Thomas D. Wright completed his undergraduate work at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon, earning a BS degree in 1974 and a teaching credential at the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon, in 1975.

After teaching in Oregon for a number of years, he attended Empire Law School in Santa Rosa and obtained his JD in 1982. Tom's practice has always emphasized family law; in 1996, he became a Board Certified Specialist in Family Law by the State Bar of California.

Over the last 22 years, Tom has acquired substantial litigation and trial experience in the area of family law. He has served as a mediator and private judge in his private practice since 1998. Tom has been a Judge Pro Tem for the Sonoma County Superior Court since 1991 engaging in Pre-Trial Settlement Conferences, family law Orders to Show Cause and Case Management Conferences.

In 1996, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors awarded Tom the Judge Pro Tem of the year certificate for his volunteer work on particularly difficult family law matters.

Tom has completed advanced mediation training at Gary Friedman's Center for Mediation in Law and course work qualifying him as a collaborative law attorney from Chip Rose in Santa Rosa. He has completed mediation training through Goldman Negotiation Seminar in San Francisco and the Harvard Negotiation Project at the US District Court in San Francisco, California.

Tom is a member of the Family Law, Alternative Dispute Resolution and Collaborative Law Sections of the Sonoma County Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the State Bar of California, and The Richard Sangster Inns of Court.

Tom was on the Sonoma County Legal Aid Board of Directors (2001-2004); he is on the Advisory Board and Instructor for Grandparents Parenting Again and a panel attorney for the Sonoma County Council on Aging. Tom has been a member of the Salvation Army Santa Rosa Advisory Board from 2002 to the present.

"Creative strategies for settlement and resolution in a divorce are imperative for the parties who are forever bound together by their children. Even without issues involving children in the dispute, the parties can employ civility and come to a creative and mutually satisfying result by keeping an open mind and utilizing a trained and experienced mediator."

"The issues in family law usually have an emotional component that can magnify the intensity of the discussions. Mediation allows both parties the opportunity to fully address all of their interests and issues, and to create resolution options far beyond what might be relevant in a courtroom."

- Thomas D. Wright