The Illinois Supreme Court has appointed attorney David W. Neal of Springfield to serve as a member of the Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission (A.R.D.C.) Review Board effective on January 1, 2024, and expiring on December 31, 2026.

The A.R.D.C. is the Supreme Court agency that investigates allegations of lawyer wrongdoing in Illinois.

Mr. Neal is the Pretrial Fairness Act Division Legal Chief for the State’s Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor, where he has also been a full-time Statewide Special Prosecutor since 2012. Mr. Neal is a former public official, having served two terms as the elected State’s Attorney of Grundy County. He has been lead counsel in every type of criminal case, from misdemeanors to violent felonies to official corruption cases to death penalty prosecutions.

Mr. Neal is a Past-President of the Illinois State’s Attorneys Association and a former board member of the National District Attorneys Association. He has also been active in legislative affairs, authoring or co-authoring several bills including the Illinois Crime Victims Bill of Rights, the Violence Against Women Act, and the Illinois Stalker Law. He has served on the Illinois State Bar Association Judicial Evaluation Committee, the Illinois Truth in Sentencing Committee, and the United States Violence Against Women Task Force.

Mr. Neal received a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Lewis University and earned his law degree from Northern Illinois University School of Law.

Mr. Neal replaces A.R.D.C. Review Board member R. Michael Henderson, whose term expired on December 31, 2023. The A.R.D.C. Review Board is composed of nine members, all of whom are lawyers appointed by the Illinois Supreme Court. The Review Board sits in panels of three and considers appeals from reports of the A.R.D.C. Hearing Board, which functions like a trial court in attorney disciplinary proceedings. Review Board members receive no compensation for their service.

More than 80 employees and over 100 lawyer and non-lawyer volunteers work for the A.R.D.C. All funds expended by the agency are from annual registration fees paid by Illinois attorneys; there are no tax dollars used to support the disciplinary system. There are two A.R.D.C. offices: 130 East Randolph Drive, Suite 1500, in Chicago and 3161 West White Oaks Drive, Suite 301, in Springfield.