Born and raised in North East Ohio, Tom Woodward attended and graduated from Culver Military Academy, Culver, Indiana. He received his BS degree in Business Pre-Law at Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio, where he was also commissioned as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army. Deferring his law school, he went on active duty in 1969 and served a combat tour in Vietnam. He attended and graduated with a Juris Doctor degree from Cleveland State University-Cleveland Marshall College of Law in early 1974 and moved with his family to Tallahassee, Florida. He spent two years as counsel for the minority party, Florida House of Representatives, when, in 1976, he opened his private law practice.

During this time, he joined a local U.S. Army Reserve Unit, graduated from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College and in August 1997 he retired from the reserve force as a Lieutenant Colonel, His Bankruptcy practice started in 1979 and continues. Besides his extensive experience in individual and business Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, he also has extensive experience in individual debt reorganization under Chapter 13 and 11 Bankruptcy, He has represented large apartment complexes in the Tampa and Orlando, Florida area reorganize under Chapter 11 Bankruptcy and continues to represent medium size business and individuals, who do not qualify for Chapter 13 Bankruptcy because of debt limits, under Chapter 11 reorganization across the Big Bend area of North Florida.