September 2004

Louis G. Ferrand is Director of the Office of General Legal Services and Deputy General Counsel for Legal Services, Department of Legal Affairs and Services, General Secretariat of the Organization of American States. He has a B.A., Magna Cum Laude, from Alma College in Alma Michigan and a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School in Ann Arbor. He has served as Counsel for Civil Rights, Deputy Associate Solicitor for Civil Rights, and Deputy Associate Solicitor for Mine Safety and Health at the U.S. Department of Labor, and as a trial attorney in the Employment Section of the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Justice where he was hired into its Honors Program.

 

He also served as Counsel to a Washington, D.C. law firm, and he served for several years as a Principal Attorney at the Organization of American States. In addition, for nine years he was the elected Secretary General (i.e., “Executive Director”) of the Inter-American Bar Association (“IABA”) and a member of its Executive Committee and International Council. He is a founder and past President of the Federal American Inn of Court. He serves as a member of the Board of Directors and as an officer on several nonprofit corporations. He is currently the National Delegate of the D.C. Chapter of the Federal Bar Association (“FBA”) to the FBA’s National Council. Previous FBA positions held include: President, D.C. Chapter; Circuit Officer and National Vice President for the D. C. Circuit; Chair of the Federal Career Service Division, and Co-chair of a FBA National Convention.

 

He is admitted to the D.C. and Michigan Bar Associations and is a member of the IABA, the FBA, the U.S. Supreme Court, and the U. S. Courts of Appeals for the 5th, 11th, and D.C. Circuits. He was a Co-founder and first president of the Cornerstone Foundation in Bedford Stuyvesant, N.Y; he was a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer and Trainer in the Dominican Republic; and prior to finishing law school, he served as Director of Manpower Programs for the Grand Rapids, Michigan Community Action Program. He speaks fluent Spanish and some Portuguese.