Tanya Acker's law career has brought her from working with Bill Clinton to settling legal dust-ups on national television as an arbitrator on "Hot Bench," the nationally syndicated CBS series which is gearing up for its third season.
But despite the high-profile gigs, Acker, an attorney, prefers to keep it low-key. She says she maintains a core group of friends and family as the "absolute key 100 percent most important thing. Period." This ACLU's First Amendment Award recipient enjoys being married and appreciates having a private life with no drama, since on a daily basis she wades through some crazy situations people find themselves in. And she has a "bug" to travel to Montana, it's a bit of a challenge for this Los Angeles-born optimist to find time.
In an exclusive interview with Headlines & Global News, Acker dishes about her life in the legal world and what it's like to be on the "Hot Bench."
HNGN: Shall I call you "your honor"?
ACKER: (Chuckle) No, you really shouldn't. The show is binding arbitration. So, I'm an arbitrator. I wasn't a judge before the show. Larry (Bakman) and I are both lawyers. Patricia (DiMango) was a judge before she came on, and the cases we get are real, of course, and the decisions, it's binding arbitration. That's my long way of saying, "Please do not." (laughs).
But didn't you serve as a temporary judge in Superior Court?
Yes, that's judge pro tem. Basically, it's a training that lawyers can do, and if you're admitted to the program, you can then volunteer at the Superior Court and help them resolve some of their crowded dockets. I've done that. It's a temporary judge.
You get to wear the robes!
Yes, (chuckles) you get to wear the outfit.
With such a solid legal background, what attracted you to television?
I've always liked working on television. It's an interesting question. Now that I think about it, when I had the chance to do it, I really jumped at it. It feels really comfortable for me. I like the idea of being able to communicate with a lot of different people. I find it really exciting. It's certainly a different course from the one that I may have taken, but I love it. It's fun. It feels natural. I feel really grateful to be a part of this platform that reaches so many people. I'm really enjoying it.
It's a different thing, but when you think about it, trial lawyers are very theatrical when addressing a jury...
When I entered private practice, it was really with an eye toward being an appellate lawyer. I've done some trial work, which I also I really, really enjoy. I've got to say, the professional satisfaction you get of getting a jury verdict in your favor, that is a sort of high. Oh, my goodness. Especially after something that's been highly contested. This ("Hot Bench") is really different, and I love it.
Speaking of shows on TV, do you watch law shows like "The Good Wife?"
I haven't in a while. I watched it a while back when it first came on, and then I just...you know my DVR got too gosh darn crowded! I had to whittle some things down. Now, I gravitate toward the non-legal shows, with a few exceptions. I'm captivated like everybody else by "Making A Murderer." I like a good fantasy. Still waiting for "Game Of Thrones" to come back, I'm mourning the last season of "Downton Abby."
You're actively involved with multiple causes including The Reinvent Communities?
I've worked with The Reinvent Communities on different projects for a long time. They started this challenge as part of the larger initiative being led by the White House and others to improve the status of boys and men of color. The idea behind the challenge is to solicit ideas from people about what they would do to improve conditions in disadvantaged communities.
What I like about it is that it's community ground-based solutions to a problem. The best people to solve a problem are the people who are living it, breathing it, live with its consequences, understand all the different layers of it and don't try to sound-bite it. So the purpose of the challenge is to elicit ideas from those people. It's a chance to remind everybody that people are more creative than we sometimes give ourselves credit for. I think a lot of what we're hearing about our own abilities and our own possibilities and opportunities are really negative. We're being told so often that this isn't possible, everything is going down the tubes. Sometimes I feel like we've almost forgotten how great we all can be. We've forgotten our potential because we're drowning in all this negativity. The negativity is real, but I think there are creative ways around it and out of it. I want to listen and help how I can. I think kids in these communities need help. They don't just need to be talked about on social media. They need to know what sorts of opportunities out there there are and how they can go get them. We're so busy talking at them and about them, we're often not taking to them or hearing what it is they have think we should do a better job trying to hear them.
