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Robert A. Pascal ’37 (English), LL.B. ’39, H’95 Professor Emeritus, LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center Robert A. Pascal has enjoyed a long and distinguished career (1945 – 1980) as a member of LSU’s law faculty, and even now, at 97 years of age, he can be found almost daily in his Tucker Room office. Pascal had not thought of an academic career until the Loyola faculty suggested it to him at the end of his third semester—half-way through his LL.B. studies—but he embraced the idea with enthusiasm. Unfortunately, several obstacles prevented him from entering academia right away. So, Pascal went to work for the law firm of Normann and Rouchell in New Orleans, La. However, he soon found practicing law was not the right path for him. “I didn’t like dealing with clients; they wanted me to get them what they wanted in spite of what the law provided,” he says. “So, I decided to pursue graduate studies with a view to enter the teaching profession.” Pascal was awarded a scholarship to the University of Michigan as a candidate for the S.J.D. degree. While in the mist of his studies, the United States entered World War II. Pascal was able to complete his studies but not his dissertation. Nevertheless, he and his fellow graduate students were awarded an LL.M. degree for work completed. During the war, Pascal served in the Coast Guard and was assigned to the 10th naval district, headquartered in San Juan, Puerto Rico. After the war, a fortuitous event led Pascal to LSU. He met with former LSU Law Dean Frederick Beutel, who was attempting to rehabilitate the University of Nebraska College of Law. Pascal was offered a position, but he decided it was not the right fit for him. Pascal then travelled to New Orleans on October 15, the same day that Dean Paul M. Herbert arrived at LSU. On the 16th, Pascal went to Baton Rouge, La., to meet with Herbert, and, within 20 minutes, became an associate professor. Pascal continued to teach at LSU, and he was named professor emeritus in 1980. While on leaves of absences from LSU, Pascal taught at
the University of Chicago (spring 1951) and the University of Rome (1951 – 1952 and 1963 – 1964). There was one condition for teaching in Rome—that he lecture in Italian. Pascal accepted, and spent a summer learning the language. “We are a community of Throughout his career, people under God, and Pascal has taught a wide range of subjects, but his favorites have because we are a been interstate and international legislative jurisdiction, philosocommunity, each of us phy of law, introduction to civil must cooperate with and common law, and private (or family) trusts. His teaching everyone else in life.” philosophies can be found in almost any piece of his scholarship. The basic principle is: “We are a community of people under God, and because we are a community, each of us must cooperate with everyone else in life.” He is best known, however, for his Tucker Lecture of 1998, “Of the Civil Code and Us,” and his more recent “A Summary Reflection on Legal Education.”
www.law.loyno.edu
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