Clark Neily is senior vice president for legal studies at the Cato Institute. His areas of interest include constitutional law, overcriminalization, civil forfeiture, police accountability, and gun rights. Neily is the author of Terms of Engagement: How Our Courts Should Enforce the Constitution’s Promise of Limited Government. His writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and National Review Online, as well as various law reviews, including the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, George Mason Law Review, Georgetown Journal of Law and Public Policy, NYU Journal of Law and Liberty, and Texas Review of Law and Politics. Neily is a frequent guest speaker and lecturer for the Federalist Society, Institute for Humane Studies, and American Constitution Society.
Before joining Cato in 2017, Neily was a senior attorney and constitutional litigator at the Institute for Justice and director of the Institute’s Center for Judicial Engagement. He is also an adjunct professor at the University of Texas School of Law, where he teaches constitutional litigation and public-interest law.
Neily served as co-counsel in District of Columbia v. Heller, the historic case in which the Supreme Court held for the first time that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to own a gun for self-defense.
Neily began his legal career as a law clerk to Judge Royce Lamberth on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. After that he spent four years in the trial department of the Dallas-based firm Thompson & Knight. Neily received his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Texas, where he was Chief Articles Editor of the Texas Law Review.
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Police Accountability and Reform Panel
Tulane Student Chapter
Tulane Law School Room 1106329 Freret Street
New Orleans, LA 70118
The Future of the Second Amendment after Bruen and Rahimi
South Carolina Student Chapter
University of South Carolina School of Law1525 Senate St.
Columbia, SC 29208
Triggered: A Second Amendment Panel Discussion
South Dakota Student Chapter
University of South Dakota Knudson School of Law414 E. Clark Street
Vermillion, SD 57069
Firearm Rights Post-Rahimi
North Carolina Student Chapter
North Carolina Student Chapter160 Ridge Rd
Chapel Hill, NC 27514
Back to 1791: Where to Draw the Line on 2A?
Wisconsin Student Chapter
Wisconsin Law School975 Bascom Mall
Madison, WI 53706
Supreme Court to Review Fifth Circuit’s Deviation from Common Law Limits on Use of Force in Barnes v. Felix
The Supreme Court recently agreed to hear Barnes v. Felix. The case concerns how to...
Lunch & Keynote Address
Legal Licensing Reform: Does the World Need More Lawyers?
Event Video: Lunch & Keynote Address
15th Annual Rosenkranz Debate & Luncheon
2023 National Lawyers Convention
The 2023 National Lawyers Convention will take place November 9-11, 2023 at the Mayflower Hotel...
15th Annual Rosenkranz Debate & Luncheon
2023 National Lawyers Convention
The 2023 National Lawyers Convention will take place November 9-11, 2023 at the Mayflower Hotel...
Should We Heed Pleas for Plea Bargaining Reform?
Although a right to trial is enshrined in the American Constitution, practically the nation’s criminal...