Samuel Adam Leven

Senior Associate Samuel A. Leven, Esq. has been working for The Baldwin Law Firm since December of 2010. A foreign service child, Sam spent his early childhood in Germany, Hungary and Sweden before settling down in Northern Virginia at the age of nine, where he has remained a resident ever since. Sam attended Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology and then moved on to the University of Virginia for both college and law school. While at U.Va., Sam was a trial "counsel" charged with defending fellow students facing expulsion because they were accused of violating the school’s Honor Code.  In law school he participated in clinics which included representation of death row inmates during their post-conviction process and appellate litigation.

After graduating from law school, Sam served as a fellow with the Public Defender’s Office in Loudoun County where he represented indigent defendants facing jailable misdemeanor charges. After his fellowship, he joined The Baldwin Law Firm where he developed his own niche practice within the firm. In addition to handling family law cases (including adoption), Sam also handles landlord/tenant matters, appellate litigation, defamation defense, and debt collection matters (representing both creditors and debtors), and has accepted a number of pro bono appointments in civil matters through Legal Services of Northern Virginia. Thanks to his successful representation of numerous clients, Sam has received Martindale-Hubbell's Client Champion Gold designation (formerly known as its Client Distinction Award) every year since 2013.  Sam is admitted to appear in front of all state-level trial and appellate courts in Virginia and DC, as well as the federal Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court.  He has also written extensively about the law, having had an article on mandatory imputation of income in support cases published in the June, 2017 edition of Virginia Lawyer Magazine (official publication of the Virginia State Bar), and having maintained a legal blog titled The Law is Your Friend.

In the broader legal community, Sam is a member of the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association and the Fairfax Bar Association (FBA). Sam is very active with the FBA, serving on its Circuit Court Committee (including its Domestic Relations Sub-Committee) and Legislative Committee (for which he is currently serving as Chair). Sam has also formerly served on the FBA's Lawyer Referral Service Committee and General District Court Committee.  Sam helped prepare the 2015 version of the Fairfax County Pro Se Divorce Packet, was a contributor to the 2018 version of the Fairfax Circuit Court Practice Manual, and has been a presenter in several of the Domestic Relations Sub-Committee's "brown bag lunch series" legal education presentations.  Sam also serves as a motions conciliator with the FBA’s motions conciliation program - a free mediation program that seeks to resolve certain contested motions on the Fairfax Circuit Court's Friday Motions Day docket.

In June of 2017, Sam was elected by the Virginia State Bar Council to serve a three year term as a member of the Fifth District Committee, Section III.  District Committees serve as a core function of the Virginia State Bar's disciplinary system, as District Committees (and their subcommittees) oversee investigations of complaints of misconduct against attorneys, adjudicate the claims, refer cases to the statewide Disciplinary Board where a sanction of suspension or disbarment might be warranted, and issue lesser sanctions.  In this role, Sam helps to preserve the integrity of the legal profession in Virginia, and protect the public from unethical conduct by attorneys.

At home, Sam is a married father of two children and one dog whose passions include politics, the Washington Nationals, and goofing off with his kids. Sam is a member of the Fairfax County Democratic Committee and is a clarinet player with the Main Street Community Band in the City of Fairfax Band Association.