Dean's Student Advisory Group
Career Night Participant Biography
Stephen Ferrell
(M.A. 88 French; J.D. 1993)
Group Supervisor, Death Penalty Division
Ohio Public Defenders Office
8 East Long Street
Columbus, OH 43215
(614) 466-5394
Steve.Ferrell@OPD.state.OH.US
First job out of college: Teaching English at College Fersen and College La Rostagne in Antibes, France.
After obtaining his B.A. in French and English from West Virginia University (magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa), Stephen Ferrell began his career teaching English in two junior high schools on the French Riviera and was able to travel extensively in Europe. Then, he returned to the United States and completed his Master's Degree in French Literature and Culture at The Ohio State University, working as a teaching assistant. Following these studies, he went back to France and worked again teaching English, this time in Paris. He then returned to Ohio State to go to law school and graduated with honors in 1993. During law school, he was a member of the National Moot Court team. He has been with the Office of the Ohio Public Defender since becoming an attorney in 1993. He began as an Assistant State Public Defender and is now a Group Supervisor in the Death Penalty Division. He currently represents twelve death-row inmates in their appeals at all levels of state and federal court in Ohio. Ferrell is certified as lead counsel for direct appeals under Rule 20 of the Ohio Supreme Court. He has practiced before the Ohio Supreme Court, various Ohio Court of Appeals and Common Pleas courts, the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and the United States District Court for the Northern and Southern Districts of Ohio.
