The Heart of Bexar County

LINEBARGER
GOGGAN
BLAIR &
SAMPSON, LLP
Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson, LLP is
the largest national law firm that focuses on
collection of government receivables. The firm’s
goal is total client satisfaction, which is achieved
by tailoring comprehensive services to the
client’s criteria, retaining professional and
courteous legal and collection personnel,
developing and supporting the most advanced
collection technology systems available, and
maintaining personal communication with its
clients and the communities they serve.
The firm’s history dates from 1976 when the
State of Texas first allowed cities and school
districts to hire private attorneys to collect taxes
and other receivables. To provide these services,
Chester Young, Larry Calame and Dale Linebarger
established the law firm Young Calame &
Linebarger as a limited liability partnership.
Also instrumental in establishment of the
firm was Oliver S. Heard, who was a founder
and managing partner. An established leader in
advancing the legal profession, Heard brought
more than 20 years experience to the new firm.
He was known as the ‘King of Tax Collections in
Texas’ and was named one of the 20th century’s
top 102 lawyers in a special publication entitled
Legal Legends: A Century of Texas Law and
Lawyers. Heard died in 2000.
The firm’s San Antonio roots date from 1980
and the firm of Heard Goggan and Blair. Bexar
County hired the firm in that year, becoming the
first large metropolitan authority in Texas to hire
an outside law firm to collect delinquent ad
valorem taxes. That partnership between the
firm and Bexar County has culminated in one of
the nation’s best tax collection programs for a
metropolitan community. The delinquent tax
collection program developed in Bexar County is
now used by more than 1,700 entities across
Texas, including Dallas County, Harris County,
and Tarrant County.
A Fees and Fines Collection program was also
begun in Bexar County in 2006. This collection
program became the basis of a national model
and clients now include the cities of Chicago,
Houston, Philadelphia, Austin, Columbus, and
Fort Worth.
In 2002, the firm changed its name to
Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson, LLP.
Several founding partners retired in 2006 and
a new Management Committee, composed of
21 capital partners, assumed leadership.
DeMetris Sampson served as the new MC’s
first chair and Clif Douglass of San Antonio
assumed the role in 2007, a position he
continues to hold.
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