Samantha “Sam” Morrow was born in Abilene, Taylor County, in Texas. She attended Blackwell CISD in Texas for K-12 and went on to attend the University of Texas at Austin where she would receive her Bachelor of Science in Communication Studies with concentrations in Sociology and Russian. From there, she attended law school at the University of South Carolina School of Law, receiving a Juris Doctor with Children’s Law Certificate. She would then work as an attorney in South Carolina, before moving back to her native Texas.
She has practiced in both the realms of Child and Social Services in both states and has served as both an Assistant District Attorney as well as a County Attorney in Texas. Samantha considers the raid of an FLDS cult compound in Texas in 2008, when she was a senior in high school, to have been the direct catalyst for her wanting to pursue a career in law, specifically wanting to become a lawyer who could represent children, as many children from the cult raid were left without legal representation in the wake of it, and the local area seemingly did not have enough lawyers to help.
Samantha has had two major mentors in her life: her mother, and her legal mentor, Patti Brady Ferguson. She describes these two women as both having profound impacts on her life, though in somewhat different ways; her mother taught her compassion for others and to always speak her mind, and Patti taught her all of the ins and outs of conducting yourself as a female lawyer when faced with discrimination and challenges in your career, as well as supporting her in her growth as a lawyer by educating her on interactions with judges, witnesses, and the like. Patti has remained a part of her life even though they no longer work together, and Samantha considers Patti to be like a sort of second mother to her, especially since the passing of her own mother. Samantha has since continued to be a trailblazer in the legal world, even seeking to run for district attorney in her county.
