Jack Neel is an accomplished, hands-on, results-oriented attorney and business partner with 20 years of litigation and business law experience in-house and in law firm settings. Throughout his career, Jack gained extensive experience developing and managing national claims and litigation programs for two European-based transportation companies and a foodservice distribution company. He has managed claims and litigation in more than forty states and four Canadian provinces.
In addition to his vast litigation experience, Jack has significant experience in commercial transactions, contract drafting and negotiation, government affairs and public policy, strategic advice and risk assessment, trademark management and patent prosecution, negotiations/dispute resolution, data retention/e-Discovery, mergers and acquisitions, regulatory compliance, corporate governance, environmental, bankruptcy, risk management, safety, marketing, crisis/communication management and legal department management.
In-House Roles & Experience
Jack worked for two Chicago defense firms before moving onto various in-house positions with increasing levels of responsibility. For nearly 14 years, he worked as Assistant General Counsel at US Foods, as Vice President and Assistant General Counsel at National Express Corp., and as Vice President and Deputy General Counsel at Transdev North America. In each of these roles, Jack was involved in managing portfolios of litigation and all aspects of high-level C-suite counseling on legal, business, operational, communications, safety and risk issues. Most recently, Jack served as General Counsel of Marquis Energy, a sustainable biofuels company.
At US Foods, Jack was responsible for managing a diverse portfolio of lawsuits and claims throughout the United States. He also provided regulatory guidance to internal stakeholders on issues concerning DOT, FMCSA, EPA and others. At National Express, the second-largest provider of school bus services in the country, Jack served as Head of Litigation and Risk Functions for North America. His responsibilities included the same litigation management and counseling roles. He also created and implemented a rapid response program dictating companywide protocol for responding to serious accidents and corresponding litigation hold policies. During his time as Transdev North America’s Deputy General Counsel, Jack had similar responsibilities, and others, for the $1.9 billion multinational transportation company, providing multi-modal transportation solutions.