SAM GRIFFITH

After graduating Stephen F. Austin State University and St. Mary’s School of Law where he received the American Jurisprudence Award and served on the St. Mary’s Law Journal editorial board, Judge Griffith practiced law in Dallas and Tyler in both state and federal courts. While a partner at the Tyler law firm of Holcomb, Morrison & Griffith, Judge Griffith became the first judge of Smith County’s County Court at Law Number Three. He then served for a decade and a half as the senior justice at the 12th Court of Appeals, where he authored hundreds of opinions. Since his retirement he has served as an assigned visiting judge in district and county courts at law across East Texas.

Judge Griffith is board certified in both Criminal Law and Criminal Appellate Law. His teaching experience consists of teaching United States Constitutional Law at Yunnan University School of Law in Kunming, Peoples Republic of China, and at Koyo University, Koyo, Iraq. He has authored “Debt Liability of Marital Property in Texas” published in the Community Property Law Journal and numerous articles on subjects ranging from U.S. Constitutional law to agricultural topics. He has also published a political satire novel and a detective novel. Two other novels are in progress.

In addition to his community service to his church and to numerous Tyler organizations including the YMCA where he served as Board President, Smith County Boys & Girls Club, and the East Texas Food Bank Garden which he co-founded, and which, in five years, produced over 230,000 pounds of vegetables for the East Texas Food Bank, Judge Griffith has to date funded and dedicated 30 hand-dug water wells in Sudan and Uganda.