Dec. 31--Attorney Roger Pascal, a litigator who spent 50 years with the firm of Schiff Hardin in Chicago, also did pro bono work for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, where his legal skills served some of the state's most disadvantaged citizens.
"Roger was a passionate, passionate advocate, particularly for people who couldn't afford a champion or didn't have one," said Thomas Quinn, who succeeded Pascal as the Schiff Hardin practice group leader for litigation in Chicago.
"He was the general counsel for the ACLU for many years and in that time led some of the real significant impact litigation that has shaped the whole state system for the care of foster children and also for the treatment of people with developmental disabilities," Quinn said.
Pascal, 74, died of pancreatic cancer Sunday in his Evanston home, according to his wife, Martha, whom many know as "Missy." He moved to Evanston shortly after returning to the Chicago area following law school in the mid-1960s.
Pascal grew up in Chicago's West Rogers Park neighborhood. He later moved with his family to Highland Park and graduated from Highland Park High School. He went on to the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where a course or two in constitutional law piqued his interest in a legal career, said his wife, who met him at Michigan.
His decision to pursue a career in law came, she said, "with some encouragement from me. It seemed natural for him."
He joined Schiff Hardin in 1965 after graduating from Harvard Law School and never retired. He became a partner in 1972 and served as a leader of the firm's litigation group for more than 20 years. In a statement on its website, the firm noted that Pascal focused his complex and multiparty litigation practice on intellectual property, antitrust and trade secrets, and also successfully tried cases in the fields of aviation, criminal law and commodity futures trading.
His work for the ACLU began almost as soon as he joined Schiff Hardin.
"He held his very active day job (at Schiff Hardin), and his work at the ACLU and on behalf of our clients was all pro bono," said Colleen Connell, executive director of the ACLU of Illinois. She said Pascal was the organization's general counsel for almost 31 years.
"Roger was an exceptional general counsel," she said. "He displayed absolutely stellar judgment and commitment to the constitutional values that motivate the ACLU and a willingness to really advocate for those constitutional values no matter how difficult the fight or how challenging the case."
Pascal was an active litigator in a number of ACLU cases. Shortly after graduating from law school, he joined the legal team in the Gautreaux case, which successfully challenged the discriminatory placement of public housing facilities in Chicago and led to fundamental change in Chicago Housing Authority housing over the past 20 years, according to the ACLU.
Pascal and a team of lawyers he assembled at Schiff Hardin played a major role in the ACLU's BH litigation, a successful challenge to the care of foster children in the Illinois child welfare system. The work improved the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and resulted in permanent homes for thousands of children.
ACLU officials said Pascal was also a key member of the legal team in K.L. v. Edgar, a case that challenged conditions at state-run psychiatric hospitals in Illinois. That case was a landmark challenge to those hospitals and has been mirrored in other states across the country.
Just last year, Pascal led the legal team in a case filed on behalf of a U.S. citizen and pilot who was wrongly detained by the FBI in the immediate aftermath of 9/11.
Quinn, whom Pascal recruited, said his work in recruiting and mentoring young lawyers was an important part of his career.
"He's the reason why many of us came and stayed and learned how to be great litigators under Roger's mentorship over all that time," Quinn said.
Away from the office and the courtroom, Pascal was a private pilot who for many years worked with LifeLine Pilots to fly people in medical and financial need to health-care facilities. He was also a lifetime lover of jazz and a board member of the Jazz Institute of Chicago.
"He has quite a legacy of people whom he trained, mentored and led in the use of the law to make the world a better place," said Connell of the ACLU.
Pascal also is survived by two daughters, Deborah and Diane; a son, David; two brothers, Charles and Ross; and three grandchildren.
A service will be held at 11 a.m. Monday, Jan.11, in the University Club of Chicago, 76 E. Monroe St., Chicago.
Graydon Megan is a freelance reporter.
