Mary Helen McNeal

Professor of Law Emerita (315) 443-3036 mhmcneal@syr.edu Curriculum Vitae [PDF]

Professor McNeal joined the College of Law faculty in 2005 and served as Director of the Office of Clinical Legal Education from 2005 until 2011. In 2008, she initiated a new Elder Law Clinic, which she directed as the Elder and Health Law Clinic until 2022. Professor McNeal also teaches professional responsibility. Her research and writing focus on elder law, with a particular emphasis on Medicare, clients with diminished capacity, and restorative justice and elder abuse; culture and lawyering; and clinical teaching.

Professor McNeal earned a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University and a juris doctor from the University of Maryland School of Law. Prior to coming to Syracuse, Professor McNeal was Clinic Director at the University of Montana School of Law, where she supervised students in legal services, disability law, environmental law, and judicial placements and also taught public interest lawyering. Previously, she was Visiting Assistant Professor at Boston College Law School and Law School Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland School of Law.

Professor McNeal participates in the Syracuse area Elder Justice Task Force and the CNY Restorative Practices Working Group and was Chair of the Aging and the Law Section of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) in 2021. She previously served on the AALS Clinical Section’s Task Force on the Status of Clinicians in the Academy, on the AALS Equal Justice Task Force, and as Chair of the Clinical Section. She also has worked extensively on equal justice issues and served as Chair of the Montana Supreme Court’s Equal Justice Task Force and as a member of the Montana State Bar’s Access to Justice Committee. Professor McNeal also has participated as an ABA site inspection team member.