William was born in Jackson, Mississippi and was educated in the Jackson Public Schools, having graduated from Murrah High School in 1964. He received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Finance in 1968 and a Master of Business Administration in 1970 from the University of Southern Mississippi. William was a lieutenant in the United States Army with the Infantry Division from 1970 to 1972. He earned his law degree from the University of Mississippi in 1974 where he served as business manager of the Mississippi Law Journal. William practices with the Wright Law Firm, P.A. in Jackson where he has a state-wide practice focused primarily in the area of family law, which includes divorce, child custody, property division, marital contracts and international child abduction cases. William also mediates family law and other cases. He is listed in Best Lawyers in America in the family law area.

William has served as an executive member of the Taxation Committee of the Family Law Section of the American Bar Association. He has been active with the Mississippi Bar Association, speaking at numerous seminars and serving on different committees. William served two terms as Chairman of the Family Law Section of the Mississippi Bar Association, and served on the Board of Trustees of the Mississippi Bar Foundation. He is Past President of the Hinds County Bar Association and served on the Legal Economics Committee and the People's Law School Committee for several years. William is Mississippi's only Fellow in the e American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers.

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 currently serves on the on the Board of the Shepherd's Staff Counseling Center and formerly on the boards of the Neighborhood Christian Center and Covenant Presbyterian Preschool.

William coaches girls softball with the Northeast Jackson Youth Baseball, Inc. He and his wife, DeAnn, have two daughters, Julia, 13, and Anna, 11, and are members of the First Presbyterian Church in Jackson where he serves as an usher.