his last three criminal trials, his clients were acquitted.
He is active in the community and bar leadership, currently serving as President of the Dalton Education Foundation. He has also served on the Public Defender’s Supervisory Panel, as President of the Conasauga Bar Association, and in multiple local leadership and board roles, including with the Dalton-Whitfield Daycare Center and the Dalton-Whitfield Hospital Authority, and as a regional coordinator for the Dalton-area High School Mock Trial Competition.
Sam earned his J.D. from Tulane University School of Law (2004), where he tried civil and criminal cases to verdict in state and federal court and was inducted into the Order of Barristers. He received his undergraduate degree from Harding University (summa cum laude, 2001).
Professional Associations
Conasauga Bar Association, Past President
Leadership Dalton-Whitfield Class, Member, 2005 to 2005
Dalton-Whitfield Daycare Center, Board Chairman
Dalton-Whitfield Hospital Authority, Vice-Chairman
Public Defender’s Supervisory Panel
High School Mock Trial Competition held each year in Dalton, Georgia, Local Regional Coordinator
