Thomas Wright

Thomas D. Wright is a Santa Rosa, California, family law mediator and private judge whose litigation practice ended in 2020. He remains an active California attorney. At the Arbitration and Mediation Center, where he is a panelist, his work has been limited to family law mediation and private judging since 2023.

Before that change, Wright spent 24 years as a California State Bar Board Certified Family Law Specialist. His trial record includes more than 50 contested family law cases taken to verdict; the trials ranged from one day to seventeen days. His family law background includes custody, support and property disputes, including disputes over community and separate interests in businesses. From 1983 through 2020, he also negotiated or argued hundreds of contested family law motions and related matters.

In mediation, Wright works with people who have attorneys representing them. His preparation includes both basic and advanced Gary Friedman mediation courses, collaborative law training and the Harvard negotiation training program “Getting to Yes.” He has also taken mediation training with other Sonoma County mediators.

Teaching has been another part of his work. Wright taught Community Property Law at Empire College School of Law during the academic years 2022 through 2025. In September 2025, he provided continuing education to the Sonoma County Bar on “Civility in the Practice of Family Law.”