Stephen H. Sachs

Career Attorney Sachs clerked for Henry White Edgerton of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1960 to 1961. He was subsequently appointed as an assistant US attorney by Robert F. Kennedy and served in that role until 1965. That year, he became an associate and partner in Tydings, Rosenberg & Gallagher, a local law firm. He acted concurrently as a reporter to the Committee on State Finance and Taxation for the Maryland Constitutional Convention Commission. and acted in that capacity until 1970. He focused on prosecuting cases related to white-collar crime and public corruption. Sachs notably prosecuted the Catonsville Nine in 1968, after the group of activists attacked the Selective Service office in Catonsville, Maryland, to obliterate draft records. They were ultimately found guilty of destroying government property by a federal court jury half a year later. On the fiftieth anniversary of the incident, Sachs wrote that he was of the opinion that the nine were "brave" individuals "who acted out of a conviction that the war in Vietnam was profoundly evil". He was also a faculty member at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law from 1969 to 1976, teaching criminal procedure and trial practice. and was reelected in 1982. He ran as a reformist candidate who would be independent of the Democratic Party establishment. He vowed to be the "people’s lawyer" rather than be accountable to the governor (as was the practice up to that time). He was credited with modernizing the office of attorney general during his tenure. One of his successors, Brian Frosh, recalled how Sachs declined to defend Maryland's practice of warehousing individuals with mental health disorders, resulting in their release. He was also remembered for being a staunch advocate for civil rights and electoral reform.

Sachs was an unsuccessful candidate in the 1986 Maryland gubernatorial primary with Parren Mitchell as his running mate, losing to eventual general election winner William Donald Schaefer.

Later career Sachs was a partner in the firm of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr (aka WilmerHale) from 1987 until his retirement in 1999. In 1989 and 1990 Sachs represented Dr. Elizabeth Morgan in a well-publicized international child custody case. In 1999 Sachs was an attorney representing Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt in the investigation of allegations that Babbitt lied to Congress.

In 2008, Governor Martin O'Malley appointed Sachs to head an independent review of Maryland State Police infiltration of activist groups that were acting lawfully.

Personal life Sachs was married to Sheila Kleinman Sachs for 58 years until her death in April 2019. She was a divorce attorney and sat on the Baltimore City School Board from 1974 to 1978. Together they had two children: Leon and Elisabeth. He died on the morning of January 12, 2022, at his home in Roland Park, Baltimore. He was 87, and suffered from a brief illness in the weeks leading up to his death.