Peter Odom Adjunct Professor WCL Adjunct Faculty
- Degrees
- B.A., Columbia University
JD, Pepperdine University School of Law - Bio
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Peter Odom is a partner at the Washington D.C. law firm of Price Benowitz, LLP. His practice currently focuses on criminal law in the D.C. Superior Court and around the D.C. metropolitan area. He has over 30 years of experience in the criminal courtroom and has tried more than 200 jury cases as lead counsel.
After joining the New Hampshire Bar in 1990, he served as prosecutor in Strafford County, trying child physical abuse, child sexual abuse, and adult rape cases. He then joined the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Homicide Unit, trying murder cases at the Superior Court level and defending appeals at the New Hampshire Supreme Court. He later joined the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office Major Case Unit, trying murder cases in Atlanta.
From 2008 until 2014, Professor Odom owned and operated The Odom Law Firm, defending criminal cases in the Atlanta metropolitan area.
From 2016 until 2019, Professor Odom served at The Pentagon as the Director of Advocacy Training and Programs for The Judge Advocate General's Corps, United States Army. In this role, he oversaw the Army's training programs for JAG attorneys trying criminal cases. He worked closely with the Chief of the JAG Criminal Bureau to develop the Army’s trial practice curriculum and served as editor-in-chief of the Army’s principal trial practice training manual, The Advocacy Trainer.
Professor Odom’s teaching credentials include serving as an instructor Georgetown University's School of Continuing Studies in Washington, DC, and at Emory University's Paralegal Studies Program in Atlanta. He is also a former trial practice instructor at the National Advocacy Center in Columbia, South Carolina. He has served as an adjunct professor at Washington College of law since 2006, teaching in both the International Master’s Program and the Trial Practice Program.
He earned his BA from Columbia University in 1984 and his JD from Pepperdine University in 1990. He is a member of the bars in New Hampshire, Georgia, Washington DC, Virginia, and Maryland.
Professor Odom is considered an expert in criminal law and trial practice, and has frequently served as a commentator on CNN, Headline News, Fox News, and Al Jazeera America. His adventures as a prosecutor involved a high-profile murder investigation can be enjoyed in Kevin Flynn’s true crime book, Wicked Intentions: The Sheila LaBarre Murders (New Horizons Press 2009).
- Areas of Specialization
- Criminal Law and Procedure
- For the Media
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