Chief U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg of the Northern District of California says the adversarial system is “wonderful” for about 95% of what judges do. But he said he and his colleagues on the bench are “kind of doing it on our own” when in comes to choosing the right lawyers or leadership structure to represent plaintiffs in class actions or multidistrict litigation.

“The defense side is saying we don’t have a dog in this fight,” said Seeborg, addressing an audience at the Western Alliance Bank Class Action Forum earlier this week. “On the plaintiff side, when they’re positioning to have a leadership position, [they’re] often adverse to each other.”