Danielle Pasquale

Biography

Danielle Pasquale is a partner of Chronakis Siachos & Kaplan, LLC.  Prior to her work at the firm, Ms. Pasquale was an Assistant County Counsel at the Bergen County Counsel’s Office in Hackensack, New Jersey where she provided in-house counsel for Bergen County supervising a broad array of civil litigation for the Bergen County Executive, Public Safety and Health Departments as well as the Bergen County Prosecutor, Bergen County Sheriff, Public Safety Institute, Office of Emergency Management, the Bergen County Police Department and the Bergen County Healthcare Center.

In her capacity as an Assistant County Counsel, Ms. Pasquale litigated hundreds of civil actions in state and federal courts at the trial and appellate levels, representing Bergen County on employment and general liability matters as well as contract disputes.  Ms. Pasquale also obtained extensive trial experience in the Superior Court and the Office of Administrative Law where she tried cases including disqualification of police academy recruits and alleged violations of the New Jersey Early Intervention Program’s procedural safeguards (the first trial of its kind in New Jersey).

In her representation of the Bergen County Sheriff, she handled a highly-publicized international custody dispute initiated through a habeas corpus action brought by an inmate of the Bergen County Jail.  Ms. Pasquale handled the matter from the District Court to the Third Circuit and it resulted in a reported decision found at Carrascosa v. McGuire, 520 F.3d 249 (3rd Cir. 2008) and is now a dispositive case regarding the international treaty known as the Hague Convention.  This case was covered by the New Jersey Law Journal throughout the over two (2) years of ongoing litigation.

Ms. Pasquale has considerable experience involving contract disputes, employment discrimination litigation, insurance coverage disputes, consumer fraud claims, environmental prosecution, governmental relations, labor disputes, radio and communications issues, as well habeas corpus litigation.

Ms. Pasquale began her career as a trial attorney as an Assistant Prosecutor at the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office.  While there, she conducted numerous jury and bench trials including homicide, drugs, weapons, and sexual assault cases.  In addition, she represented the State of New Jersey on a considerable number of oral arguments before the New Jersey Appellate Division on both substantive criminal procedure issues and sentencing matters.  As Hudson County has a vertical prosecution model, Ms. Pasquale presented almost all of her cases to the Grand Jury prior to handling them at trial.

In 1997, Ms. Pasquale served as a law clerk to The Honorable Margaret Mary McVeigh, P.J.Ch. in Passaic County.  At the time, Judge McVeigh was sitting in the Civil Part of the Law Division where Ms. Pasquale handled research and writing on hundreds of substantive motions as well as on-the-spot trial research.

Overall, Ms. Pasquale seeks to represent her clients in a direct, efficacious and fair manner.  She attempts to resolve conflict wherever possible without the unnecessary cost and sometimes labor-intensive litigation process.  However, when the need presents itself; Ms. Pasquale approaches any and all litigation aggressively and fairly in an effort to counsel her clients as partners in the journey toward resolving their matter.