Samuel Mehaffey | Abilene Divorce & Family Lawyer

Sam was born in 1974 in Temple, Texas at Scott and White Hospital due to complications his mother had with her pregnancy, and lived in Brownwood Texas for the first six years of his life. He moved to Abilene, Texas at the age of six and lived in North Abilene. Sam grew up in a middle-class household. His mother was the director of the Noah Project, an abuse shelter for battered women, and his father was a retired Air Force Chief Master Sergeant working for the State of Texas. During grades 1-5 Sam attended St. John’s Elementary, a private school. At St. John’s Sam was surrounded by children from the wealthiest families in Abilene. At 3:30 the bus from the State Street YMCA in North Abilene picked Sam up from St. John’s and took him to an after school care program with children from the poorest Abilene families. From 6th through 12th grade Sam attended Mann Middle School and Abilene High School. During high school, Sam was a member of the debate team, trained in Tae Kwon Do at Master Lim’s Tae Kwon Do, enjoyed lifting free weights at the State Street YMCA, and worked part-time at H.E.B. Sam earned his black belt in Tae Kwon Do during his junior year in high school from Master Yung Sung Lim, and won District in debate and qualified for State during his senior year in high school. Sam enlisted in the United States Army Reserve as a Private E-1 with a waiver from his mother and went to basic training in the summer between the end of his junior year in high school and the beginning of his senior year. Twenty-four years later Sam is known as Lieutenant Colonel Mehaffey and is a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Sam attended Hardin-Simmons University for four years where he was a member of the debate team, moot court team, and ROTC. Sam continued to work part-time throughout college but managed to qualify for Nationals in a debate. He was one of the top oralists in the State in moot court and earned scholarships for both debate and moot court. Sam earned his second-degree black belt from Master Lim, and Cadet Mehaffey attended Army Airborne School from the recommendation of his ROTC Battalion Commander LTC Samuel Carroll. This recommendation was in part because Cadet Mehaffey had the overall highest grade point average and highest physical fitness score of anyone in the Tri-College ROTC program. Sam’s ROTC Battalion Commander LTC Samuel Carroll would later become an assistant district attorney for Taylor County and Sam found himself opposite of his former commander in the courtroom. Notwithstanding their adversarial relationship in court, Sam and Sam continued their friendship and Sam Carroll became the Honorable Samuel Carroll, presiding judge of County Court at Law #2. Judge Sam Carroll was one of the first people Sam informed when he was promoted to lieutenant colonel in the United States Army Reserve.

Sam’s oldest son, Tyler Mehaffey was born three weeks after he graduated from Hardin-Simmons. After college, Sam set his dreams of becoming a lawyer temporarily aside and worked for two years at Enterprise Rent a Car in Abilene and Plainview, Texas before beginning law school at Texas Tech University School of Law. At Tech Sam competed in Moot Court and worked at the Lubbock County District Attorney’s Office. Sam met his wife Claire Mehaffey in law school and married in January of 2000, three days before Sam was shipped off to his officer basic course in Ft. Huachuca, Arizona. The plan was for Claire to continue at Tech while Sam completed his officer basic course. Instead, without Sam’s approval, she dropped all of her classes, returned her student loans, and moved to Arizona for four months. It was one of the best decisions the couple ever made. Upon return, Sam and Claire took extra hours and graduated from Texas Tech School of Law on time in May of 2001.

Sam dreamed of opening his own practice in Abilene with Claire and living and working in the same building. He envisioned an office in a historical Abilene Home somewhere on the north-side as a home/office where he and his wife would work and live happily ever after. Sam and Claire did move to Abilene but Claire got a job at Wagstaff Law Firm, and Sam began teaching political science at Hardin-Simmons University. Little Sam Mehaffey was born in August of 2001. Sam’s first day of work at Hardin-Simmons University was September 11, 2001. Sam and Claire learned that they passed their bar exam on November 1, 2001.

Sam’s tenure as a professor at Hardin-Simmons ended abruptly with a mobilization to Iraq’s Al Anbar Province in early 2003. Little Joshua Mehaffey was born in January 2003 and was two months old when Sam left. Sam’s assignments included civil affairs team leader in Haditha, advisor to the Al Anbar Supreme Court in Ramadi, a public education team member in Baghdad, and assistant team leader in Fallujah. Sam returned from Iraq in 2004 and opened Mehaffey Law Firm, a solo practice. Mehaffey Law Firm became Mehaffey & Watson by 2005 when Sam was joined by his wife and father-in-law, Tom Watson.

By 2005 Sam realized a bigger, better version of his home/office dream. Mehaffey & Watson was opened at a location that Sam identified in law school would be perfect if it was ever for sale. The firm expanded rapidly and since opening and the three attorneys have helped over 5,000 people from Abilene and the surrounding area through some of the most difficult times in their life. Sam is licensed to practice law in Texas, the Northern District, and the 5th Circuit. He is a member of the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association and his most common practice areas include criminal defense and personal injury.