[8][9] While working as a law professor, Wright led the Global Antitrust Institute, which received significant funding from companies including Google, Apple, and Meta Platforms.

[10][11]The Wall Street Journal reported that Wright's clients ended their relationship with him in 2023 following a series of sexual misconduct allegations.

Wright has served as co-editor of the Supreme Court Economic Review and senior editor of the Antitrust Law Journal,[13] and in 2014 received the Paul M. Bator Award.

[13] In January 2013, President Barack Obama appointed Wright to serve as a commissioner of the FTC at the recommendation of Mitch McConnell.

[18] As of October 2020, Wright's clientele as a consultant included Big Tech companies Google, Amazon, and Facebook, as well as Walmart, Qualcomm, and law firm Kirkland & Ellis.

The article noted that the "institute’s leaders, including Joshua Wright, who has longstanding ties to Google, have worked closely with tech companies to fend off antitrust criticism".

[20] In 2023, Wright was given a six-month contract with Google worth $430,000 to oppose efforts by the Biden administration and congressional lawmakers to remove YouTube and other tech platforms' liability protections.

[22] The Wall Street Journal reported that, as an academic, "Wright used research papers, blogs and his legal expertise to defend U.S. tech corporations from federal antitrust regulators".

Additionally, several faculty members believed that university administrators violated the school's gift-acceptance policy by failing to review corporate donations for potential conflicts of interest.

[24] He faced allegations that abused his position as a professor and manager to pressure current and former students and employees into sexual relationships.

[24] In 2021, Wright arranged for Dorsey to have an economics fellowship at the University of Virginia with living expenses and tuition funded by Google, Amazon, and Facebook.

Dorsey stated in her Title IX complaint that she believed Wright blocked promised funding for the program in retaliation after their relationship ended.

[29] Owing to lost income, Wright urged the court to relieve him from his requirement to pay $35,000 in monthly spousal and child support payments.

[32] In the lawsuit, Wright claims that GMU engaged in sex discrimination against him, alleging that university leadership prematurely stood with his accusers because they are women.