RETIRED JUDGE FREDDIE PITCHER

Retired Judge Freddie Pitcher, Jr., is the sixth person to head the Southern University Law Center as dean and Chancellor in the history of the institution.  Chancellor Pitcher assumed the position on January 6, 2003, bringing a wealth of career experiences that prepared him for taking his beloved alma mater to new heights as an institution of legal education and leadership preparation.

Chancellor Pitcher, who earned his bachelor’s and juris doctor degrees from Southern, came to the chancellorship from the Baton Rouge office of Phelps Dunbar LLP, an international law firm. He was named a partner in that firm upon his retirement from the bench in May 1997. His practice focused on the areas of commercial, casualty, and employment law litigation. He was also a member of the firm’s appellate practice group.

Pitcher, a longtime adjunct law professor who has always enjoyed mentoring young lawyers, has a career of many firsts. He became the first African American elected to a judgeship in Baton Rouge with his election to the City Court in a city-wide election in April 1983. He was the first African American elected to the 19th Judicial District in a parish-wide election in 1987.  In 1992, he achieved another first with his election to the First Circuit Court of Appeal, without opposition. Pitcher has also served as an Associate Justice Ad Hoc on the Louisiana Supreme Court.

Prior to his election to the bench, Judge Pitcher was the principal partner in the firm Pitcher, Tyson, Avery, and Cunningham. He has also served as a special counsel in the Office of the Attorney General for the State of Louisiana, and as an assistant district attorney for East Baton Rouge Parish.

Chancellor Pitcher was one of the Louisiana Bar Foundation’s 2005 Distinguished Professors, is serving a three-year term on the American Bar Association Law School Legal Education Section’s Committee on Professionalism, and was named to the ABA Site Evaluation Team for Reaccrediting Law Schools in 2004.  Recently, he has been appointed to the American Bar Association Committee on Bar Admission. The Baton Rouge Chapter of the National Conference of Community and Justice honored Chancellor Pitcher as one of two recipients of its 2004 Brotherhood Award.  He was inducted into the SU Law Center Alumni Hall of Fame in 2003.

In 2009, Chancellor Pitcher was appointed to serve on the Board of Directors for the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana (PAR). He has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Baton Rouge Recreation Commission Foundation, Baton Rouge Area Foundation, Woman’s Hospital Development Committee, Our Lady of the Lake College, and Young Leaders Academy of Baton Rouge. He is a member of Omega Psi Phi and Sigma Pi Phi fraternities.  Chancellor Pitcher is married to Dr. Harriet Anderson Pitcher, and they have one daughter, Kyla.