John C. Orr graduated from the University of Southern California in 1970, where he majored in history. He earned his law degree from Santa Clara University in the Silicon Valley area from which he graduated in 1973. He was invited to join his family's law firm in Ventura, Benton, Orr, Duval, & Buckingham, which had been started by his great-grandfather, Orestes Orlando Orr in 1882 and in which his grandfather, H. Frank Orr, and father, Frank E. Orr, had practiced. John initially worked on the insurance defense side of the firm handling a range of auto accident, fire, and medical malpractice matters. In 1982, John left his family's firm with partners Michael W. Case and David L. Cunningham to form Case, Orr & Cunningham.

John's practice today is devoted to estate planning, probate and trust administration and trust and will litigation matters. In these matters, he works closely with the trust and will litigation team of attorneys Michael W. Case, Sandra M. Robertson and paralegal Carole M. Minkin. John also manages a family-owned avocado and lemon ranch. He is the president of Del Norte Water Company, the secretary and general counsel of Oxnard Drainage District No. 2, and a director of Index Fresh, an avocado handler doing business in California and Chile.

John, his wife Stephanie, and fourteen-year-old son, Nick, live on Faria Beach. John's outside interests include his work with the Museum of Ventura County, his wine cellar, collecting local works of art, duck hunting, traveling, and entertaining friends, foreign and otherwise, at the beach house.