Neal earnedprominence as successful trial counsel in some of the nation's highest profile criminal cases from the 1960s through the 1990s. He is best known as lead trial counsel in the prosecution of high-ranking officials of the Nixon administration that arose out of the Watergate cover-up, the scandal that prompted President Nixon's resignation.

In 1973 former U.S. Attorney General John Mitchell and other ranking members of the Nixon administration were charged with obstructing justice following the 1972 burglary of Democratic Party offices at the Watergate Hotel by Republican political operatives. Neal was named lead trial counsel.As special prosecutor Neal put Watergate conspirators Mitchell, Robert Haldeman and John Ehrlichman behind bars.

The government had tried four times to convict Teamsters president Hoffa before Neal won a conviction in 1964 for attempting to bribe jurors in a previous case. He worked the case as a special assistant to U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy.

Among the more noted defendants Neal represented were Dr. George Nichopoulos (Elvis Presley's physician), Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards and Exxon Corporation in charges resulting from the Alaskan oil spill. He also served as private counsel for Vice President Al Gore Jr. in the late 1990s.

Neal successfully defended movie director John Landis in 1987 against charges of involuntary manslaughter. The case stemmed from the filming of the movie “Twilight Zone,” when actor Vic Morrow and two children died in 1982 when a helicopter fell on them during production. At the time, Neal was considered an unusual choice for the high-profile Hollywood case.

The 10-week Ford Pinto Trial brought national media attention and legal interest to Winamac through the first three months of 1980. The giant automaker was tried in Winamac, on a change of venue, on unprecedented criminal charges in connection with the fiery deaths of three teenage girls in their 1973 Pinto in August 1978 near Goshen. After seemingly endless hours of testimony, some of it from celebrity witnesses, and many legal arguments, much of it clever maneuvering by Neal, the local jury acquitted Ford on all three counts of reckless homicide.

The friendly Neal, with his southern drawl, quickly became a favorite in the community as he and his defense team visited with locals on the Winamac streets and in luncheon diners. Among local attorneys who worked with Neal were Winamac’s Lester Wilson and John Richert. Ford reportedly paid $1 million for the defense effort, a figure which at the time held the community in awe.

Neal's opponent in the trial was (then) Elkhart County prosecutor Michael Cosentino, who also passed away this year, on June 14. In an interview a few months before his death, on the 30th anniversary of the trial,Cosentino told the Elkhart Truth he believed the Pinto trial, despite the verdict, has had lasting implications, showing that corporations can be held criminally liable for their products. Having worked closely with the girls' family and crash scene investigators, the prosecutor maintained a serious demeanor during the trial, sometimes struggling to conceal his outrage at the horrific deaths of the teenage victims. In the end, he told the Elkhart paper he didn't think Ford got away with much. The company went on to make better cars and is a good company today, he added.

Ten years after the trial, Neal told local journalist Karen Fritz, “I still think about the trial often and the (Winamac) community.” He added that he still had a county map, signed and given to him by the jurors, hanging on his office wall.

Neal grew up on a farm in Tennessee. After graduating from high school in Sumner County, Tenn., Neal attended the University of Wyoming on a football scholarship and graduated in 1952. Following service in the U.S. Marine Corps, where he reached the rank of captain, Neal attended Vanderbilt University School of Law and finished first in the class of 1957. He earned an advanced law degree at Georgetown University in 1960. Neal returned to Nashville to serve as U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee from 1964 to 1966. Neal and Harwell established their law firm in 1971.

One news account of Neal's presence in the courtroom described him as "very animated" and "intensely competitive," but that he liked many he met in court.

He was also quoted from a 1981 interview as saying, "Jurors are people. I like people. All kinds of people."