In Memoriam
John Gregory Odom was born November 29, 1951 in the small farming town of Hahira, Georgia. He graduated from Yale with a degree in English, cum laude, in 1973. He then studied for two years at The Queen’s College, Oxford and was awarded B.A. (hons) and M.A. degrees in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics. He graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1978, and was admitted to the Georgia Bar immediately upon graduation.
After practicing for several years in Savannah and Washington, Mr. Odom moved to New Orleans in 1982 and was a member in the business litigation section of a major regional law firm until 1990. In the spring of that year he withdrew to form his own firm, which evolved into Odom & Des Roches, LLC.
Mr. Odom tried jury cases in a wide variety of litigation areas. It may fairly be said that the first half of his forty-two year litigation career was spent largely on the defense side and the latter half largely on the plaintiffs’ side. Over the years his trial practice focused, at various times, on personal injury, banking, RICO, securities, accounting malpractice, and for the last twenty years, antitrust class actions.
Mr. Odom’s trial practice inevitably led to an active appellate practice, and in 1998 he briefed and argued the case of Rivet vs. Regions Bank before the United States Supreme Court. This resulted in a 9-0 Supreme Court victory for the firm’s client, reversing both the United States District Court and Court of Appeals below. He was a member of the Georgia Bar, the Louisiana Bar, and the District of Columbia Bar, all by examination, and was a member of the bars of numerous federal courts throughout the United States. For over 30 years he was rated “AV” by Martindale-Hubbell, and is listed in Martindale’s Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers.