Judge David G. Sacks was a Probate and Family Court judge for over 33 years until his mandatory retirement in 2020, including having served as the Hampden Division First Justice from 1992 to 2003.

As a current practitioner of dispute resolution, and with the parties’ consent in individual mediations, Judge Sacks has moved from the traditional neutral mediation role to make actual evaluative observations based on his judicial experience to assist the parties in achieving resolution.

As a judge, he was a strong proponent of the use of appropriate dispute resolution and co-chaired the Probate ADR Committee. From 2016 until his retirement, he chaired the Trial Court’s Standing Committee on Dispute Resolution and is now its vice-chair.

While on the Bench, Judge Sacks was a member of numerous work groups covering the entire span of probate, family law and equity jurisdiction. He chaired the Steering Committee on Performance and Accountability which included writing time and case management standards; and was a member of the Trial Court’s Racial and Ethnic Advisory Board, and the Gender Equality Committee.

Judge Sacks has been a regular presenter at legal education programs. Those presentations include being a panelist at the Massachusetts Bar Association’s Seventh Annual Probate Law Conference in November 2019; and at the “Trustee Best Practices and Pitfalls” program at the Estate Planning Council of County in November 2021. He is the Co-Chair of M.C.L.E.’s week long Family Law Trial Advocacy Workshop.

From 1975 to 1986 he was a private attorney in Holyoke and South Hadley in a general practice which included litigation and estate matters. At that time he was a member of the American Arbitration Association panel, and was also a member of the Private Panel of Bankruptcy Trustees in Western Massachusetts. He chaired the Holyoke School Committee and the Hampden-Hampshire Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination Advisory Committee. He is a former Hampden County representative on the Massachusetts Bar Association’s House of Delegates

Judge Sacks is an Access to Justice Fellow for Senior Partners for Justice in 2021-2022, and has done numerous Conciliations as part of this project.  In 2021 he was the recipient of the Gideon’s Trumpet Award from the Volunteer Lawyers Project of the Boston Bar Association. He is currently a board member of the Massachusetts Chapter of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts.

Judge Sacks is available to hear mediations and arbitrations of probate, estate, guardianship and general civil cases in-person and/or remotely particularly in Western Massachusetts and in the Essex County area.