Thomas (“Tom”) G. Sampson Sr. is the Managing Partner of Thomas Kennedy Sampson & Tompkins LLP and is the product of a family steeped in the law. His roots are in Durham, where his father, the late Daniel George Sampson, was a law professor and Dean at North Carolina Central University. Like his father, Sampson graduated from Morehouse College and sought a career in law. He has since practiced law for more than 50 years, building a national trial practice and reputation in the fields of personal injury, wrongful death, and medical malpractice litigation.
Sampson has represented the City of Atlanta and the State of Georgia in major litigation and has prosecuted catastrophic injury cases resulting in several then record-setting, seven-figure verdicts in state and federal courts. Sampson has several recoveries over $10 million or more; and numerous million-dollar settlements.
Additionally, Sampson has successfully represented Fortune 500 corporations in major litigation.
Throughout his career, Sampson has often been tapped to serve government, the Bar, and the community. He was appointed by Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin to a special panel to evaluate the Atlanta Municipal Court and the City Court of Atlanta. He is also a Special Assistant to the Attorney General for the State of Georgia, having been appointed by Attorney General Thurbert Baker. He was the first African American inducted into the Georgia Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates, and he has been listed in every edition of The Best Lawyers in America since 1993. Sampson has served as a Master in both the Bleckley and Logan Inns of the American Inns of Court. In 2007, Sampson was inducted as a Charter Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America, an honor reserved for less than one-half of one percent of lawyers in America.
Locally, Atlanta Magazine has consistently included Sampson in its list of the “Best Lawyers in Atlanta,” and he has been a Georgia “Super Lawyer” in every year of its existence, an honor reserved for the top 5 percent of the lawyers in the State. In 2006, Morehouse College honored Sampson with its Bennie Trailblazer Award, the highest level of recognition bestowed upon alumni by the College. In 2010, for his civic contributions, accomplishments, and leadership, the Atlanta Hawks honored Sampson as a Trailblazer during a special presentation at a Hawks game in Phillips Arena.
PRACTICE AREAS
EDUCATION & BAR ADMISSION
Morehouse College, B.A., 1968
London School of Economics
University of North Carolina, J.D., 1971
Bar Admission
1971, Georgia
1971, North Carolina
PROFESSIONAL RECOGNITION & AWARDS
Other Associations
Atlanta Judicial Commission; Board of Councilors for the Carter Center; Boards of Directors of the Atlanta Urban League; Board of Directors, Senior Citizens Services of Metropolitan Atlanta; Charter Member & Former Vice Chairman, Neighborhood Justice Center; President, Gate City Bar Association; Barrister, Logan E. Bleckley Inn of the American Inns of Court; Member, Board of Governors, State Bar of Georgia; Special Assistant, Attorney General for the State of Georgia; President, Atlanta Legal Aid Society; Chairman, State Bar of Georgia Client Security Fund; Vice President, State Bar of Georgia Disciplinary Board; Vice President, Atlanta Council of Younger Lawyers; Regional Director, National Bar Association; Adjunct Professor of Law, Georgia State University; Instructor, Atlanta College of Trial Advocacy
