Was Sacks Sacked?

As I previously blogged, attorney Adam Michael Sacks would do the Tuesday "bonus" hour of the Tom Leykis Show, and for me, it was must-listen. Recently, that arrangement ended, and as far as I know, all Leykis has publicly said about it is a terse written statement indicating the involvement had ended. No reason was given.

Since Leykis' Internet-based audio talk show began (after the terrestrial broadcast corporate radio version had been off of the air for a few years and Leykis rode out the rest of his contract), Sacks would not only do that hour on Tuesdays, alternating between  "criminal law" (mainly DUI and marijuana violations) and "family law" (mainly divorce, alimony, child support, and child custody), but he would be at listener parties  and events and his ads would run throughout the show. And by his ads, I mean ads for his law practice that featured copy read by Leykis, and ads for becoming an advertiser with The New Normal (Leykis' businesses) as spoken by Sacks. Sacks and Leykis even talked on the show about work Sacks had done for Leykis, such as with traffic tickets and with getting a restraining order against a radio show host Leykis and/or Sacks have described as an obsessed fan. Finally, Sacks would often appear during other times on the show by calling in to answer questions and give advice to another caller.

Of course, listeners have speculated as to why Sacks and Leykis have parted ways. Leykis has had his staff go back and eliminate the Sacks bonus hours from the archive files available as podcasts to paid subscribers. To paraphrase Leykis, he did that because those hours were essentially infomercials. However, there was some entertaining and informative content to many of those hours.


What could the reason be for ending the professional relationship? I have no more insight than any other frequent listener who occasionally visits the show's Facebook page. I figure there are several basic plausible reasons, and it may be a combination of two or more of them. So in no particular order, let's consider them. Again, these are POSSIBLE reasons, I'm not stating that they ARE the reason(s).

1) Bonus Hour Content. Although I often enjoyed Sacks' Bonus Hour, it seemed those hours were increasingly becoming monologue diatribes (including pontifications about politics or how history has influenced the genetics-based behavioral tendencies of women) by Sacks. Several minutes could pass without a peep from Leykis. This was especially the case when Sacks wouldn't bring on a client or potential client to tell listeners about what they'd experienced. It seemed like fewer and fewer calls were being taken and less actual advice was being given out, with callers and listeners being encouraged to talk with Sacks off of the show.

2) Political Clashes. Although Sacks seemed to mostly agree with Leykis on libertarian principles and gender politics, the men have significant differences when it comes to politics, especially current events. I'm more aligned with Sacks, at least according to what he said on the show and what he posts/shares on Facebook. While I think Leykis is brilliant when it comes to business, hosting a talk show, and interpersonal relationships, I often think he's way off the mark when it comes to politics. An easy example is how, in the fall (or late summer) of 2016, he dismissed Trump as irrelevant and long insisted Trump had no chance of becoming President. To be fair, though, he was far from being the only commentator to make that mistake.

3) Timing of Sacks' Hour. Being a "bonus hour" that ran at 6pm Pacific, after Leykis' third hour on Tuesdays, the bonus hour made for long Tuesdays for Leykis. I wouldn't be surprised if Leykis  wanted it moved to an earlier time, on Tuesdays or another day, and Sacks was resistant because that didn't work with his hours (such as appearing in court). There are days Leykis struggles to get callers (as opposed to the days his show goes an extra hour or more because of so many callers), and he will end his show early if calls have dried up, but having a commitment to do a fourth hour prevented him from doing that on Tuesdays.

4) Disagreement Over Money. It could be that Sacks was getting diminishing returns from his involvement with the show, considering any semi-regular listener would be aware of him after all these years of being a regular presence. It could be that one or both of these guys wanted to change the terms of their agreement and they couldn't make a deal.

5) Customer Service. Reading the comments on the show's Facebook page and Yelp, there are a lot of people who claim to be very unhappy with Sacks as an attorney, most with discussions over what his fees would be. I have no way of knowing if any of the comments are true, and I suppose it is possible at least some could be bogus, but there are a lot of really bad statements. It is possible Leykis was getting too many complaints from his subscribers.


6) Personal Dispute. It could simply be a personality clash or some personal disagreement. In addition to their significant political differences, Leykis has no living children, by design, whereas Sacks is a father. There were times on the show Sacks has seemed incredulous about something Leykis said.


We may never know the whole story. Leykis can replace what Sacks brought to the show by getting other attorneys to sit in, but I would imagine that some attorneys are wary, thinking that judges and juries might be negatively prejudiced against them or their clients, given the tone the show takes towards casual drug use, gender politics, and how the legal system treats men/husbands/fathers.