Sam Graham is an attorney-mediator-arbitrator in Austin, Texas with over 30 years of legal experience. He has conducted over 2000 mediations, many involving complex disputes of three or more parties. Sam completed the required 40-hour mediation course for professional mediators and has received mediation training in public policy disputes and family law. He regularly facilitates strategic organizational planning sessions and speaks frequently on mediation topics.

He served as sole arbitrator of a dispute in which clients sought $500 million. This case involved 93 days of evidentiary hearings in addition to numerous pre and post trial motions and decisions.

Sam received a Fulbright Scholar Award for 2012, 2013 and 2014, teaching Dispute Resolution and Basic American Law at the National University of Ukraine, Odessa "Academy of Law" in the spring of 2013. His Fulbright award was extended by the State Department, and he was to have taught at the Academy again in the spring of 2014. He did not teach, however, because of the Russian incursion into the Crimea, in March, 2014.

He has mediated in a broad range of areas, including:

  • Probate (of virtually every type)
  • Construction (commercial and residential)
  • Products liability and personal injury
  • Real estate (title, boundary encroachment, and nuisance)
  • Malpractice (legal, medical, engineering and architectural)
  • Family (divorce and modifications)
  • Employment (discrimination, whistleblower, and wrongful termination)

Mediations are limited to Probate and Trust Code Disputes.

Other Legal Experience

Before becoming a mediator, Sam was a Special Assistant Attorney General of Texas and well regarded civil trial lawyer. He was a frequent speaker at continuing legal education programs, primarily on real estate litigation topics. He practiced in the areas of probate, eminent domain and medical malpractice. Sam's last successful two-week jury trial in Travis County involved a will contest.   He also served without compensation as the successful guardian-appellant in Graham vs. Third Court of Appeals, in which the Texas Supreme Court determined that probate court jurisdiction extends to divorces connected to pending probate matters. Not Certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.