Judges in the Massachusetts legal community yesterday learned how it feels to be on the other side of the bench, switching roles with lawyers as they discussed pre- and post-trial jury issues as part of Boston’s second annual Bench-Bar Symposium.

In each panel, two attorneys and four judges, all of the Superior Court, exchanged their own experiences in hopes of improving the Massachusetts court system’s practices to better serve the public, especially when working with the many jurors who go through the system. Massachusetts issues about 1.2 million jury summonses each year, many of which end up in Suffolk County students’ mailboxes.

“These panels let the lawyer know how judges think and breaks assumptions made by both sides,” said Massachusetts Bar Association President David White Jr.

The first panel focused on extracting useful information from jurors, the second on giving them post-trial instructions.

The MBA, the nonprofit organization that hosted the event comprised of judges, lawyers and other legal professionals looking to promote legal education, holds several similar symposiums each year to encourage conversation between judges and lawyers in Massachusetts.

“The dialogue is very good and it continues through the court and the Bar,” said Peabody attorney Robert Holloway. “We have to work together for change.”

Before attendees broke out into panels, they heard an annual address from Chief Justice Margaret Marshall, once a leader in student efforts against apartheid in her native South Africa and now the second woman to hold the position on the Supreme Judicial Court.

In her address at the John Adams Courthouse, Marshall outlined the Bar Association’s achievements from the past year, which include initiatives that have improved management in state courts and also a successful campaign to make all arguments heard in the Supreme Judicial Court available online.

Marshall said the advancements are vital to ensure a speedy legal process, keep up with the times and continue to provide justice for citizens.

“It was a great description of the improvements and innovations in the Massachusetts court system, and it remarks what the MBA wants to achieve,” said Andrew Perlman, associate professor at the Suffolk University Law School and panelist at the symposium.