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.

You assisted President Clinton's personal lawyers with press interviews?

That's when I was working at the law firm Williams & Connolly in Washington, D.C. I was sort of attached to a lawyer there who was the Clintons' personal lawyer. So certainly, as you can imagine, being the president's personal lawyer, you're representing...you're taking interviews and doing the like, so a couple of times I would sit in on interviews really to witness interviews. You've got to make sure that people are accurate when they're writing down what you're saying. Especially when you're representing the leader of the free world. That was a great job. I didn't go back to that firm because I came back to Los Angeles. It was a great opportunity there.

Did you rub elbows with Clinton?

I've met President Clinton, but I've never rubbed elbows with him. (laughs)

Have you met the formidable Judge Judy Sheindlin?

She hired me. She actually is the one who recommended when I got the job that I get some experience working as a judge pro tem. That served me well because I think there's a huge learning curve. I learned a lot from her. She really made herself available to mentor and to tutor. It's very different going from being a lawyer and doing what I did, to being a judge on television arbitrating small claims cases in front of millions of people.

She ran you through her "Judge Judy course."

When we were getting started, all of us, she really made herself available. It was a lot of hard work. There were some moments that were obviously more challenging than others, but I feel like now we're in the flow and really getting a feel for it. I'm trying really hard to do the right thing, and I'm definitely enjoying it.

What was the challenge?

If you want to be candid, one of the challenges, frankly, was just time. Figuring out how we're going to make sure that we're giving weight to all the different parts of this case. And the cases aren't always that complicated. There are three of us who are interested in three different parts of the case, and we've got to make sure we've covered the whole thing. We tape a week's worth of shows in a day. It's really just making sure that people have a takeaway and understand what you're doing. You also have to make sure that you're hitting the legally relevant parts of the case. The more you do it, the more you kind of get where to go next and you can sort of pick up on where the last person left off. It's been fascinating to me, having this sort of interaction with litigants.

Off-camera, behind chamber doors, are you all arguing and yelling at each other conflicted about agreeing on a decision?

We really get into it. You see that. I think that's one of the things that people like most about the show are the deliberations backstage because the deliberations are in our chambers. They don't normally see that. People hear judicial decisions, even when it's a multi-judge panel, they hear the ultimate result, but they don't have the chance to listen to judges - to the people who are going to issue the decision. They never get the chance to really hear them hash it out.

I'm wondering what's being edited out of those discussions.

You guys get the good parts! This is what I was saying before about some of the challenges. Sometimes we're back there in our chambers arguing over things that sound really boring. They might be some arcane legal point or another, but it's something we've got to settle. So some of that stuff might not be as interesting to the viewer. What we like to do is to try and give them something they're going to enjoy watching but get some sort of takeaway from.

Has there been a case that's stood out from the rest?

I've got to be super candid. We've had every type cycle. We've had cases that touch on federal and constitutional questions. Sometimes people come on and they are able to resolve their disputes. We had a case involving a little kid whose name was Barack Obama.

No way.

Yes! I think he was 7. I think it was a neighbor suing his mother over a rock that he'd thrown. The mom said he didn't do it. Little Barack Obama... I asked him a few questions, he very gently, sweetly admitted it and apologized. We've had some fun moments on the show. Sometimes it's more serious, sometimes it's lighthearted. We get such a wide diversity of cases. They really run the gamut.

I could just see the headlines: Little Barack Obama throws rock...

(Laughs) I know, exactly!

Have you received flak from your peers for going "commercial?"

No. My peers, the people who I've worked with before, are really supportive. They love it. Some of them have said they didn't used to watch court shows, but I guess that can change when your friend's on TV. My peers have been absolutely supportive.

If you see someone doing something not so "kosher," shall we say, what do you do?

It depends on what it is. Are they intruding on me, my space? Are they intruding on somebody else's space? If you walk your dog in front of my house and don't pick up after it, I will absolutely say something to you. I don't really feel like it's my position when I'm not working, to run around passing judgment on people.

Since you like doing TV and have experience also as a media consultant and commentator, what about having your own talk show?

We just got picked up for season three. One job at a time.

Maybe a cameo on a TV series?

If you know of anybody, you've got my number now! (laughs)

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.