Bio
Adjunct Professor John M. True, III served as a judge on the Alameda County Superior Court from 2003 until his retirement in 2015. From 2008 until 2015, he presided over civil trials and other civil proceedings in Oakland, California. He was the Chair of the Court’s ADR Administration Committee and now practices in the field of private alternative dispute resolution.
Before taking the bench, Judge True spent many years practicing labor and employment law on behalf of unions and employees. Right before his judicial appointment, he was a partner at the San Francisco Bay Area firm of Leonard Carder, LLP (from 2000 to 2003), and before that at Rudy Exelrod Zieff & True (1994 to 2000). From 1985 to 1994 he was a Senior Staff Attorney at what is now known as Legal Aid At Work. He began his legal career in 1975 as a Field Attorney in the San Francisco and Oakland offices of the National Labor Relations Board.
Judge True received his law degree from the UC Berkeley School of Law in 1975. Prior to law school, Judge True served as a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer in Nepal from 1966 to 1969 and as the Assistant Director of the Peace Corps program in Afghanistan from 1969 to 1972.
During the course of his career, Judge True has taught Employment Law, Labor Law and other courses as an adjunct faculty member at UC Berkeley, Hastings, Stanford and other Bay Area law schools. His publications include contributions to numerous treatises and articles on
labor and employment law and alternative dispute resolution. He has been a Fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers since 2001 and was elected in 2008 to the American Law Institute.