Hon. Steven K. Austin (Ret.) joined ADR Services, Inc. in 2022 after a distinguished 23 years of judicial service as a Judge of the Superior Court for the County of Contra Costa.
Judge Austin was appointed to the bench by former Governor Pete Wilson in 1998. He served primarily in the Civil Department, with additional assignments in Family Law and Criminal Trials. For 13 years, Judge Austin managed a busy Civil Direct assignment caseload, where he was responsible for all case management, law and motion, discovery, settlement conferences, and trials. He became widely renowned for proactively and successfully settling his cases, conducting close to 1,000 settlement conferences over the course of his judicial career.
In addition, Judge Austin was deeply involved in Court leadership and worked tirelessly to promote better access to the court system for the underserved. He served six years as Civil Supervising Judge, five years as Supervising Judge of the Pittsburgh Branch, and served as a member of the Court’s Executive Committee for more than a decade. From 2013 to 2017, he served as the Court’s Assistant Presiding Judge and Presiding Judge. He was also an elected member of the Executive Committee of the Statewide Presiding Judges Advisory Committee and helped launch Community Homeless Court in 2008.
