Lawyer. He was the chief defense for John Thomas Scopes in the 1925 Scopes Trial, and was later joined by Clarence Darrow. Prior to this he had successfully won a seat in the General Assembly and two years later he won election to the Tennessee Senate. He was also a former University of Tennessee Law Professor. hrough his years he embarked on a varity of other enterprises. The most spectacular was the establishment of a private law school in Knoxville Tennessee for part time students. It lasted for about twenty years, but it never attained much stature as an institution of legal education. John Neal spent the last few years of his life living in Spring City, Tennessee. (bio by: Dean Wilson)  Family links:  Parents:  John Randolph Neal (1836 – 1889)  Mary Elizabeth C Brown Neal (1842 – 1920)  Siblings:  Infant Neal (1866 – 1866)*  Amanda Brown Neal Wheelock (1870 – 1946)*  John Randolph Neal (1876 – 1959)  George Franklin Neal (1879 – 1955)* *Calculated relationship