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Hollywood stars and business moguls alike are paying retired jurists to quietly handle their civil disputes outside the glare of public courthouses, a practice some warn is creating a secret justice system for the rich and famous.

Under California law, the parties to a lawsuit can agree to hire a private judge who, unlike those paid to act as mediators or arbitrators, issue rulings that can be appealed.

Such cases are still subject to the same public access requirements of trials held in court, but often many of them prove difficult to track. Proceedings are held in private offices and documents don't always make it into the public record.

Two high-profile divorce cases -- one involving Michael Jackson, the other supermarket magnate Ronald Burkle -- has helped reignite the debate over private judges after the media was denied access to proceedings and case files.

''It's relatively easy for a temporary judge to be lax at the behest of the parties,'' said Los Angeles County Superior Court Presiding Judge William A. MacLaughlin, who is overseeing reform designed to prevent elite litigants from buying secrecy in public court proceedings.

Retired Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Stephen Lachs, who was paid to decide the Jackson and Burkle cases, said private judges are a popular option because they can devote more time to resolve cases quicker than the regular system.

Among the celebrity couples who have hired their own judge to oversee their divorce proceedings are Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt; Charlie Sheen and Denise Richards; and Renee Zellweger and Kenny Chesney.

Experts say no one but an appellate court can force a retired judge to observe all the rules of access and disclosure, but that can often be cost-prohibitive.

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