World of Marketing Podcast: Interview with Samantha Sbrocchi
Introduction
Tom Foster: Hello everyone and welcome to the World of Marketing where I, Tom Foster, talk with legal leaders about marketing mindset and the growth of law firm businesses.
I'm excited to introduce our guest, Samantha Sbrocchi. She is a distinguished partner at Antonelli & Antonelli specializing in probate and estate litigation in the New York City metro area with a practice focused on contested wills, fiduciary misconduct, wrongful death proceedings, and complex kinship matters.
Samantha has rapidly established herself as a formidable advocate in the New York trust and estates legal community. After joining Antonelli & Antonelli before her bar admission and being admitted to practice in 2019, she quickly rose to become a partner in January 2025. Samantha is known for her unwavering dedication to clients, exceptional work ethic, and impressive track record of results.
Welcome to the show and thank you so much for taking the time to visit with me today.
Samantha Sbrocchi: Thank you so much for having me.
Journey to Partnership
Tom: You've moved from team member to partner in just six years. What do you think has been your key to success in the New York estate litigation field?
Samantha: That's a great question. I go by the motto that anything in life that you want to succeed in, whether it's your career, fitness, your overall health, it's all about consistency and working hard, showing up every day, giving it 100% no matter what you do in life. That's how you get ahead.
Tom: Have you always been that way?
Samantha: I always try to put 100% into everything that I do.
Tom: Were you an athlete in school?
Samantha: I was. In high school and middle school, I played softball and volleyball for the school team, and then for softball I played for an independent league for many years.
Tom: Do you feel like your sports experience and the competitiveness helped you later on in life?
Samantha: I've actually never thought about that. I would say yes, that definitely helped lead me to my work ethic today and how I approach every day.
Path to Law
Tom: How did you get into law?
Samantha: I struggled actually for a long time trying to figure out what I wanted to do. I have asthma and numerous food allergies that have impacted my life, my entire life. For a long time, I thought that I wanted to become a doctor and help kids who had similar allergies and asthma. Once I took chemistry, I realized this is not for me.
My family actually has a law firm. My grandfather and my aunt - I worked for them when I was in college. I remember my grandfather saying to me, "It will never hurt you to have a background in law. Even if you don't end up practicing it, it will only help you."
So, I decided to major in legal studies and business in college. The legal classes just made sense to me. Everything kind of clicked. I wound up graduating college, did very well, and decided to go to law school.
I took the LSAT multiple times and I did horribly. I really didn't know if I was going to even get into law school even though my grades in college were great. I wound up getting into Hofstra, which is where I graduated college from. I started at Hofstra and then transferred after my first year to Touro, which is another law school on Long Island. I did really well. I graduated with honors and was on law review.
Tom: Congratulations. So, really the lesson to be learned from all of this is just never give up. Even if you doubt yourself, don't give up. Because if you work at it and you're consistent, you will achieve great results.
Samantha: 100%.
Academic Background and Professional Approach
Tom: How is your combination of academic background and practical experience shaped how you handle complex estate disputes?
Samantha: We have clients come to us all the time that are very upset, distressed, in complicated situations that they really don't know how to get out of. My practice is dealing with estates and people that have passed away, so you're dealing with clients who are already emotional about their loved one passing on top of having to actually deal with the estate itself. Many of them have litigated matters, so the family's fighting, it's not going smoothly.
I really like to approach those types of cases as we're going to just take this one step at a time. We're going to start on step A and once we get through that, then we'll deal with step B. It becomes much more manageable for the client to deal with.
I think that ties into my educational background because I was always achieving the next step. It was graduate college, take the LSAT, get into law school, graduate law school, study for the bar, pass the bar, etc. I really just like to focus on what's in front of me, but also think long term about why I'm doing this.
Supporting Clients Through Emotional Cases
Tom: Estate cases often involve emotional family situations. How do you support clients while being an effective advocate during these difficult times?
Samantha: It's really important to have empathy and sympathy and let the clients get the emotions out to an extent that's reasonable. You want to let the clients know that you completely understand how they're feeling and why they're feeling it and that you're going to do everything that you can to help them and make this process as easy as possible for them.
We like to say that we're going to take the burden of the actual case off of them, put it on us, and let them deal with their emotions and the grieving process and getting through each day.
At the end of the day, the reason why I do what I do is because we are helping people tremendously and we're making their lives a little bit better, even though they're going through a very difficult, sad situation. But at the end of it, they're going to be so happy that the chapter is closed, they can move on, and that they did everything that they needed to do.
Tom: You give families peace of mind.
Samantha: I completely agree with that. We don't expect clients to know what to do when somebody passes away. Most clients have never been in a position that they need to probate a will or they need to get appointed as an administrator and sell property that was only held in the decedent's name.
A lot of our job is not only to do the legal work and get them what they need through the court, but also to educate them and teach them the process and what their responsibilities consist of as an administrator or an executor of an estate.
Court-Appointed Guardian Experience
Tom: How does your experience as a court-appointed guardian help you when representing clients in contested estate matters?
Samantha: I get appointed by the court as both a guardian ad litem, which is an attorney that acts on behalf of people who are interested in the estate who are under a disability. I could be appointed to represent a child under the age of 14 or somebody who's alleged to be an heir but is actually missing.
It's my job to look out for those people's interests and make sure that if they are due something that they actually receive it.
I also get appointed in various roles in guardianship cases. That's where nobody has passed away yet, but there's a person who's alleged to be incapacitated, who can no longer make decisions either concerning their property or their person. At the end of the day, it's just helping people and trying to make these situations better for the people that I'm representing.
Changes in Probate Law and AI Impact
Tom: What changes do you see in New York probate law and how might these affect your clients?
Samantha: I don't see any imminent changes in New York probate law that would severely affect my clients. There are some procedural changes that are being discussed that wouldn't really have much effect.
Tom: Has AI affected what you're doing in any capacity?
Samantha: Definitely. So far AI has been great. I wouldn't solely rely on AI, but if I have a legal question that I'm researching, it helps me get to the answer much quicker than doing it the old traditional way. Attorneys just need to be very careful with the information that they're getting and make sure it's accurate information, verify that cases exist and haven't been overturned. I think that attorneys could definitely use it to their advantage to help their practice.
Looking Forward
Tom: What's next for you and the firm?
Samantha: I feel like I've climbed to the top, which has been very rewarding and very exciting. That's only been for the last two months since my promotion. So, really just continuing to be the best attorney that I can be, continuing to expand my legal knowledge and gain more experience, and just becoming more effective for my clients.
Tom: Do you work with Dan on cases together?
Samantha: Yeah, we do. And I love working with him. He's really a brilliant attorney and has a great heart. That's one of the reasons why I chose to work with him and ultimately partner with him. He's a great attorney, but also more importantly, he's so empathetic to clients and their situations. We share the same goals and mission. We want to help people as best we can.
Tom: That's why Dan gets so many referrals. He does a great job for his clients and builds relationships, and so do you now. Those relationships turn into other relationships because people are like, "Oh, you got to use Antonelli & Antonelli, they're the best ever."
Well, Samantha, it's been wonderful talking to you and getting to know you better. I wish you the best success and I know you're going to be even more successful.
Samantha: Thank you so much. I really appreciate you having me on this. It's been a great experience.
Tom: All right, so Samantha, thank you so much everybody. Hey, it's been Tom and Samantha on the World of Marketing. You guys have yourself a fantastic day.
