Samantha Josephine Jarvis

Samantha Jarvis focuses her practice on complex commercial litigation, investigations, and white collar criminal defense.  Prior to joining Smyser Kaplan & Veselka, L.L.P., Ms. Jarvis clerked for the Honorable Gregg Costa on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in 2014-2015. 

Ms. Jarvis received her B.A. in English, summa cum laude from The University of Texas-Pan American.  She received her J.D. from The University of Texas School of Law, with honors and as a member of the Order of the Coif.  During law school, Ms. Jarvis served as the Executive Editor of the American Journal of Criminal Law, as well as a research assistant to two criminal law professors and as a teaching assistant for a first year criminal law class.  Ms. Jarvis also represented clients charged with state misdemeanor offenses as a student attorney with the school’s Criminal Defense Clinic.  Ms. Jarvis twice received the Dean’s Achievement Award, given each semester to the outstanding student in each course, chosen from among those with the highest grades, for Criminal Law and for Criminal Procedure: Prosecution.  In her third year of law school, Ms. Jarvis was selected as one of four students for a prestigious year-long internship at the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas in Austin.

Prior to law school, Ms. Jarvis worked as a colonias outreach coordinator for the largest legal aid provider in Texas, administering consumer and legal education programs in English and Spanish throughout the Rio Grande Valley.