July 5, 2023

Impish, but inspirational: Probate Court’s Ginsburg remembered for myriad contributions

BY Kris OlsenMassachusetts Lawyers Weekly

Red Sox fanatic. Mischief maker. Compassionate soul.

Former Probate & Family Court Judge Edward M. Ginsburg, who died on June 24 at the age of 90, was remembered as all those things and more during a June 28 special session of the monthly Zoom luncheons held by Senior Partners for Justice, which Ginsburg founded upon his mandatory retirement from the bench and has inspired tens of thousands of pro bono hours to help low-income litigants in the 20 years since.

Ginsburg devoted his life to making the world a better place through his contributions, including his mentorship of many lawyers and judges, retired Probate Court Judge David G. Sacks, who has worked with Ginsburg on SPJ for the past three years, tells Lawyers Weekly.

With a Red Sox cap strategically hung behind him — Ginsburg was a fervent fan who attended Opening Day every year for decades — Sacks served as a master of ceremonies for the impromptu Zoom tribute.

He and Ginsburg had been friends for 37 years, but Sacks had not made the best first impression, he noted.

A newly appointed Sacks had arrived late to Concord for training, where he found Ginsburg with his back turned at the courtroom conference table. Ginsburg acknowledged his arrival with what Sacks would come to learn was his trademark playful manner.

“Judge David Sacks just joined us — he’s the newest judge in the commonwealth,” Ginsburg told the lawyers and their clients. “He thinks that just because he’s a judge I can’t fine him for being late, but he’s wrong!”

Meredith R. Palmer said Ginsburg was instrumental in her career development, from a volunteer attorney to staff attorney and now pro bono director at Community Legal Aid.

Ginsburg, a senior supervising attorney for CLA’s family law unit after he left the bench, was someone who “never wanted to stop learning,” she said.

“He was not afraid of the hard conversations,” Palmer added.

Emelia Andres, pro bono manager of the Volunteer Lawyers Project, noted that her colleague Barbara L. Siegel had figured out that Ginsburg had placed just over 10,000 calls to personally thank attorneys who had donated their time to SPJ.

In one such voicemail that had been played for her, Ginsburg noted the inclement weather and told the attorney they were “the sunshine on a rainy day,” Andres recalled.

Siegel wore a suit in honor of the dapper Ginsburg, known for his bowties. Ginsburg was always on the lookout for new ways to make a difference, she said.

“He always said, ‘You have to seize the day,’ and he really lived by that,” Siegel said.

One example came early in 2008, when The Boston Globe had published a scathing expose detailing how seniors were being stripped of their rights in guardianship cases. Ginsburg placed a quick call to then-Probate & Family Court Chief Justice Paula M. Carey, and within six months Ginsburg had recruited and trained volunteers to staff up a program to provide pro bono guardians ad litem and next friends in guardianship cases.

But it was not all work and no play for Ginsburg. Siegel recalled the email she received in October 2013 from Ginsburg with the word “hooky” placed sheepishly on the subject line. It seems Ginsburg’s love of the Red Sox — then just starting their path through the playoffs that culminated in a World Series win — had won out over a meeting at the Boston Municipal Court he had been expected to attend.

“I feel guilty, but not guilty enough,” Ginsburg wrote.

Retired Superior Court Judge Paul A. Chernoff recalled with a laugh a time when Ginsburg’s mouth nearly got him in trouble at “Friendly Fenway.” When struggling relief pitcher Jim Corsi, a Newton native, entered the game, Ginsburg shared his assessment in no uncertain terms with everyone within earshot. Coincidentally, the pitcher’s brother was sitting a row in front of him. But instead of coming to blows, Corsi’s brother was instantly charmed, as so many were.

“I knew then and there Eddie Ginsburg had Teflon coating,” Chernoff said.

Ginsburg had a knack for recruiting the “best and the brightest” to all his endeavors, Chernoff continued.

His friend of 45 years may have struggled to change the tire on his car or even a lightbulb, Chernoff said, “but on the things that really counted, he could really do everything.”

Community Legal Aid managing attorney Lyonel Jean-Pierre Jr. recalled Ginsburg wiping the smile off his face at his initial job interview.

“How can you be happy? The Red Sox lost last night,” Ginsburg greeted him.

Jean-Pierre figured he had no chance of getting the job when he seemingly gave the wrong answer to Ginsburg’s question about how long the drive from Allston to Worcester had taken him.

“You must have been speeding,” Ginsburg responded.

But years later, while hosting a retreat at his New Hampshire home, Ginsburg gleefully ran into his house and reemerged wearing his judicial robe to perform a mock wedding ceremony for Jean-Pierre and his then-girlfriend when she arrived for a visit.

Years later, Ginsburg would have the honor of officiating at the real ceremony, just another example of the judge being ahead of the curve.

Joanna Allison, executive director of the Volunteer Lawyers Project, acknowledged that, at times, she and Ginsburg “would go at it a little bit.”

Ginsburg once introduced Allison as “the feisty one” to his daughter Lauren at an American Bar Association event at which he was being honored.

With a knowing smile, Lauren said, “You must have disagreed with him at some point.”

But Allison also offered an example of Ginsburg’s character. During a VLP training session on diversity, equity and inclusion, Ginsburg confessed that he could think of times when he feared subconscious bias might have influenced his judicial decision making.

Others were quick to try to offer him a lifeline, but Ginsburg insisted on not being let off the hook so easily.

“He was a person who didn’t mind looking small” to inspire others to reflect on things they needed to change, she said.

Probate Court Judge Dana S. Doyle said Ginsburg’s regular check-ins with her was one of the things that kept her going during the judicial application process.

Doyle also recalled Ginsburg incorporating a scene from the movie “Wedding Crashers,” featuring the main characters’ unorthodox approach to mediation, into a multi-day training on the subject.

“He made me laugh, above all else, any time I interacted with him; that’s what I am going to remember,” she said.

Reporter Sean Murphy met Ginsburg 20 years ago, when the judge was overseeing the Big Dig cost recovery process, efforts that would earn him the title of Bostonian of the Year in 2005 from Murphy’s newspaper, The Boston Globe.

“Judge Ginsburg showed great courage taking on those big entities,” Murphy said.

Meanwhile, the creation of SPJ helped earn Ginsburg other honors, including a 2004 Lawyers of the Year award from Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly and the Adams Pro Bono Publico Award from the Supreme Judicial Court Standing Committee on Pro Bono Legal Services.

Ginsburg was a longtime member of Lawyers Weekly’s Board of Editors and taught as an adjunct professor at Suffolk University and Boston College law schools. He also served multiple terms on the Mental Health Legal Advisors Committee.

Peter Benjamin, who recently retired after 40-plus years as a legal aid attorney in western Massachusetts, said Ginsburg was unfailingly “courageous and kind and gracious” — except when Benjamin made the mistake of mentioning that he had been a high school classmate of former U.S. Attorney General William P. Barr.

“From that point on, he seemed to hold me personally responsible for everything Bill Barr did on behalf of the former president,” Benjamin said with a laugh.

South Dennis attorney Leonard Zandrow Jr. got to know Ginsburg through the Justice Bridge Legal Center, a law incubator program sponsored by the University of Massachusetts School of Law that he co-founded and for which he now serves as executive director. Ginsburg embraced the concept, joining Justice Bridge’s board.

The last communication he received from Ginsburg, an email, contained a simple directive: “Keep up the good fight.”

“That’s the best legacy we can have for the judge, to keep up the good fight,” Zandrow said.