Michael Sams, Litigation Practice Area Co-Leader, is a respected litigator, advocate and business advisor, serving companies throughout New England. He successfully tries, appeals, mediates and arbitrates disputes before the Massachusetts Superior and District Courts, the Supreme Judicial Court, the Massachusetts Appeals Court, the U.S. First Circuit, private ADR services, and a range of state and federal agencies.
Mike is well known as a trial lawyer and risk manager for businesses and particularly in the construction industry, where he represents subcontractors, owners, general contractors, architects, engineers, suppliers and manufacturers. His counsel spans both public and private construction projects and his success is attributed in part to his decades in the industry and his 360-degree perspective gained through work with businesses on all sides of projects. Mike’s work includes contract drafting and negotiation, handling payment claims, change order and delay disputes, construction defect disputes, mechanic’s lien and bond claims, insurance coverage work, and extends to bid protests and DCAMM and MADOT certification work for public construction/works contractors.
In addition to construction-related work, Mike is a trial lawyer. He handles general business litigation across a range of industries and companies. This includes shareholder disputes, business to business conflicts, landlord-tenant disputes, employer/employee issues such as wage and discrimination claims, insurance coverage disputes, and personal injury cases. Although Mike always is prepared to provide aggressive, effective defense or prosecution at trial or arbitration, he works with clients to manage risk and minimize the frequency of litigation. In all instances where litigation is necessary, Mike employs deep experience as a trusted advisor to developing litigation and trial strategy in the context of accomplishing business objectives.
Mike is a sought-after speaker for legal and industry organization gatherings, where he presents best practices for risk management, dispute strategy, and winning at trial.
BESIDES WORK
Mike grew up playing sports and enjoys the competition that continues in his career as a trial lawyer. He still enjoys sports but most of all, he enjoys spending time with his wife and three daughters.
Affiliations
- Board of Directors, Steel Fabricators of New England (2021-present)
- Builders and Remodelers Association of Greater Boston
- Board of Directors (2021-present)
- General Counsel (2025-present)
- Board of Directors, Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education (2013-present)
- Board of Directors, Associated Builders and Contractors of Massachusetts (2025-present)
- Board Member, ABC Rhode Island Construction Training Academy (2024-present)
- Board of Directors, Massachusetts Building Congress (2020-present)
- General Counsel, Builders and Remodelers Association of Greater Boston (2025-present)
- Programs Committee, Associated Subcontractors of Massachusetts (2020-present)
- Construction Law Steering Committee, Defense Research Institute (2010-present)
- Civil Litigation Section, Massachusetts Bar Association (2016-present)
Previous
- Northeastern University School of Law
- Board of Directors (2011-2020)
- President (2015-2016)
- ConsensusDocs Master Subcontract Agreement Drafting Committee (2018-2020)
- Boston Inn of Courts
- President (2010-2011)
- Executive Committee (2006-2012)
- Eastern Massachusetts Chapter of the National Association of the Remodeling Industry
- Secretary & Executive Committee Member (2007-2011)
- Board of Trustees (2006-2012)
- Construction Financial Managers Association
- Board of Directors (2006-2013)
- Secretary, Executive Committee (2007-2009)
- Civil Litigation Section, Massachusetts Bar Association (2007-2008)
- Massachusetts Defense Lawyers Association
- Policy Committee (2017)
- President (2013)
- Board of Trustees (2006-2014)
- Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education
- President, Board of Directors (2023-2024)
- Second Vice President, Board of Directors (2021)
- Boston Bar Association
- Co-Chair, Construction Law Committee (2013-2015)
- Education Committee (2009-2011)
- Public Service Committee (2008-2011)
- Past Chair, Construction Law Committee, Defense Research Institute (2014)
- Gould Construction Institute
- General Counsel (2013-2020)
- Board of Trustees (2003-2012)
- Chairman (2011)
- Co-Chair, Massachusetts Alumni Chapter, University of Rhode Island (2008-2012)
Honors
- Best Lawyers in America® (2021-2025)
- Massachusetts Super Lawyers list (2004-2005, 2007-2025)
- Boston magazine’s Top Lawyers List, Construction (2024-2025)
- Massachusetts Defense Lawyers Association’s Lawyer of the Year (2023)
- Defense Research Institute
- David Wilson II Award for Outstanding Leadership (2023)
- Rudolph Janata Outstanding Achievement Award (2012)
- Builders and Remodelers Association of Greater Boston’s Associate Member of the Year (2022)
- Boston Inn of Courts’ Outstanding Achievement Award (2010-2011)
- National Association of the Remodeling Industry’s President’s Award (2007)
- Fellow, Construction Lawyers Society of America
- AV rated by Martindale Hubbell
Bar Admissions
- Massachusetts
- United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts
- United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
Education
- J.D., Northeastern University School of Law
- B.A., magna cum laude, University of Rhode Island
- Won month-plus long trial in Middlesex Superior Court for a charter school seeking to terminate its 20-year lease worth multiple millions of dollars
- Won multimillion dollar trial in Orleans District Court, and subsequent appeal, against the Cape Cod Historic Commission, granting a private business the right to build a 250-foot-high wind turbine
- Won $5M+ trial in Worcester Superior Court for a public works contractor against the City of Worcester on the grounds that the City denied it a contract in bad faith
- Won multimillion dollar trial in Plymouth Superior Court for developer against general contractor based on contractor’s breach of contract and defeated corresponding mechanic’s lien claim filed by contactor’s lumber supplier and sustained victory on appeal
- Secured settlement at close of two-week Suffolk County trial paying Contractor client for the work and dismissing counterclaims
- Won multimillion dollar homeowners’ case at JAMS against residential contractor on grounds of negligence, breach of contract and violation of the home improvement contractor statute
- Won bid protest decision before Attorney General’s Office to secure contract award where awarding authority had rejected bid
- Won bid protest decision before Attorney General’s Office affirming client contract award
- Won decision from DCAMM to dispose of unreliable, failing project score submitted by awarding authority
- Won decision before the General Attorney’s Office directing DCAMM to dispose of unreliable, failing scores submitted by three different awarding authorities