Full Time Faculty

John O’Donnell

Director of the Law Library

jodonnell@wsulaw.edu

DEGREES

J.D. Indiana University, Bloomington
M.L.S. Indiana University, Bloomington
B.A. University of Massachusetts, Amherst

BIOGRAPHY

John O’Donnell is a legal research educator and information professional with a deep passion for teaching, storytelling, and making complex concepts accessible to students of all backgrounds.

He holds both a Juris Doctor and a Master of Information Sciences from Indiana University Bloomington, as well as a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. With more than 25 years of experience in legal education, John has held teaching and professional roles at all three Orange County law schools. He has co-taught Advanced Legal Research at Chapman University and served as a long-time guest lecturer in first-year legal skills courses at Whittier Law School.

At the University of California, Irvine, he taught the required legal research course for the paralegal certificate program for ten years and was honored with the “Distinguished Instructor” award in 2015. Known for his engaging and imaginative teaching style, John often uses analogies, fairy tales, and creative narratives to demystify legal research and connect with students in memorable ways.

His academic interests include information literacy, effective teaching strategies, and copyright law. He has contributed to local and regional law library newsletters and served as a contributing editor to the first edition of Copyright Law for Librarians and Educators. In 2020, he published Teaching Legal Research Using Fairy Tales and is currently working on a new article exploring the use of analogies in legal education.

John brings both scholarly rigor and a playful spirit to his work, helping students navigate the legal landscape with clarity, curiosity, and confidence.