U.S. Bankruptcy Judge William J. Lafferty III of the Northern District of California describes the job of judging as “a challenging and in some ways a weirdly contradictory job.”

He says most judges he knows sought their seats on the bench to help people solve their problems. While judges occupy a seat of authority, they’re limited by the problems presented by the parties, the record before them, and precedent. “We live with all these constraints, and we understand them,” said Lafferty speaking as part of an online panel last week sponsored by the Berkeley Judicial Institute on ways that judges can seek honest feedback.