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Many people view judges as having a glamorous and exciting job. Indeed, judges are often depicted glamorously in television and movies, and it is true that judges often hold the fates of people in their hands. Moreover, trials and related work can be a pretty exciting experience, and judges are at the helm of such proceedings. However, much of what judges do is not glamorous, and in many ways, this is why people should have even more respect for jurists.

People outside the legal profession may not be aware that many judges do not spend too much time presiding over trials. Rather, numerous jurists (especially civil judges) can spend the majority of their time overseeing the dockets of the hundreds (if not thousands) of cases they need to manage. This usually involves setting discovery deadlines, reading and responding to motions, and handling all of the other tasks associated with the administration of justice.

Sometimes, judges have court attorneys or other professionals handle administrative tasks associated with overseeing cases. However, judges often need to handle court conferences and other administrative matters themselves. This can be due to the fact that courts are understaffed or because judges want to take a hands-on approach to their cases. Anyone who has attended such proceedings can attest that such court processes are not glamorous.

Last year, I attended a settlement conference that was personally presided over by a judge. I did not know why the judge was overseeing the settlement conference when a court attorney, mediator, or anyone else really could have called the names of the cases and inquired where everyone was in the settlement process. Of course, having the judge himself oversee the conference definitely motivated the parties to be more active in trying to settle the case, but the conferences were not glamorous, and were somewhat repetitive, if not boring.

I also had a pretrial conference that was personally handled by a judge last year. All the judge did was determine if everyone was ready for trial and when the case should be set down for a trial date. It seemed like anyone could do this job, and the process was more akin to the guy using a loudspeaker at a train station to announce arrivals and departures. Of course, the parties were much more motivated to be ready for trial knowing that the judge was overseeing the conference, but this was not at all a glamorous task for the judge to handle.

Another reason why a judge’s job is not as glamorous as is thought by many people is because most judges have bosses just like everyone else. Individuals might be attracted to the sense of autonomy and power that judges have, and federal judges have probably the best job security of any position in the nation. However, judges are usually governed by administrative judges, presiding judges, chief judges, and others who can set expectations and oversee the work being done. Moreover, judges sometimes need to oversee certain types of cases before they can get the plum positions that most judges want to have.

For instance, in a jurisdiction in which I practice, judges usually need to start in family court before they can preside over civil or criminal cases. This could be part of the training process, and some judges probably want to preside over family cases, but this could be because the judiciary does not have enough judges who wish to preside over such cases, so this is the burden of the newly appointed judges. Moreover, newly appointed judges usually get the cases that other judges do not want to handle, and one way to tell if a case is not interesting to a judge is to see if it gets bounced around to new judges who are appointed to the bench. Newly appointed judges also need to complete certain menial tasks, and even the most junior Supreme Court Justice apparently needs to answer the door during private conferences and sit on the Supreme Court’s cafeteria committee.

Administrative judges and other chief jurists can impose expectations and requirements on judges just like any other boss within the legal profession. For instance, one jurisdiction in which I practice has a huge issue with delays in the time it takes to resolve lawsuits. There is a standard by which cases are supposed to be resolved, and judges who are able to meet this standard are viewed positively when it comes to promotions or other opportunities and judges who do not meet the standard can be punished. You can tell that judges in that jurisdiction are motivated to move cases along not because justice delayed is justice denied but because they don’t want the hammer to fall on them for failing to meet expectations.

All told, being a judge is a very respectable job, and I have significant regard for jurists. However, a judge’s job can be far from glamorous, and individuals should have a holistic view of what it means to serve as a judge when they view the judiciary.

Jordan Rothman is a partner of The Rothman Law Firm, a full-service New York and New Jersey law firm. He is also the founder of Student Debt Diaries, a website discussing how he paid off his student loans. You can reach Jordan through email at jordan@rothmanlawyer.com.