John R. Neal earned the AB degree from UT in 1893, the AM and LLB degrees from Vanderbilt in 1896, and the PhD from Wisconsin (history) in 1889. From 1909 to 1923, he taught law at the university. From 1899 until 1907, he taught law at the University of Denver, returning to Tennessee to run for the Tennessee General Assembly. In 1909 he was elected to the Tennessee Senate and was a strong proponent of the General Education Bill of 1909, which established annual state appropriations for UT. In 1919 his name was one of those considered for the presidency of the university.
He was a professor popular with students, but his inattention to administrative detail, such as deadlines for turning in grades, meeting his classes, and reading and grading examinations, provoked his colleagues. From being an extremely fastidious person and stylish dresser, he gradually deteriorated to slovenliness. He wore the same shirt without washing it until it wore out; then he would put a new shirt over it. His hair was rarely combed. In 1923 he was dismissed from the university along with six other professors in an incident that provoked a public outcry and attracted the attention of the national American Association of University Professors.
After his dismissal, he established a private law school for part-time students in Knoxville, just down the street from the university. Several prominent attorneys were among its more than 70 graduates. In 1925 he served as a counsel for John T. Scopes in the trial testing the provisions of the Butler Bill, which prohibited the teaching of evolution. (Clarence Darrow and Dudley Field Malone were among cocounsels). Neal wrote the charter for the Highlander Folk School, supported the creation of the TVA, and represented North Carolina mill workers in suits arising from a strike. He was openly critical of the university in the midtwenties and called for a legislative investigation. He was a persistent candidate as an Independent Democrat for the office of governor or US senator but was never elected to either position.