Judge David G. Sacks was sworn in as a Hampden Probate and Family Court judge by then Governor Michael S. Dukakis in October 1986 and served until his mandatory retirement in January 2020, including having been First Justice from 1992 to 2003.
In retirement, Judge Sacks has been a Senior Partners for Justice volunteer; a member of the Hampden Bar‘s Arbitration and Mediation Panel; a member of the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Chapter of the A.F.C.C.; a youth mentor for the refugee resettlement program of Jewish Family Services in Springfield; vice chair of the Trial Court’s Standing Committee on Dispute Resolution; and in 2020 was elected as a Biden Delegate to the Democratic National Convention from the Massachusetts First Congressional District. He co-chaired M.C.L.E.’s 2021 Zoom Family Law Trial Advocacy Workshop.
Most recently, Judge Sacks has been named the Gideon’s Trumpet 2021 awardee by Volunteer Lawyers Project and Senior Partners for Justice.
Before going on the Bench, Judge Sacks was engaged in the general practice of law in Holyoke and South Hadley at Davenport, Millane and Connon, which became Ryan, Boudreau, Sacks and Kirkpatrick in 1982. He received a B.A., in 1971, from the School of Government and Public Administration of The American University, Washington, D.C., and a J.D., in 1974, from Suffolk University Law School, Boston. For several of his college and law school years, he interned in the office of former U.S. Rep. Michael J. Harrington (D-Mass).
While in private practice, he was a member of the Board of Delegates of the Massachusetts Bar Association, the Executive Committee of the Hampden County Bar Association, and Treasurer of the Holyoke Bar Association. He was also active in a number of community organizations, including chairing the Holyoke School Committee, the Holyoke Democratic City Committee, a member of the Democratic State Committee, and chairing the Hampden-Hampshire Counties Advisory Board to the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination.
While on the Bench, Judge Sacks regularly participated in continuing judicial and legal education and public outreach. His court committee work included being a member of the: Trial Court’s Racial and Ethnic Access and Fairness Advisory Board; Supreme Judicial Court’s Gender Equality Committee; Trial Court’s Gender Equality Advisory Board; Probate and Family Court’s Pro Se Litigants Committee; chairing the Probate and Family Court‘s Committee on Performance and Accountability; Custody Task Force of the Juvenile Justice Commission of the Supreme Judicial Court; and the Judicial Advisory Committee to the Commissioner of the U.S. Office of Child Support Enforcement. From 2016 until his retirement, Judge Sacks chaired the Trial Court’s Standing Committee on Dispute Resolution and is presently the vice chair.
As an Access to Justice Fellow, Judge Sacks’ project will be to continue his volunteer work with Senior Partners for Justice Founder, Judge Edward Ginsburg, on various SPJ projects. These activities include programming for Community Legal Aid‘s Senior Partners for Justice-West in Western Massachusetts for monthly volunteer recruitment and retention luncheons; assisting with state-wide Senior Partners for Justice Zoom programs; coordinating with the Hampden County Conciliation Program, which is a joint Hampden County Bar Association and Community Legal Aid project to assist the Hampden Probate and Family Court; and answering “ask a lawyer” questions received by Hampden County Bar Association’s Legal Clinic. Judge Sacks will also continue to do individual conciliations for the Conciliation Program.