Sam Hotchkiss
Bio
Samuel “Sam” Hotchkiss joined the firm in December 2023 and brings a wealth of criminal practice experience from both rural and urban jurisdictions to the team.
A native and current resident of Chesterfield, Missouri, Sam graduated high school from nearby Westminster Christian Academy.
He attended college at Azusa Pacific University in Los Angeles County, California. While in college, Sam gained his first experience in the legal field by interning at a nonprofit law firm in Los Angeles’ Skid Row, where he was inspired by the creative problem-solving skills of attorneys representing indigent clients in housing rights and government benefits cases.
After college, Sam returned to Missouri and graduated law school from the University of Missouri—Kansas City. In law school, Sam proudly served as a Teaching Assistant in the Legal Writing Program and as a staff member of the UMKC Law Review.
After obtaining his Missouri Bar license, Sam served as a law clerk for a Jackson County circuit judge in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, where he assisted jurors in criminal and civil trials.
After a brief stint writing briefs and performing legal research for several criminal defense lawyers in the Kansas City area, Sam returned to Eastern Missouri and proudly served over four years as a trial attorney with the Missouri State Public Defender’s Office in Farmington and St. Charles.
Sam broadened his experience by serving as a prosecutor in the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Warrant Office. In this role, Sam worked closely with St. Louis police officers reviewing search warrants and filing criminal charges.
Sam began private practice in March 2023 in Warrenton, Missouri, and joined Coyne, Cundiff, & Hillemann in December 2023.
Education:
- High School: Westminster Christian Academy (St. Louis, MO)
- Undergraduate: BA in Sociology, summa cum laude, Azusa Pacific University (Azusa, CA)
- Law School: JD, cum laude, UMKC School of Law (Kansas City, MO)
Member:
- Missouri Bar Association (September 2013)
- Missouri Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Member