ODOM & SPARKS - Key Persons

Ben Odom has thirty-four years of legal experience and expertise including commercial transactions and litigation, medical corporate law, election and non-profit compliance law, as well as estate planning and real estate matters. He practices before all Oklahoma State Courts and the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma. In 1984, Ben graduated from the University of Oklahoma College of Law having attended as only the third Oklahoman to be named a Truman Scholar. He then practiced with the Norman firm of Cate and Odom with then Senator Lee Cate. Ben engaged in a wide variety of civil, administrative, and health care law, as well as estate planning and real estate matters. Subsequently, Ben formed Pitchlynn, Odom, Morse, Ritter, and Morse. The firm represented many of the leading businesses and governmental authorities in Cleveland County. During this period, he also handled numerous indigent criminal clients as a court-appointed public defender, and taught criminal law as an adjunct professor at the University of Oklahoma as a result of this work. In 1995, Ben created English and Odom where he specialized in medical corporate law, estate planning, probate, and civil litigation. The firm also served as counsel for the Cleveland County Industrial Authority and other matters in which compliance issues were of increasing importance in the law. Following the ill health of Mr. English, Ben became a solo practitioner focused primarily in the area of medical business matters, and the growing field of election law and compliance. Since the founding of Odom, Sparks, & Jones in 2008, Ben has been the lead attorney in the firm's representation of local financial institutions, water and environmental clients, corporate mergers and acquisitions, and business planning and development. The Cleveland County Bar Association was named Outstanding Bar Association in the state for the period of Ben's tenure as President. He served as a board member for the University of Central Oklahoma Foundation, is Past Chairman of the Board of the Intercollegiate Legislature Foundation and is a Past-President of the Norman Lion's Club. He served as Chair of the Board of Directors for the United Way of Norman in 2018. He previously served as the President of the Council for Developmental Disabilities, a non-profit corporation which provided housing and jobs for mentally challenged adults. Ben is well known in both the areas of politics and public affairs. He has been a nominee for U.S. Congress and elected State Vice-Chairman of his political Party. Ben hosted his own radio and television programs for several years, appears as a commentator for OETA, was a guest host for KFOR's Flashpoint television program, and is in regular demand as a public speaker statewide. For eight years he was also a regular commentator on KTOK radio on legal and political issues. Originally from McAlester, Ben and his wife Teresa Craig, M.D., a radiation oncologist, are active members of St. John's Episcopal Church, where Ben served for years as the Senior Warden.

Michael Ridgeway's legal experience ranges from representing individuals and companies to serving as General Counsel for both domestic and foreign government financial regulatory agencies. In addition to general litigation and appeals, Michael has prosecuted and defended state and federal administrative proceedings, written and lobbied for legislation, initiated and supervised numerous insurance company receiverships, successfully challenged the constitutionality of a state tax, served as a mediator and arbitrator, served as an expert witness in insurance-related cases, participated in the development of international financial regulatory standards, and advised on corporate governance, ethics and business/legal strategy. From 2011 through 2015, Michael served as General Counsel and Board Secretary for the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), the Dubai government agency that regulates financial services in or from the Dubai International Financial Centre. In that role, he was the primary legal advisor for the Chief Executive and Board of Directors and represented the Government of Dubai in a wide variety of matters. He was also Dean of the DFSA's two-year financial regulator training program for newly-hired university graduates. Michael previously served the State of Oklahoma as General Counsel for the Oklahoma Insurance Department and counsel for the Real Estate Appraiser Board. He has also been self-employed in private practice, where his focus has included general business and insurance law, including as a consulting or testifying expert for other law firms. A 1994 graduate of the University of Oklahoma College of Law, Michael was Editor- in-Chief of the American Indian Law Review, an Associate Editor of the Oklahoma Law Review, and an intern for a U.S. Magistrate Judge and Cleveland County Legal Aid. During his second and third years of law school, he was employed by the law school as a Teaching Assistant for Appellate Advocacy and Legal Research and Writing classes. He has a B.A. in Public Administration from the University of Oklahoma and more recent postgraduate training in leadership and corporate governance from Queen's College (Canada), Ashridge School of Business (UK), and Hawkamah Institute for Corporate Governance (UAE). Michael's wife, Judy, is also an attorney. They have five adult children who have embarked on their respective careers from San Francisco to South Carolina. Michael and Judy live in a log house on a small ranch in far east Norman, Oklahoma.