Samuel Lydell Starks

Sam is a veteran of the United States Army and a graduate of the University of South Carolina, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa.  After graduating from Duke University School of Law in 1992, Sam was appointed as a law clerk to the Honorable Judge Damon Keith of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

Following his clerkship for Judge Keith, Sam accepted a staff attorney position with the legal department at The Washington Post newspaper, where he handled various corporate and litigation matters for The Washington Post.  In 1994, Sam accepted a staff attorney position that involved criminal trials and appeals on behalf of poor people accused of crimes in Washington, D.C.

As a public defender, Sam was invited to attend Gerry Spence's Trial Lawyers College in 1997, which exposed him to civil trial lawyers who were involved in representing people against insurance companies and corporations.  He has been a member of the Trial Lawyers College faculty since 1998 and has taught at numerous seminars throughout the country.

In 1999, Sam relocated from Washington, D.C. to Atlanta, where he began a practice that focused almost exclusively on personal injury cases in the areas of medical malpractice, products liability, nursing home negligence, civil rights, as well as wrongful death claims.  In recent years, Sam's practice has increasingly focused on handling claims against city and county governments, as well as builders and contractors, to protect the property rights of individuals and homeowners who are victims of nuisance and trespass resulting in damage and destruction to their homes and property.  Since being in Atlanta, Sam has tried personal injury and property damages cases in both state and federal court and has argued cases before the court of appeals at the state and federal levels in Georgia.