Sam Griffith resides in Starrville on the working farm that has been in the family since 1872. He received a Bachelor's degree and a Master's degree from Stephen F. Austin State University. He received his Juris Doctorate from St. Mary's School of Law. He was a briefing attorney for Justice Paul S. Colley of the Twelfth Court of Appeals. He was in private practice in Tyler until his appointment as judge of the newly-created County Court at Law # 3 of Smith County, which was designated the county's juvenile court. He was judge of the County Court at Law # 3 from August 1997 until December 1998. He returned again as partner in the Tyler law firm of Holcomb, Morrison & Griffith from 1999 through 2000. On January 1, 2001, he began his current service on the Twelfth Court of Appeals.
Justice Griffith is a Member of the State Bar of Texas and the Smith County Bar Association. He is board certified in both Criminal Law and Criminal Appellate Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. He is a member of the Texas Bar Association Judicial and Appellate Sections, and was a member of the Texas Bar Association Committee on Law Focused Education from 1998 to 2004. He is also admitted to practice in the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Fifth Circuit, and the U.S. Eastern and Northern Districts of Texas. He has been a speaker at a number of legal seminars on various legal topics, including criminal appeals and evidentiary issues. In 1998, while he was juvenile judge, he delivered his "Now You Are Ten, Making the Right Choices" program over forty times to more than ten thousand Smith County school children.
His community involvement has included being Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Y.M.C.A. of Tyler, Secretary and member of the Board of Directors of the Boys and Girls Club of Smith County, and member of the Board of Directors of Goodwill Industries of East Texas. He has also been actively involved with the East Texas Good Bank's four acre food garden from its inception.
Justice Griffith has taught U.S. Constitutional Law at Yunnan University School of Law in Kunming, the People's Republic of China, and during the first of his three mission trips to Iraq, taught U.S. Constitutional Law at Koya University in Koya, Iraq. He has also written, delivered, or published, articles on topics ranging from law to social psychology, from farming to devotionals, and including "Debt Liability of Marital Property in Texas", published in the The Community Property Journal. Justice Griffith has also led or participated in mission trips in Sudan, Rwanda, Uganda, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, and Guatemala, and has a water well digging ministry in South Sudan which has provided nine water wells.
Updated: 12-Apr-2012
