Biography
Theresa ("Terry") Wright graduated from the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, in 1977, with a focus on sociology and criminal justice. She obtained her law degree from Willamette University College of Law in 1981, and has been a member of the Oregon Bar since then, and the Washington Bar since 1987.
Wright began her legal career representing unions and employees in collective bargaining, unfair labor practices, and grievance hearings. She was in private general practice for approximately two years. She was a member of the clinical faculty at the Lewis and Clark Legal Clinic between 1990 and 2014, after teaching in the Willamette Clinic for four years. She became the director of externships in August, 2015.
Wright is very active in the Oregon legal community planning, writing materials for and speaking at continuing legal education seminars, acting as a pro bono attorney for children and survivors of domestic violence, and serving on various committees. She served on the Oregon State Bar (OSB) Board of Governors from 2006 to 2009. In the past, she was the chair of the OSB Litigation Section, Chair of the OSB’s Unlawful Practice of Law Committee, and chair of the Multnomah Bar Association (MBA)’s Equality and Judicial Screening Committees. She has served on the Bar’s Discipline Board, and Client Security Fund Committee and presently serves on the MBA’s Professionalism Committee and OSB Unlawful Practice of Law Committee.
Wright spent two months working with law school legal clinics in Croatia during the spring semester, 2002, with the American Bar Association Central and European Law Initiative (ABA/CEELI). She also worked with legal clinics in Latvia in 1999 and 2004, and trained for the ABA Rule of Law Initiative (ROLI) in Istanbul, Turkey.
Wright is a recipient of the Oregon State Bar President’s Membership Service Award for outstanding volunteer services to the profession, the Multnomah Bar Association’s Pro Bono Volunteer of the Year award, the MBA’s Award of Merit, the Oregon State Bar New Lawyers Division Pro Bono Challenge Award, and, in 2016, she received the MBA’s Pro Bono Award of Merit.