Samuel T. Wright III
Samuel T. Wright III is a former justice of the Kentucky Supreme Court. He was elected to the Supreme Court in November 2015, and lost re-election in 2020.
Early life
Wright was born and raised in Letcher County, Kentucky.Education
He received an associate degree from Hazard Community College and his bachelor's degree from the University of Kentucky. He earned his Juris Doctor from University of Kentucky College of Law.Judicial career
Wright previously worked as a trial judge for more than 23 years in Letcher County. He was serving in his fourth term as Letcher County Circuit Court judge when he was elected to the Supreme Court.He was first appointed to fill a vacancy on Circuit Court by Governor Brereton Jones in 1993 and was then elected. Prior to taking the Circuit Court bench, Justice Wright was the District Court judge for Letcher County for a year.
Prior to becoming a judge, Justice Wright was practicing law as an attorney. After graduating law school in 1981, he returned to Eastern Kentucky to join the law firm of Cook and Wright. He went on to open his own law practice in 1989.