A professional who arbitrates disputes, advises counsel, jury, litigants, or court personnel, and administers judicial system. Responsibilities include:

• Establishes rules of procedure on questions for which standard procedures have not been established by law or by superior court.
• Reads or listens to allegations made by plaintiff in civil suits to determine their sufficiency.
• Examines evidence in criminal cases to determine if evidence will support charges.
• Listens to presentation of case, rules on admissibility of evidence and methods of conducting testimony, and settles disputes between opposing attorneys.
• Instructs jury on applicable law and directs jury to deduce facts from evidence presented.
• Sentences defendant in criminal cases, on conviction by jury, according to statutes of state or federal government, or awards judicial relief to litigants in civil cases in relation to findings by jury or by court.
• May be designated according to level of court in judicial hierarchy as Appellate-Court Judge; District-Court Judge; Municipal-Court Judge; Superior-Court Judge; Supreme-Court Justice.
• May preside over particular court department and be designated Conciliation-Court Judge; Criminal-Court Judge; Juvenile-Court Judge; Probate Judge.