Louis Stokes
Director, Forest City Enterprises, Inc.
Senior Counsel – Attorney-at-Law, Squire, Sanders & Dempsey LLP
Retired Member of the United States Congress

Louis Stokes, Esquire, is a member of the board of directors of Forest City Enterprises, Inc.

Stokes is an attorney with Squire Sanders & Dempsey and a retired member of the U.S. Congress.  He is also a member of the faculty at Case Western Reserve University's Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences as Distinguished Visiting Professor.

Stokes was elected to Congress in 1968, making him the first African-American member of Congress from Ohio.  He served 15 consecutive terms in the U.S. House of Representatives.  He was the senior member of the Ohio congressional delegation, a founder of the Congressional Black Caucus, and was Chairman of The VA, HUD Subcommittee on Appropriations.  When he retired from Congress, Stokes became the first African-American in the history of the U.S. Congress to retire having completed 30 years in office.

Before serving in Congress, Stokes practiced law for 14 years and was one of the founders of Stokes, Character, Terry, Perry, Whitehead, Young and Davidson law firm.  As a practicing lawyer, Stokes participated in three cases in the U.S. Supreme Court, one of which, Terry v Ohio, is a landmark case.

Stokes is the recipient of 26 honorary doctorate degrees from colleges and universities across the nation, and several institutions, including Howard University and the National Institutes of Health, have recognized Stokes by naming certain buildings after him.

Following three years of service in the United States Army, Stokes returned to Cleveland and attended Case Western Reserve University.  He earned his law degree from Cleveland Marshall Law School.