Professor O'Connor's research focuses on legal issues involved in commercializing art, science, and technology. He also studies the social and cultural context of artistic, scientific, and technological innovation. He is the Associate Director of both the Center for Advanced Study & Research on Intellectual Property (CASRIP) and Intellectual Property Law & Policy Program.

Professor O'Connor has particular expertise in the multiple areas of law impacting the biotechnology industry as well as those impacting new media and digital arts. He lectures, publishes, and consults regularly in these areas in the U.S. and internationally. He has served as General Counsel to the seminal digital arts organization, Rhizome.org, since 2000. Professor O'Connor is also regularly quoted by major local and national media and has served as an expert witness in litigation involving intellectual property and corporate governance.

Before entering academia, Professor O'Connor was in private practice with Hale and Dorr in Boston (now Wilmer Hale) where he specialized in technology transactions and licensing, as well as corporate and securities law representation of emerging and established biotechnology and information technology companies. He began his legal career with Weil, Gotshal and Manges in New York in corporate and securities law representation of major multinational companies and partnerships. He is admitted to practice in New York and Massachusetts.

Professor O'Connor was Executive Editor of the Stanford Law Review and Brown & Bain Fellow in Law & High Technology. While at Stanford he also co-founded the Stanford Technology Law Review.