He then went to attend University of Tulsa College of Law between 1977 and 1980, where he was elected president of the student bar association and earned his Juris Doctor.

After finishing his year abroad in Germany, he returned to Rosenstein, Fist and Ringold as an Attorney from 1981 to 1983, before settling down to practice at Newton, O'Connor, Turner & Ketchum from 1983 to 2018.

[5] In 2017, O'Connor was appointed to the Agency Performance and Accountability Commission by the Oklahoma State Senate President Pro-Tempore Mike Schulz.

[9] During his hearings Senator Kamala Harris said the Judiciary Committee should not have moved forward with O'Connor's nomination before the ABA released its rating.

[10] Although O'Connor had received the highest Martindale-Hubbell anonymous peer review ratings for ethics and competence since 1995 and had been included on the "legal dream team" chosen by anonymously surveyed leading regional lawyers, judges and business leaders,[11] the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary unanimously rated O'Connor "not qualified" on August 21, 2018, citing the ABA committee's concerns about professional competence (on the specific basis that he lacked experience trying criminal law matters and citing time elapsed since he had last litigated a federal jury trial) and integrity (mentioning a dismissed lawsuit over fees).

O'Connor emphasized in his first statement as Attorney General of Oklahoma that he would ask the Supreme Court of the United States to overturn the McGirt v.

[19][20] O'Connor joined an amicus brief in July 2021 by Republican attorneys general in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

"[21][22] O'Connor joined the bipartisan coalition of attorneys general demanding that the Federal Trade Commission to enact a national rule targeting impersonation scams.

[24] In late August 2021, O'Connor requested the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals to set the execution date for seven death-row inmates.

[27] On June 10, 2022, O'Connor asked the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals to set execution dates for 25 death row inmates.

"[31] In December 2022, O'Connor issued an attorney general's opinion concluding "it was very likely" the U.S. Supreme Court would strike down Oklahoma laws preventing the funding of a religious charter school based on Zelman v. Simmons-Harris.