James F. Neal, Class of 1957, died on October 21, 2010. He was 81.
Neal spent much of his career as a high-profile trial lawyer with Neal & Harwell, the firm he cofounded in 1971 with Aubrey B. Harwell Jr., Class of 1967.
Read an October 23 New York Times story about Jim Neal’s distinguished career by Bruce Weber
Neal, who had been recognized as one of the county’s top trial lawyers for more than four decades, was profiled in a 2009 American Bar Association Journal article on “Lions of the Trial Bar,” a piece which also featured another Vanderbilt Law graduate, Bobby Lee Cook, Class of 1949. Neal told ABA Journal writer Mark Curriden that he had learned one of the keys to his success while playing football at the University of Wyoming as an undergraduate. “The coach used to say, ‘The team with the fewest mistakes during the game will win,’” Neal said. “It was true in football and it is true in the courtroom.”
Neal gained national attention early in his legal career, when he served as a special assistant to Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. In 1961, he began investigations that ultimately led to the prosecution of labor leader James Hoffa over alleged corruption in the Teamsters Union. After that prosecution ended in a mistrial, Neal successfully prosecuted Hoffa for jury tampering two years later.
In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson appointed Neal as U.S. Attorney for Middle Tennessee, and he served until 1966, when he entered private practice. Although he took leaves of absence to serve as Chief Trial Counsel of the Watergate Special Prosecution Force in 1973-74 and as Chief Counsel of the United States Senate Select Committee to Study Undercover Operations of the Department of Justice in 1982, he was a partner in Neal and Harwell for the remainder of his legal career.
Neal found himself in the national spotlight when he defended Elvis Presley’s physician, George Nichopoulos, Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards, the Ford Motor Company in the criminal trial related to the design of Ford’s Pinto model, director John Landis in a California homicide trial after three actors were killed in a helicopter accident on the “Twilight Zone” movie set, and Exxon Corporation in charges resulting from the Exxon Valdez Alaskan oil spill. Neal also served as private counsel for Vice President Albert Gore Jr. in the late 1990s.
Neal was a lecturer in law at Vanderbilt Law School from 1966 to 1979, with leaves of absence in 1973 and 1974 while he served on the Watergate prosecution team.
A native of Sumner County, Tennessee, Neal attended the University of Wyoming on a football scholarship, graduating in 1952. He was an active duty member of the United States Marine Corps from 1952 to 1954, ultimately retiring from the Reserves as a Major. At Vanderbilt Law School, he was editor-in-chief of the Vanderbilt Law Review and recipient of the Founders Medal, presented to the student who maintained the highest grade point average throughout law school. He also earned a master of laws degree in taxation from Georgetown University Law Center.
Neal was recognized on numerous “best lawyers” listings and as a Distinguished Alumnus of both Vanderbilt Law School and the University of Wyoming. He was a member of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, the American College of Trial Lawyers, the Association of Former United States Attorneys, the American Bar Association and the Tennessee Bar Association and a fellow of the Nashville Bar Association. He served as vice chair of the Nashville Chapter of the Urban League and of the Nashville Human Relations Commission, and on the Executive Committee of the Nashville Chamber of Commerce.
He is survived by his wife, Dianne Ferrell Neal, Class of 1983, a lawyer who served as legal counsel to Tennessee Governor Ned McWherter; his son, James F. Neal Jr.; his daughter, Julie Neal; his stepdaughter, Sarah Cooper Nickoloff, and five grandchildren, and by two sisters.