West Frankfort, IL

Mr. Mitchell graduated from Frankfort Community High School in 1957. After serving in the active duty Army and then the Army reserve, he subsequently attended SIU for his undergraduate degrees and received his Juris Doctorate in Law from Loyola University. He received the school’s highest recognition in their advocacy competition program. Mr. Mitchell also focused on medical education as a means of furthering his interest in dealing with the diagnosis, treatment, and overall life effects of traumatic injuries on those that he represents in his Plaintiff’s personal injury practice. Sam has served without pay as a part-time or auxiliary police officer for 21+ years and is a certified Law Enforcement Firearms Instructor and lecturer. Attorney Sam C. Mitchell’s entire life has been dedicated to representing injured plaintiffs and their families. Although he is a world traveler, his primary focus has been the legal system and involvement in a trial practice.

Tyler Nelson Dihle

Attorney Tyler Nelson Dihle is the newest member of the Sam C. Mitchell & Associates legal team! Attorney Dihle is a West Frankfort, IL-based attorney who practices personal injury law. He focuses primarily on car accident cases, in addition to cases of workers’ compensation, medical malpractice, and wrongful death. He is licensed to practice law in Illinois as well as in the state of Missouri. He is a 2009 Southern Illinois University, Carbondale law school graduate and has practiced law for over 10 years. Before pursuing his law degree, he earned a Bachelor of Arts from Monmouth College.

Lance P. Brown

Lance was born and raised in West Frankfort. During his time as a trial lawyer, Lance has represented victims who have been injured by the wrongful and negligent conduct of companies and individuals throughout Illinois. He has spent his legal career handling and resolving personal injury and wrongful death cases for numerous victims for over a decade with an impeccable case-winning record. Lance’s commitment and perseverance to his injured clients have produced multi-million-dollar settlements and judgments for his clients. Lance has experience in litigating cases through Jury trials, Bench trials, Mediations, and Arbitrations. He is dedicated to representing victims against insurance companies 100% of the time. Regardless of the size of the case, Lance strives to ensure each victim is given consideration and attention to produce the best result.

As a trial lawyer at Sam C. Mitchell & Associates, Matt Caraway is focused on helping the victims of negligence. His goal is to use his knowledge and talents to aggressively seek results against negligent people, companies, and insurance agencies in the states of Illinois and Missouri in both state and federal court. His previous experience includes defending Fortune 500 companies against injury suits, as well as handling maritime and railroad cases, with a large St. Louis firm. Matt was born and raised in West Frankfort, IL. He served in the Illinois Air National Guard for seven years, becoming Staff Sergeant in Operation Enduring Freedom in the Middle East. He interned with the Air Force Judge Advocate General’s Office at Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida before being honorably discharged in 2008. He has exclusively handled personal injury and wrongful death cases since he graduated U of I in 2008.

Phillip G. Palmer Jr.

Phillip has chosen to devote his time practicing law to help the people of southern Illinois. Throughout his legal career, he has handled all types of legal matters, but has spent the majority of his career working in the areas of personal injury litigation and insurance litigation. Specifically, Phillip has handled cases involving medical malpractice, automobile accidents, premise liability matters, slip-and-falls, dog bites, and many others. A portion of his career was spent working on the defense side of these cases, so Phillip is uniquely qualified to handle matters where insurance coverage or liability may be at issue. He also possesses intimate knowledge of how these companies who have acted wrongfully or negligently resulting in life-altering injuries to people operate and attempt to obfuscate their responsibilities and the value of these cases. Phillip has handled matters from the early stages of filing and discovery, all the way through jury verdict and subsequent appeal. In fact, Phillip spent five years of his career as a law clerk on the Fifth District Appellate Court of Illinois. There he was responsible for reviewing all types of cases and assisting the Court in resolving legal issues that resulted from the trial or circuit court level.

Aaron M. Hopkins

Aaron M. Hopkins is an attorney and counselor at law who founded Hopkins Law. He specializes in family law, criminal defense, and civil litigation. He is licensed in Illinois and has two decades of experience, having previously served as lead counsel at the Franklin County States Attorneys. He has received awards for client satisfaction from the American Institute of Criminal Law Attorneys and AVVO.