A law graduate from Université Laval in 1972, Ghislain Roussel became a member of the Quebec Bar in December, 1973 and from which he resigned on March 31, 2018.

His career as a lawyer was principally spent as part of the Quebec public administration, including in the Ministry of Communications, and then in Cultural Affairs (currently Culture and Communications).

In the 1980s, he was employed in the Copyright and Book Directorate of UNESCO in Paris, and was a fellow and researcher at the Max Planck Institute in intellectual property in Munich.

He was one of the very first members of the Government Secretariat for Intellectual Property and the Status of the Artist, Secretary General and Director of Legal Affairs for the first Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, and then for the Grande Bibliothèque du Québec in 1998, which became, as a result of various mergers, Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec.

Beginning in 1983, he became a director, then Secretary and President of ALAI Canada.  He was a member of the organizing committee and director of the first two ALAI International congresses in Canada, held in Quebec in 1989 and in Montebello in 1997.  He also represented ALAI on WIPO expert committees in Geneva.

Finally, he was the creative influence, designer, and founder of the journal, Les Cahiers de propriété intellectuelle.  He was the editor-in-chief for this journal for over ten years, and acted as its Secretary and President.