William was born in Jackson, Mississippi, educated in the Jackson Public Schools and graduated from Murrah High School. He received a Bachelor of Business Administration in 1968 and a Master of Business Administration in 1970 from the University of Southern Mississippi. William served in the United States Army as a lieutenant with the 1st Infantry Division from 1970 to 1972. He earned his law degree from the University of Mississippi in 1974, and served as business manager of the Mississippi Law Journal.

William practices with Heidelberg Patterson Welch Wright LLC in Ridgeland.  William has developed a statewide practice limited to the family law area, which includes divorce, child custody, property division, adoption, marital contracts and international child abduction cases. He also mediates family law cases. His former firm, Wright Gregg & Proctor, has been selected several times as one of the Best Firms for family law in America by U.S. News & World Report. 

Over the past 30 years, William has been lead counsel in numours Mississippi appellate court decisions that have had significant impact on the body of family law in Mississippi.

William has been listed in Best Lawyers in America in family law since 2001 and was named Lawyer of the Year in Family Law for 2013, 2017, 202 and 2024. He also has been listed in the Mid-South edition of SuperLawyers in family law since its inception. In 2008, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017, William was named one of the top 50 lawyers in Mississippi in all categories by SuperLawyers. In 2010, The Mississippi Business Journal included him as one of 50 Mississippi lawyers in that publication’s initial Leadership in Law Class. William is rated "AV" by Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory.

William has served on the Taxation Committee of the Family Law Section of the American Bar Association. He has been active with the Mississippi Bar and has served on numerous committees. William served two terms as Chairman of the Family Law Section of the Mississippi Bar and served on the Board of Trustees of the Mississippi Bar Foundation. William served as a Mississippi Bar Commissioner from 2006 to 2009 served from 2010 to 2013 on the Committee on Professional Responsibility. He is Past President of the Capital Area Bar Association and served on its Legal Economics Committee and People's Law School Committee for several years. William received the CABA "Professionalism Award" for 2015.

William is a fellow in the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and the state’s only fellow in the International Academy of Family Lawyers. William is one of only 100 family lawyers in America elected as diplomats in the American College of Family Trial Lawyers (Emeritus). He served for several years on the editorial board of The Matrimonial Strategist where many of William’s articles have been published nationally. William is a frequent speaker on family law topics, and in 2004 was asked by the University of Texas School of Law to be Moderator for the School's Symposium on The Civil Aspects of Internatioinal Child Abduction (Hague Convention).

William is a past Chairman of the Board of Directors of the YMCA of Metropolitan Jackson, past Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Downtown YMCA, and is a member of the Leadership Jackson Alumni Association. He is a member of the USM Alumni Association, the USM M-Club Alumni Association, and the University of Mississippi Alumni Association. William is a member of the Lamar Order, and has served on the Board of Directors of the USM Foundation. He has served two terms on the Board of Directors of The Shepherd's Staff Counseling Center and formerly served as President and board member of the Neighborhood Christian Center and board member of Covenant Presbyterian Preschool. William has been a member of the Mississippi Museum of Art, Craftsman’s Guild of Mississippi, Madison County Foundation, Greater Jackson Chamber Partnership and Ridgeland Chamber of Commerce.

William and his wife, DeAnn, have two daughters; Julia, a marriage and family therapist in Jackson with the Turning Point; and Anna Wright Puckett, a pharmacist at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.  The Wrights are members of First Presbyterian Church in Jackson.