Sam recently entered his 30th consecutive year of being able to dunk a basketball. He also happens to be a Board Certified family lawyer with 20 years’ experience. Sam’s practice focuses on divorces for professionals and business owners and their spouses. Sam’s style tends to be deliberate and understated. He is a listener first, and chooses his words intentionally.
Sam is an experienced litigator and mediator, with a deep understanding how divorce presents an intersection of psychological dynamics, logistical problems, and math—and how these themes are likely to play out over the course of negotiation and trial.
Sam’s colleagues and opponents will tell you that he is focused on problem-solving. He is honest and diplomatic in negotiations, but when negotiation fails, Sam is a talented advocate, a worthy adversary in the courtroom. Sam’s wife would describe it as, “he thinks he’s right about everything.”
Sam acquired his Southeast Texas accent growing up in Port Arthur, and took it with him to college at Trinity University in San Antonio. Sam moved to Austin in 2002 and went to law school at the University of Texas. Despite the urban environment and erudite pursuits, the accent persists…
In his young life, Sam was a cagey basketball player, a decent trumpet player, and an Eagle Scout. At Trinity, he joined the country-western dance troupe and sang bass/baritone in the college choir (while getting a Political Science degree). Law school tested Sam’s tolerance for sitting still and reading, and saw Sam desperately clinging to past glory though intramural sports. Sam also explored the outer limits of choir nerd-dom by singing in (and eventually arranging for and conducting) the law school a cappella group.
Contemporary Sam is, firstly, a devoted husband. His wife, Lauren Colletti is a functional medicine nurse practitioner: laurenjcolletti.com. Interestingly, their conversations about work tend to quickly reveal how similar their jobs are. Both Sam and Lauren go deep with their clients/patients, starting with genuine curiosity and active listening. This is borne out of respect for the fact that the problems their respective clients need help with are typically the most important (and stressful) thing happening in their lives. Another similarity is their holistic approach: Lauren and Sam are both interested in finding and addressing the root cause of the problem presented. In Sam’s practice, that means assessing current stressors and relational/trauma history to gain insight on how things have come to this point, and how to minimize conflict from here on.
Sam is also a highly regarded family law mediator. (Though his children usually seem resistant to his attempts to mediate sibling disputes.) Sam takes a great deal of pride in his mediation practice and tends to consider it his highest and best use as a lawyer. Since the pandemic, Sam’s mediation practice has flourished, and he continues to refine and adapt his methods to best assist clients and lawyers. If the mediation calendar continues at this pace, soon Sam will have learned the dark secrets of all the opposing counsels and he will be poised to rule the family law world…
Sam and Lauren live in East Oak Hill with their three children, Hazel, Harrison, and Holland, and the various reptiles and insects Harrison catches in the yard and keeps as “pets.” When not in the office, Sam is a terribly underpaid Uber driver for his kids to baseball, volleyball, soccer, track, basketball, band, school play rehearsal, martial arts, sleepovers, Target, birthday parties, and so on. In his spare time, Sam likes to drink coffee on the front porch, mow the lawn, play beach volleyball, and grill steaks. All in the same day and in that order, if possible.
Click Here to Learn More About Sam’s Expanded Mediation Services.
Click Here to Learn More About Sam’s Litigated Divorce Services.
Recent representative cases:
- Texas Supreme Court victory on validity of Mediated Settlement Agreements – Highsmith v. Highsmith, No. 18-0262, 2019 WL 5482657 (Tex. Oct. 25, 2019)
- Mediator for the successful settlement of a divorce involving a well-known Austin business with several local storefronts
- Jury trial of a divorce with characterization and valuation issues pertaining to real estate in India.
- Settlement of a divorce with a $7MM+ estate including real estate in Texas, D.C., and Morocco.
- Jury trial successfully representing a father in preventing mother from moving away from Austin with the 2 year-old and 1 year-old children.
- Appeal regarding validity of a Mediated Settlement Agreement.
- Successful settlement of a child custody case for a father with severe but well-managed bipolar disorder.
- Settlement of a divorce with a $6MM+ estate with complex separate property, reimbursement, and valuation issues.
Honors & Affiliations
- Selected in 2018 as one of the Top 100 Up-and-Coming Lawyers in Texas, across all practice areas (by Super Lawyers, a Thomson Reuters business)
- Selected to the 2019 Super Lawyers list for Central Texas family law attorneys (by Super Lawyers, a Thomson Reuters business)
- Selected to the Texas Rising Stars list for Central Texas family law attorneys in 2010, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018 (by Super Lawyers, a Thomson Reuters business)
