July 6, 2025
Sampson Jr. co-founded Georgia’s oldest Black-owned law firm Thomas Kennedy Sampson & Tompkins.
Thomas G. Sampson Jr., the co-founder of Georgia’s oldest Black-owned law firm Thomas Kennedy Sampson & Tompkins, died on July 3, according to a press release from the City of Atlanta, which was released on the day he died.
Per the press release, Sampson was regarded as “a legal giant, civic trailblazer, and proud son of our city. Mr. Sampson did not just build a law firm – he built a legacy. He showed us what it looks like to lead with purpose, serve with integrity, and make history while empowering others to do the same.”
Sampson, a 1968 Morehouse College graduate who earned his law degree from the University of North Carolina in 1971, was highly regarded in the legal community. He was featured in every edition of The Best Lawyers in America since 1993 and made history as the first Black attorney inducted into the Georgia Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates.
According to a biography of Sampson on his law firm’s website, Atlanta Magazine’s Best Lawyers in America list had consistently named him to its list of the “Best Lawyers in Atlanta” and he was named a Georgia “Super Lawyer” in each year of that list’s existence, which only 5% of the state’s lawyers are even named to. In 2006, Morehouse College gave Sampson the Bennie Trailblazer Award, the highest recognition an alumni of the university can receive.
Following in the footsteps of his father, the late Daniel George Sampson, he practiced law for over 50 years and built a national trial practice and a reputation in the fields of personal injury, wrongful death, and medical malpractice litigation.
As The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported, Atlanta’s mayor, Andre Dickens called Sampson a “tireless mentor” for generations of Black lawyers in Atlanta in his own statement.
“For over five decades, Mr. Sampson stood as a pillar of excellence in the legal profession, a fierce advocate for justice and a tireless mentor to generations of Black attorneys,” Dickens said.
He continued, “His leadership extended beyond the courtroom—uplifting our communities, advancing civil rights, and opening doors that had long been closed to people of color.”
Dickens concluded his statement, expressing his sympathy for the Sampson family.
“On behalf of the city of Atlanta, I extend my deepest condolences to the entire Sampson family, especially his college sweetheart and beloved wife of 57 years Jacquelyn, his devoted children Woody and Alia, six grandchildren, niece State Representative Inga Willis, the entire TKST family and all those whose lives he touched. May we honor his memory by continuing the fight for justice, equity, and opportunity for all. Thomas Sampson moved Atlanta forward—and we are forever grateful,” Mayor Dickens said.
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