He has tried cases varying from medical malpractice to business torts, nursing home abuse to will contests, and car wrecks to inadequate security cases. A graduate of Wake Forest University, Yale Law School, and Gerry Spence’s Trial Lawyers College, Sam began his legal career as a law clerk to the Honorable Morris S. Arnold on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eight Circuit in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Following his clerkship, Sam returned to his home state of North Carolina and has been helping people here for 25 years. Sam’s cases primarily come from other lawyers, and cover the entire state of North Carolina and beyond. He has obtained recoveries of at least seven figures in North Carolina, Tennessee, Louisiana, Georgia and New Jersey.
Sam is active in several trial lawyers’ organizations, including the North Carolina Advocates for Justice (NCAJ), the American Association for Justice (AAJ) and the Southern Trial Lawyers Association (STLA). He has been published in the official magazines of all three of these associations, has spoken at seminars and conferences for all three, and has served in leadership roles for each as well, including the Board of Directors of both NCAJ and STLA.
Sam also serves as Legal Affairs Counsel to NCAJ, which places him in charge of amicus curiae briefs and moot courts for some of the most significant appellate cases in North Carolina.
Personally, Sam has been married to Marci McGee for twenty-five years. Sam and Marci are the parents of Hannah Cole and Brooks, both of whom speak Mandarin and love to travel. Theirs is a household of four people who completely adore one another and spend most of their limited time supporting each other’s pursuits. Despite Sam being busy practicing law, writing and attending his children’s events, his family allows him to fish as much as possible.
Sam’s first book, Sidelines and Bloodlines, is a college football memoir written with his referee father and sportswriter brother. His debut novel, Cartledge Creek, was released in May of 2021 by Fireship Press. It is a historical fiction novel inspired by his family’s true Civil War story.