Adjunct Professors Rich Harper and Ben Odom ('04) bring business insight and real-world experience to FSU Law’s AI and the Law Seminar.
By: Andrea Thomas
Artificial intelligence is transforming industries at an unprecedented pace — and Florida State University College of Law is helping students stay ahead of that curve. Through their week-long AI and the Law seminar, Rich Harper and Ben Odom ('04) prepare future lawyers to engage with emerging technologies ethically, strategically, and with confidence.
Harper, an established business tort and contract litigator, serves as Partner-in-Charge of Baker Botts’ New York office and is Co-chair of the firm’s Artificial Intelligence Practice Group. He has represented a wide variety of corporate clients, including Liberty Media, NASCAR, QVC, PepsiCo, and Mastercard. While maintaining a national litigation practice, Harper founded his firm’s AI group to bring together lawyers from multiple disciplines to advise clients navigating rapidly evolving regulations.
“AI is evolving very quickly as a technology tool for corporate America,” Harper explained. “Our clients need real-time, practical advice to manage the legal issues arising from AI use.”
Odom, an FSU Law alumnus (’04) and Vice President of Business and Legal Affairs at NASCAR, brings two decades of corporate and in-house experience to the classroom. After starting his career as in-house counsel at International Speedway Corporation, he quickly learned the value of understanding every facet of the business to anticipate risk and identify opportunity.
“The best in-house attorneys know when to be generalists and when to be specialists,” Odom said. “That adaptability is what makes them indispensable.”
Following the merger of ISC and NASCAR, Odom was promoted to vice president at NASCAR and now oversees legal and business operations for one of the world’s most recognized sports organizations.
“There are very few parts of the law that NASCAR doesn’t touch,” Odom said. “We deal with land ownership, international operations, media, technology, employment, litigation, and even SEC matters.”
Harper and Odom first met during a shareholder class action that followed the 2019 merger of ISC and NASCAR. Their collaboration during that high-stakes litigation sparked both a friendship and a shared passion for teaching.
“When we worked on that case together, it was like a well-oiled machine,” Odom recalled. “That partnership became the foundation for our friendship — and for our class.”
Their decision to teach at FSU was inspired by Odom’s deep connection to his alma mater and Dean Erin O’Hara O’Connor’s forward-thinking approach to AI education.
“Dean O’Connor was cutting-edge in recognizing AI as a fast-developing frontier,” Odom said. “She wanted students to have resources available immediately — and Florida State was among the first law schools to offer something like this.”
Odom and Harper’s AI and the Law seminar debuted during the Spring Semester of 2024 and immersed students in the rapidly evolving relationship between technology and law. With no existing casebooks to draw from, they built the seminar around current events, real-world examples, and practical applications. They share, “As co-teachers, we bring different perspectives as an in-house lawyer and as a law firm litigator. And every time we’ve taught the seminar, we’ve brought in guest lecturers from government and academia, as well as additional in-house and law firm lawyers. We think multiple perspectives help students to better understand the technology.”
After taking a short hiatus (they also taught the seminar during the 2024 Fall Semester), they plan to relaunch the program in Spring 2026, continuing to blend business insight with cutting-edge legal analysis.
“Because AI evolves so quickly, one of our main goals is to build students’ fluency with the technology while moving them up the learning curve on the legal issues that surround it,” Harper explained.
Both professors agree that the most valuable takeaway from the seminar is preparing students to communicate effectively across disciplines.
“Lawyers are one seat at the business table,” Odom said. “The better an attorney understands the challenges and motives of other departments, the more effective they’ll be as advisors. Students who can translate between engineers and executives will lead boardroom conversations about risk, governance, and strategy.”
Harper and Odom take pride in the engagement and professionalism of FSU Law students, many of whom have shared that the course eased their anxiety about AI’s impact on their future careers.
“Some students worried they might be replaced by technology,” Odom said. “It’s rewarding to help them see that AI is a tool — one that can make them better, more efficient attorneys.” Harper added, “Ethical duties don’t disappear with a new technology—they get amplified. The duties of competence, of communication, and supervision are critically important as lawyers tackle a fast-emerging technology.”
As AI continues to reshape industries, Harper and Odom view their seminar as a means to ensure that FSU Law graduates remain leaders in an evolving legal landscape.
“Twenty years from now,” Harper reflected, “we want our students to look back and say ‘when this technology was taking off, we were right there — learning, adapting, and preparing for it together.’”