Judge Mike Wood is available to serve as mediator, arbitrator, and special judge.*
Judge Wood was one of the early Harris County mediators, mediating over 150 civil litigation and probate matters from 1991 to 1993. As a judge, he found this skill useful in successfully mediating settlements in cases pending in his court.
Judge Wood served as Presiding Judge of Harris County Probate Court No. 2 for twenty-five (25) years and as Administrative Judge of the Probate Courts of Harris County.
Judge Wood served on the Texas Judicial Council from 1997 until 2003. Judge Wood was the President of the National College of Probate Judges, serving on the Executive Committee of the NCPJ for eight years and as Editor/Publisher of the Journal of the NCPJ. Judge Wood was a delegate to the Third Guardianship Summit in 2011 and a member of the Task Force on the Revision of the National Probate Court Standards.
Judge Wood presided over a Harris County probate docket which involved probating approximately 40 estates a week and supervising a docket of over 1,200 guardianships, the largest probate docket in the State of Texas. As a Texas Statutory Probate Judge, his court's trial docket included inter vivos and testamentary trusts and suits by or against estate representatives and guardians he appointed who were parties to lawsuits in his court.
Judge Wood presided over complex contested jury and non-jury trials in will contests, trust disputes, and personal injury suits, including products liability and medical negligence cases. The jury trials over which he presided lasted from several days to several weeks, including one trial of more than five months.
Judge Wood has been a frequent speaker and author for legal seminars for State Bar of Texas, Houston Bar Association, DELAA, ATP, University of Texas School of Law, University of Houston Bates College of Law, South Texas Law School, and Texas Southern University Thurgood Marshall School of Law.
*A Special Judge is authorized under Chapter 151, Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code, to try non-jury cases by agreement which may be appealed to the Texas appellate courts as in other cases.