Taught criminal law at the University of NSW, Commissioner Victorian Law Reform Commission, Head, Legislation Branch Victorian Justice Department, Chair, Model Criminal Code Committee.
Main areas of practice at the Bar: Criminal Law, Administrative Law, Appellate, Occupational Health and Safety, Major Inquests and Royal Commissions.
Appeared for major corporations and government departments including Baulderstone, Multiplex, Leightons, Toyota, United Energy, Department of Sustainability and Environment, Victoria Police, Office of Corrections, Vicroads, Victoria Legal Aid.
Major Inquests: Inquests: Kew Cottages (for Wormald), Port Phillip Prison (for Group 4), Citylink/O'Connor (for Transfield-Obayishi Joint Venture), Beaconsfield Gold Mine (for the mine).
Royal Commissions/Major Enquiries: Children of God (for the parents); Metropolitan Ambulance Service Royal Commission (for Bureau of Emergency Services Telecommunications (BEST)).
Member of Victorian Bar Council (10 years) and serves on the Law Council of Australia committees on Criminal Law and Access to Justice. Prepared and presented numerous submissions to federal and state government committees on these areas on behalf of the Victorian Bar and the Law Council of Australia.
PUBLICATIONS
Books:
Gardner, Neal and Cashman (eds.), Legal Resources Book (Fitzroy Legal Service, 1977) 448 pp.
Casper, Brereton and Neal, The Implementation of the California Determinate Sentencing Law (Report to the National Institute for Justice (U.S.), 1981) 259 pp.
On Tap, Not on Top: Legal Centres in Australia 1971-1982 (ed.) (Legal Service Bulletin, 1984) 64 pp.
Criminal Laws (Federation Press, 1990) 1464 pp. with D Brown, D Farrier and D Weisbrot.
The Rule of Law in a Penal Colony: Law and Power in Early New South Wales (Cambridge University Press, 1991) 264 pp.
Reports:
Public Drunkenness: Report (VLRC, 1989) 22 pp.
Public Drunkenness: Supplementary Report (VLRC, 1989) 30 pp.
Offensive Weapons: Report (VLRC, 1989) 22pp.
The Concept of Mental Illness in the Mental Health Act 1986 (VLRC, 1990) 18pp.
Mental Malfunction and Criminal Responsibility: Report (1990) 112 pp.
Homicide: Report (1991) 199pp
General Principles of Criminal Responsibility (Model Criminal Code Officers Committee, 1992) 119pp
Theft, Fraud, Bribery and Related Offences (Model Criminal Code Officers Committee, 1995) 365pp
Conspiracy to Defraud (Model Criminal Code Officers Committee, 1997) 99pp
Note: a Discussion Paper written by me preceded each of these Reports.
Articles
Neal, “The Role of the Fitzroy Legal Service” (1978) 11 Melbourne University Law Review 267
Basten, Graycar and Neal, “Legal Centres in Australia” (1983) 6 UNSW Law Review 163
Neal, “The Right to Education: The Case of Special Education” (1982) Australian Quarterly 147
Neal and Kirp, “The Allure of Legalization Reconsidered” (1985) 48 Law and Contemporary Problems 63
Neal, “Law and Authority: The Magistracy in New South Wales 1788-1840” (1985) 3 Law in Context 45
Neal, “ The Political Significance of the Jury” in Challinger (ed), Proceedings of the Australian Institute of Criminology Conference on the Jury (Australian Institute of Criminology, 1987)
Neal, “Law and Authority: The Campaign for Trial by Jury in New South Wales” (1987) 8 Journal of Law and History 107
Neal, “Free Society, Penal Colony, Slave Society, Prison?” (1987) Historical Studies 497
Drane and Neal, “On Moral Justifications for the Tort/Crime Distinction” (1990) 68 California Law Review 398
Neal, “Crime Wars” in Kelly (ed), Violence to Non-Violence: Individual Perspectives, Communal Voices (Harwood Academic Publishers, 1994), 21