Richard Neely

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Richard Forlani Neely

Richard Neely, Photo by Steve Payne, reprinted with permission.
Born August 2, 1941
Residence Charleston, West Virginia
Other names Richard Neely
Education A.B. Economics, Dartmouth College, 1964,LL.B. Yale Law School, 1967
Occupation Lawyer, Author, Professor, Retired Supreme Court Justice
Employers Neely & Callaghan
Known for Analysis of the how courts work within the larger political, economic and social system. Pioneer work in domestic law that took into account relative bargaining positions of the parties and the disparities in capacities to litigate.
Term 22 years
Predecessor Frank C. Haymond
Successor Arthur M. Recht
Board member of Member of the Advisory Board, Bureau of National Affairs (BNA) Class Action Litigation Report, 2000- present.
Religious beliefs Episcopalian
Spouse Carolyn Elmore Neely
Partner Michael O. Callaghan
Children John Champ Neely, II ; Charles Whittaker Neely, VII
Parents John Champ Neely and Elinore Forlani Neely
Website
http://www.neelycallaghan.com/Neely.html

Richard Forlani Neely (August 2, 1941 – ) was a justice and chief justice of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals from 1973 to 1995.[1] When he took office, he became the youngest judge of a court of last resort in the English speaking world in the Twentieth Century.[2]

Contents

[edit] Biography

Neely graduated in 1964 from Dartmouth College, where he studied economics, and in 1967 from Yale Law School. From 1968 to 1969 Neely served as an army artillery captain in Vietnam, where he was assigned to the staff of John Paul Vann and then to the staff of Ambassador Charles Whitehouse. Among other duties, Neely supervised the economic development program for a quarter of South Vietnam and then wrote the economic development section of the 1969 American pacification plan. He was awarded the Bronze Star.

Upon returning to civilian life, Neely started his own law practice in Fairmont, West Virginia and in 1970 was elected to the West Virginia Legislature.[3] Thereafter, he was elected state-wide as a Democrat to the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. As a supreme court justice, Neely led reform of the State mental hospitals and juvenile penal schools. Decisions written by him extended greater protections to mental patients, and wiped out the old, brutal state reform school system for both boys and girls, forcing the substitution of real therapeutic models.

Neely is known for his pioneering work in domestic law. Decisions he wrote for the Court, along with his books and articles, created the foundation for the child custody sections of the American Law Institute’s Principles of the Law of Family Dissolution. From 1980 until his retirement from the Court in 1995, Neely was among the best known judges in the United States: he wrote regularly for national publications such as The Atlantic Monthly, The New Republic, and The Wall Street Journal. Neely’s scholarly work usually involved the sociology of courts. His oft-reprinted cover article for the August, 1980 Atlantic Monthly, "The Politics of Crime",[4] explained, for example, that criminal courts are more incompetent than they should be because criminal judges are also civil judges and civil defendants, like insurance companies, actively lobby to keep courts as incompetent as possible to make it harder for civil plaintiffs to sue them.

Neely’s best known book, How Courts Govern America[5] was written at the height of judicial activism. Frankly admitting that he was a restrained judicial activist, Neely explained the practical and political limits to courts’ powers, making his book an important contribution to arguments for judicial restraint. The book remains in print.

Neely always maintained an active interest in teaching: He was one of the first American professors to teach law in China in 1984 when China opened up; he served as Atherton Lecturer at Harvard; and, for over a decade he was professor of economics at the University of Charleston. In 1995 Neely retired as chief justice from the WV Supreme Court of Appeals and went back into private practice, starting the firm of Neely & Hunter (now Neely & Callaghan)[6] in Charleston, West Virginia.

[edit] Bibliography

Neely’s other major publications include:

  • "Why Wage-Price Guidelines Failed: A General Theory of the Second Best Approach to Inflation Control." 79 W. Va. Law Review 1, (1976)
  • How Courts Govern America, Yale University Press, (New Haven and London, 1981)
  • "The Politics of Crime," The Atlantic Monthly (cover story), August 1982, pp. 27-31
  • Why Courts Don't Work, McGraw-Hill (New York, 1983)[7]
  • The Divorce Decision, McGraw-Hill (New York, 1984)[8]
  • "The Primary Caretaker Parent Rule: Child Custody and the Dynamics of Greed," 3 Yale Law and Policy Review, p. 168, (1985)[9]
  • Judicial Jeopardy: When Business Collides with the Courts, (Addison-Wesley, 1986)[10]
  • The Product Liability Mess, The Free Press (New York, 1988)[11]
  • Take Back Your Neighborhood: A Case for Modern-day "Vigilantism," Donald I. Fine, Inc., (New York, 1990)[12]
  • Tragedies of Our Own Making, University of Illinois Press (Champaign, Illinois, 1994)[13]
  • "Insider Trading Prosecutions Under the Misappropriation Theory: New York's Joke on Heartland America" (1994 WL 267860) (1994)

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ West Virginia Division of Culture and History, Research: Justices of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, <http://www.wvculture.org/HISTORY/government/supremecourt.html>. Retrieved on 1 January 2008 
  2. ^ Morgan, John G (1973-01-06), “New Members Bring New Look To Supreme Court”, Charleston Gazette 
  3. ^ UPI (1970-11-05), “West Virginia Delegate Victors”, The Dominion-News 
  4. ^ Richard Neely (August 1982). "The Politics of Crime". The Atlantic Monthly 258: pp. 27–31. 
  5. ^ Neely, Richard (1980). How Courts Govern America. Yale University Press. ISBN 0300029802. 
  6. ^ Neely & Callaghan, <http://www.neelycallaghan.com>. Retrieved on 2 January 2008 
  7. ^ Neely, Richard (1983), Why courts don't work, McGraw-Hill Book Co, ISBN 0070461511 
  8. ^ Neely, Richard (1984), The Divorce Decision: The Human and Legal Consequences of Ending a Marriage, McGraw-Hill Book Co, ISBN 0070461538 
  9. ^ Neely, Richard (1985), The Primary Caretaker Parent Rule: Child Custody and the Dynamics of Greed, Yale Law and Policy Review 
  10. ^ Neely, Richard (1986), Judicial Jeopardy: When Business Collides with the Courts, Addison Wesley Publishing Company, ISBN 0201057360 
  11. ^ Neely, Richard (1988), The Product Liability Mess: How Business Can Be Rescued from the Politics of State Courts, The Free Press, ISBN 0029226805 
  12. ^ Neely, Richard (1990), Take Back Your Neighborhood: A Case for Modern-day "Vigilantism", Donald I.Fine,Inc, ISBN B000J4ZV1U 
  13. ^ Neely, Richard (1994), Tragedies of Our Own Making: How Private Choices Have Created Public Bankruptcy, University of Illinois Press, ISBN 0252020383 

[edit] External links