by Jennifer R. Lloyd
(This piece ran as part of a series honoring the 25th anniversary of the St. Mary’s University School of Law clinical programs.)
Brothers Sam Lock (J.D. ’98) and Jeb Lock (J.D. ’05) still recall the first cases they handled while students in the St. Mary’s Law Criminal Justice Clinic — from traffic tickets to alleged assaults.
Jeb Lock, who has a private criminal defense practice in San Antonio and is a part-time judge for the Bexar County Magistrate, said his first case resulted in a dismissal of an assault causing bodily injury. He remembered how happy and appreciative his client was of his work.
“That let me know what defending people accused of crimes is really all about and how much satisfaction we can receive from doing our job,” he said.
His older brother Sam Lock had a less favorable view of the court system before he began the clinical program. While in high school, Sam Lock said he had been a complainant in a case and thought court was awful.
“What a terrible place to be every day,” he said of his first impression of the legal system.
But “learning how to navigate the system through the clinic gave me a very different perspective,” he said. “To be there to stick up for somebody else, that’s what drives me, and that started in the clinic.”
Sam Lock came into law school knowing he wanted to be a courtroom lawyer and also knowing he wanted to take part in the clinical program, which solidified his ideas about what it means to practice law, and assured him that it was his calling. Now Sam Lock is a criminal defense attorney whose practice extends from San Antonio into Guadalupe, Comal and Hays counties.
