He became a barrister in 1951 and took silk in 1966.[1] After heading One Hare Court, he became head of chambers of Serle Court in Lincoln's Inn when the two merged in 1999.[3] He worked alongside Henry Fisher, Roger Parker, Gordon Slynn, and Richard Southwell QC. Lord Neill left Serle Court in 2008 to join his elder brother Sir Brian Neill, a former Court of Appeal judge, at 20 Essex Street.[4]
Neill was the younger brother of the paediatrician Catherine Neill (1921–2006) and of the judge Sir Brian Neill (1923–2017). In 1954 he married Caroline Susan Debenham (died 2010), daughter of Sir Piers Kenrick Debenham.[6] They had six children.[1]
Neill owned homes in London, in Perthshire, and in Briantspuddle, Dorset.[1] He died from a heart attack at home in Briantspuddle on 28 May 2016, at the age of 89.[1][7]
Honours
Having been knighted in 1983,[8] Neill was made a Life Peer as Baron Neill of Bladen, of Briantspuddle in the County of Dorset, on 28 November 1997.[9] He sat in the House of Lords as a crossbencher until 18 May 2016, ten days before his death, at which point he ceased to be a member pursuant to section 2 of the House of Lords Reform Act 2014, having failed to attend during the whole of the 2015–16 session without being on leave of absence.[10]
Coat of arms of Patrick Neill, Baron Neill of Bladen
Crest
A mount Vert thereon between two harps Or an oak tree Proper fructed Or.[11]
Escutcheon
Gyronny of six Or and Sable three cinquefoils two and one Gules and three lilies one and two Argent slipped and seeded Or.
