Paul A. Samakow was about 8 years old when an experience in his Maryland neighborhood left an impression that would shape the rest of his life.
A neighbor’s house caught fire and burned down. Samakow’s parents opened their home to the displaced family, who lived with them for about two months. One night, he remembers seeing the woman crying because her insurance company was not helping the family.
“It hit me like a punch in the stomach,” Samakow says. “I couldn’t understand that. I knew then that when I grew up, I was going to help people.”
Decades later, that promise remains at the heart of both his legal career and his commitment to giving back.
Samakow grew up in suburban Maryland with interests ranging from sports to photography. He became a professional photographer and once photographed an event for the Democratic National Committee featuring George McGovern at the Hay-Adams Hotel in Washington. But even with his varied interests, Samakow says he knew from an early age that he wanted to become an attorney.
He attended the University of Maryland in College Park before going to law school in Massachusetts. While there, he worked at a consumer action center in Springfield, Massachusetts, helping people who had disputes with local businesses.
After graduating, Samakow returned to the Washington region and opened his own practice in 1980. Within a few years, he found that representing people who had been injured offered the sense of purpose he had been seeking.
Today, the Law Offices of Paul A. Samakow represents injury victims locally and burn survivors nationwide. His practice also serves many clients who do not speak English, something Samakow says grew from recognizing a community that needed an advocate.
But for Samakow, serving people has never stopped at the office door.
Showing Up
His connection to community service began to deepen after he represented a young boy who was severely injured while riding a bicycle. After Samakow helped the family recover compensation, the boy’s parents invited him to their church to share the story.
The experience became a defining moment.
“People cried. I cried. Hugs were exchanged all afternoon long,” he says.
That invitation led Samakow to become increasingly involved with churches, community groups and local organizations. He began speaking with congregations about topics such as automobile insurance and what to do after an accident. As the relationships grew, so did his involvement.
Over the years, that involvement has taken many forms.
Samakow has distributed back-to-school backpacks, provided scholarships, organized food drives, given Thanksgiving turkeys to families in need and donated to relief organizations following natural disasters. He has distributed books and even replaced some of his television advertising with messages encouraging viewers to support charitable causes.
He is also a major sponsor of The St. James and The St. James Performance Academy in Springfield, Virginia, where his support helps student-athletes.
Of all the causes he supports, working with young people remains particularly meaningful.
“My passion is talking to students about their futures and trying to make even a small impact,” Samakow says.
He has spoken with middle and high school students and gives away books he has written following his presentations.
For Samakow, however, generosity cannot be measured simply by the amount on a check.
“Giving back means getting involved,” he says. “It is easy to write a check, and that is nice, but it is not something, at least for me, that comes from the heart. When you give your time, you are committing.”
A Responsibility to Community
After more than four decades in practice, Samakow receives frequent requests to support charities, organizations and community initiatives. He cannot say yes to everything, so he focuses on opportunities where he believes his involvement can make a meaningful difference for the greatest number of people.
That same philosophy shapes what he believes the broader business community owes to the places it serves.
“Every business, in my opinion, has an obligation to help their community,” Samakow says. “Without the community, their business goes nowhere.”
The way a business contributes matters less, he believes, than the willingness to participate.
“It doesn’t matter what they do, but I believe they should, they must, do something,” he says. “They must give of themselves. They must commit.”
It is a philosophy Samakow tries to practice in both large and small ways. Community service can mean scholarships, food drives and charitable sponsorships, but it can also be as simple as holding a door for someone carrying packages.
For someone who wants to become involved but does not know where to begin, his advice is similarly uncomplicated: Ask questions. Volunteer. Find out where help is needed, and then show up.
As Thanksgiving approaches, Samakow says the things he is most grateful for can be summed up in two words: health and family.
He and his wife, Susan, have been married for nearly 30 years. They have two daughters, both of whom became attorneys, and three grandchildren.
His career has spanned more than four decades, but the motivation behind much of what he does can still be traced to that 8-year-old boy watching his parents take in a family that had suddenly lost its home.
“We are a society. We are a community,” Samakow says. “We must work together, lift each other up and help each other when we can.”
For Samakow, giving back is ultimately not about recognition or expecting something in return. It is about recognizing an opportunity to make someone else’s day, circumstances or future a little better.
“I find extreme satisfaction knowing that I’ve done something for someone else that helped them,” he says.
And in a season built around gratitude, perhaps that is the simplest reminder of all: Being thankful for what we have can be even more meaningful when it inspires us to give something back.
LEARN MORE
Law Offices of Paul A. Samakow, P.C.
Paul A. Samakow has practiced law since 1980, focusing on representing personal injury victims in Virginia and Maryland. His firm handles personal injury, auto accident, work injury and wrongful death cases.
Website: samakowlaw.com
Virginia: 703-761-4343
Maryland: 301-949-1515