LSU Law Dean Tom Galligan Jr. received the James Huntington Odom and Patricia Kleinpeter Odom Professorship, approved by Louisiana State University Office of Academic Affairs.
Galligan took over as Dean of the LSU Law Center in July 2016, after previously serving as president of Colby-Sawyer College in New London, N.H., from 2006-16 and dean of the University of Tennessee College of Law from 1998-2006.
After earning his J.D. from the University of Puget Sound (now Seattle University) School of Law and his L.L.M from Columbia University Law School, Galligan taught torts, admiralty, UCC sales, remedies, comparative tort law and advanced tort theory at the Paul M. Hebert Law Center, where he was named the Dr. Dale E. Bennett Professor of Law in 1997 and was honored by the students as the Outstanding LSU Professor six times.
The James Huntington Odom and Patricia Kleinpeter Odom Professorship was established in 2014 by Patricia Kleinpeter Odom in honor of her late husband. Mr. Odom was born in Baton Rouge, and he was a graduate of Baton Rouge High School. In 1982, he was named to their Hall of Fame.
He attended LSU and graduated in 1951. Upon graduation, Mr. Odom was commissioned as an Infantry Second Lieutenant and was called to active duty in July 1951. Following his honorable discharged in 1953, he entered the LSU Law School, where he was an Associate Editor of the Louisiana Law Review and Chief Justice of the Honor Court.
Upon law school graduation in 1956, he and his long-time friend, John S. White, Jr., formed a law firm currently known as Kennon, Odom and Dardenne. In addition to a full law practice, Mr. Odom devoted countless hours to religious, social, professional, civic and community work. He was grateful for the education that he received from the LSU Law Center, and left a bequest to ensure future students continue to receive an outstanding legal education.
