John M. True, III retired from the Alameda County Superior Court in 2015. While on the bench, he served in various capacities, presiding over civil trials and other civil proceedings, criminal calendar departments and in the Superior Court Appellate Department. For three years, Judge True served on the Juvenile Court, handling both delinquency and dependency matters.

Before taking the bench, Judge True spent many years practicing labor and employment law on behalf of unions and employees. Judge True received his law degree from the U.C. Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall) 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.

While on the bench, Judge True has presided over numerous settlement conferences in civil matters. Since retirement, he is an active mediator and arbitrator.  During the course of his career, Judge True has taught Employment Law, Labor Law and other courses as an adjunct faculty member at Berkeley Law and several other Bay Area law schools. He currently teaches Labor Law at Stanford Law School.  He is a Fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers was elected to the American Law Institute in 2006.