Samantha Westrum

Sam prioritizes client relationships and open communication in her legal representation. Listening to clients with compassion and honoring clients’ unique backgrounds and identities help Sam build trust in her advocacy. In doing so, she can let clients’ stories be heard in a way that is authentic to them: finding justice in the journey, not just the result.

Prior to joining the firm, Sam was a Stew Dunn Legal Fellow at the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia. As a Fellow, she litigated cases that defended the rights of incarcerated individuals, people with disabilities, LGBTQ+ individuals, and those seeking reproductive care. Her role in these cases included arguing in federal and state court, leading discovery, and negotiating settlements.

Sam graduated from the University of Texas School of Law with Honors. There, she served as a Pro Bono Scholar, organizing special education law clinics in the Austin community for families of students with disabilities to better understand their rights in special education proceedings. She was also an Associate Editor on the Texas Journal on Civil Liberties and Civil Rights, which later published her student note: Juvenile Injustice: Protecting Children of Color with Disabilities from Arrest Inside and Outside of Schools. As a student attorney with the Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid Housing Division, Sam successfully negotiated with a landlord to stop eviction proceedings against her client and won a stay of another client’s eviction. Sam’s internships included opportunities with Disability Rights Texas, the Office of Civil Rights in the Department of Justice, and the ACLU Disability Rights Program, all of which fueled her passion for justice at the intersection of disability rights and criminal legal reform.

Before law school, Sam taught First Grade with Teach for America in Dallas, TX. In everything she does, she hopes to make the world a little bit better for her former students as they grow up and become the changemakers she knows they will be.