After graduating from Yale University and Columbia Law School, and after a tour of duty with the United States Marine Corps, Zachary H. Sacks, the firm’s managing partner, came to California in 1963. Since that time, he has been active in all phases of workers’ compensation law. He has successfully represented clients from the trial level all the way to the California Supreme Court. He has been instrumental in legislative activities concerning workers’ compensation law and has testified in the State Capital before legislative sub-committees on workers’ compensation issues on behalf of both clients of the firm, as well as organizations which he has headed in his long career in California.
He holds the distinction of being the only two-time elected President in the 30-plus year history of the Southern California Workers’ Compensation Defense Attorneys Association and he was the first and founding President of the Statewide Attorneys Association called the California Workers’ Compensation Defense Attorneys Association in 1982 to 1983. He is only the 4th recipient in the 24 year history of the California Workers’ Compensation Defense Attorneys Association of the prestigious Warren L. Hanna Lifetime Achievement Award, conferred by his peers in May 2004.
He is a prolific author and sought-after lecturer, having first lectured to new admittees to the California Bar on workers’ compensation law in 1973. Since that time, he has been an annual featured speaker for multiple organizations and at multiple industry conventions throughout both the State of California, as well as across the country. He has been a featured speaker at the California Applicant Attorneys Association, the California Workers’ Compensation Defense Attorneys Association, the California Manufacturers’ Association, and the California Self-Insurance Association, and a teacher and seminar instructor on various topics in workers’ compensation law for the firm’s highly acclaimed workers’ compensation training seminars for attorneys and clients as well as functioning as a guest teacher of Workers’ Compensation law at UCLA Law School.
He has been the winning advocate for the firm’s clients on several precedent-setting cases in both the California Supreme Court and the California Court of Appeal, which cases, to this date, are still cited by the Courts in California.
First acknowledged by Who’s Who in American Law in 1975 and the Best Lawyers of America in 1979, he has been featured in Men of Achievement in 1981, and Who’s Who in California, in 1986. He was among the first attorneys in the State of California to achieve status as a Employer Defense Specialist in workers’ compensation law from the State Bar of California, California Board of Legal Specialization starting in 1973 and continuing to this date.
As the senior and managing partner of the firm, his philosophy for the firm’s clients is simple: “Anybody who comes to us for representation is going to get excellence. Excellence from the combined experience of all of our attorneys, excellence in their dealings with us and excellence in results.”
- 100% Workers’ Compensation
- 100% of Practice Devoted to Litigation
- Worker’s Compensation Law, California Board of Legal Specialization, 1973
- California, 1963
- U.S. District Court Northern District of California, 1963
- U.S. Court of Appeals 9th Circuit, 1963
- Columbia Law School, New York
- J.D. – 1960
- Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
- B.A. – 1957
- Honors: Dean’s List
- Major: American Studies
- “Anti Stalking Bill and The Future of Surveillance”, California Workers’ Compensation Enquirer, Vol. 6 #10, May/June, 1999
- H”A Penalty Primer”, California Workers’ Compensation Enquirer, October, 1996
- “Dismissal of Claim Forms”, California Workers’ Compensation Enquirer, Vol. 11 #10, April, 1994
- Los Angeles Unified School District
- Metropolitan Transit Authority
- Sizzler International
- Various NFL and NBA Teams
- Travel Centers of American
- Liberty Mutual Insurance Co.
- Alliance Bank, Culver City
- Discovery in Workers’ Compensation, University of California Law School, Los Angeles, 2003 – Present
- Workers’ Compensation Update, 2003, New Law Reforms., Council on Education in Management, March 4, 2003 – March 5, 2003
- “The Treating Physician – An Attack Manual” and “A Penalty Primer”, Sacks, Rivera & Zolonz, 1998 – Present
- Keynote Speaker “Case Law Update”, California Manufacturers Association, 1996
- California Workers’ Comp Update “Defending on Two Fronts: When Civil Litigation Intersects with a Workers’ Comp Claim”, Council on Education in Management, 1995
- Multiple client seminars on Penalty and Treating Physician issues, 1998
- Featured Speaker “Case Law Update”, Workers’ Compensation Defense Attorney’s Association 17th Annual Convention, 1997
- Panelist; “Cross-Examination of a Physician (Q.M.E/Treating)”, California Applicants Attorneys Association Convention, 1997
- Adjuster Seminar on new rules of practice and procedure, Sacks, Rivera & Zolonz, Multiple locations throughout Southern California
- “The New Reform Bill”, Workers’ Compensation presentation, California Manufacturers Association, Burbank and Anaheim, 1993
- Teaching Presentation to claims professionals throughout Southern California, Omnibus Worker’s Compensation Reform Act, 1993
- Human Resources Round Table participant on Workers’ Compensation, Annual UCLA Lake Arrowhead Retreat, 1993
- Presenter: Labor Code Section 402 and 4061 “Navigating QME System With Ease”, 1992 – 1993
- Featured Speaker “Case Law Update”, California Manufacturer’s Association Annual Fall Meeting, Monterey, 1992
- New Fraud Legislation/Medical-Legal Fraud, Multiple Seminars, Southern California, 1992
- Panel Moderator, “Fraud in the System”, California Workers’ Compensation Defense Attorneys Association, 1991
- Featured Speaker, “Case Law Update”, California Manufacturer’s Association Annual Fall Meeting, Monterey, 1990
- Seminar “Administrative Penalties”, 1990
- Featured Speaker “Case Law Update”, California Manufacturer’s Association, Annual Fall Meeting, Monterey, 1989
- Panel Speaker “Workers’ Compensation – Behind the Scenes”, Risk Insurance Management Society, 1989
- Featured Speaker, San Diego Workers’ Compensation Forum, 1988
- Lecturer “California Workers’ Compensation Law, Denny’s Risk Managers, 1987
- Featured Speaker “California Workers’ Compensation Law”, Pepsico/Frito Lay National Risk Management Seminar, Dallas, Texas, 1987
- Panelist: All day lecture and trial demonstration on rehabilitation evidence presentation after the Gill case, California Applicant’s Attorney Association, 1986
- Featured Speaker, “Current Case Law”, San Diego Workers’ Compensation Forum, 1986
- Featured Speaker “New Angst for the Defense”, San Diego Workers’ Compensation Forum, 1984
- Featured Speaker “Case Law Update, 1984”, California Self-Insurance Association Annual Seminar, 1984
- Lecturer “1982 Case Law Update”, California Self-Insurance Association Annual Seminar, 1983
- Seminar “Serious and Willful and Employer Safeguards”, Xerox Corporation, Western Division, 1983
- Guest Speaker, New and Proposed Legislation in Workers’ Compensation, 1982 VIP Annual Seminar, 1982
- Instructor, Practice and Procedures to Supervisors, Adjusters and Managers, CDS of California, R. L. Kautz and Company and Allianz Insurance Company, 1982
- Featured Speaker, “Bad Faith and Workers’ Compensation”, Annual CASO Convention, Monterey, California, 1981
- Program Moderator, Annual Defense Attorneys’ Convention, Lake Tahoe, California, 1981
- Featured Speaker, Current Workers’ Compensation Legislation, 1981 Valley Industrial People Annual Seminar, 1981
- Speaker, Finance Insurance and Commerce re Workers’ Compensation Reform (June), Senate Sub-Committee, 1980
- Moderator, Annual Defense Attorneys’ Association Seminar, Palm Springs, California, 1980
- Coordinator and Moderator, Defense Panel on Workers’ Compensation, State Bar Convention, 1979
- Speaker, Practice and Procedures, Workers’ Compensation Defense Forum, 1979
- Chief Speaker, 1st Annual City Department Head Safety Workshop, City of Compton, 1979
- Lecturer, Practice and Procedures, Workers’ Compensation Forum, 1978
- Program Chairman and Moderator “Current Problems in Workers’ Compensation Practice”, Century City Plaza Hotel, Los Angeles, California, 1977
- Teacher, Workers’ Compensation Practice and Procedures, 5 Hour insurance defense course, Liberty Mutual Ins. Co., California Casualty Indemnity Exchange, R.L. Kautz & Co., Bierly & Associates, 1977
- Moderator, Panel on Statute of Limitations Problems in Workers’ Compensation, Los Angeles County Bar Association, 1976
- Panelist, Workers’ Compensation Symposium, Ventura County Bar Association, 1975
- Lecturer to New Bar Admittees on Workers’ Compensation, 1973
- Warren L. Hanna Lifetime Achievement Award as only the 4th recipient in the 24 year history of the California Workers’ Compensation Defense Attorney’s Association, May 17, 2004 – Present
- Who’s Who in California, 1986
- Men of Achievement, 8th Edition, 1981
- The Best Lawyers of America, 1st Edition, 1979
- Dictionary of International Biography, 1978
- California Bar Association, Member, Section of Workers’ Compensation
- Los Angeles County Bar Association, Member, Section of Workers’ Compensation
- California Workers’ Compensation Defense Attorneys Association, Member, 1982 – 1983
- California Workers’ Compensation Defense Attorneys Association, Founding President, 1982 – 1983
- California Workers’ Compensation Defense Attorneys Association, President, 1980 – 1982
- California Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board Arbitration Panel, Arbitrator
- Sacks, Riveras & Solomon, Managing Partner, 1985 – 1995
- Law Offices of Zachary H. Sacks & Associations, Senior Attorney, 1975 – 1985
- Private Practice, 1963 – 1978
- United States Marine Corps.
- Chi Phi