Douglas J. Wood is a consultant, author, and advisor to lawyers and law firms on business development, practice growth, and succession planning. He spent more than four decades practicing law—first establishing and running his own successful firm from the ground up, and later serving for more than twenty years as a senior partner at a global law firm, where he founded and led an international media and advertising law practice. He also served on that firm’s global executive committee and managed its New York office.

Today, Doug helps lawyers build practices that succeed—and leave them with intention. He advises attorneys at all stages of their careers on generating business, strengthening client relationships, and planning for the eventual transition of their practices. His work emphasizes practical strategies, long-term thinking, and the importance of aligning professional success with personal goals and legacy.

He is the author of the award-winning memoir Asshole Attorney: Musings, Memories, and Missteps in a 40-Year Career and the Amazon bestseller From Dawn to Dusk: How to Build a Multimillion-Dollar Law Practice and Then Give It Away, which serves as the foundation for his consulting and speaking engagements. He is also the host of the From Dawn to Dusk podcast, where he interviews accomplished lawyers who have built significant practices and successfully transitioned to the next phase of their professional and personal lives. These conversations provide real-world insight into both the “Dawn” of building a career and the “Dusk” of stepping away from it.

Doug’s path to success was far from conventional. After a modest undergraduate record, he was rejected by 24 law schools before being admitted to the newly established Franklin Pierce Law Center. There, he graduated at the top of his class and went on to earn an LL.M. from New York University School of Law. With no built-in client base or professional network, he developed a disciplined approach to business development—ultimately building a multimillion-dollar practice and rising to senior leadership within a global law firm.

He has been consistently recognized among the world’s leading practitioners by Chambers, The Legal 500, The Best Lawyers in America, and Super Lawyers, and is a member of The Legal 500 Advertising Law Hall of Fame. He has also taught advertising law as an adjunct professor at the University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law and University College Cork in Ireland.

In addition to his consulting work, Doug is an accomplished author of both fiction and nonfiction, including multiple award-winning books. His novels reflect the same real-world experience and insight that inform his work with lawyers and law firms. His complete body of work can be found at douglasjwood.com.

Doug lives in North Carolina with his wife, Carol Ann. They have three grown children and five grandchildren.