He commenced his law career with Ross Dowling Marquet and Griffen in Dunedin before shifting to Oamaru in 1974, joining solicitors George Berry and Evan Alty in the firm of Hjorring Tait and Farrell.
In January 1999, Paul East resigned from Parliament to take up a diplomatic post, and Neill became a list MP until the election that November, where he was again unsuccessful in being re-elected.
In January 2001, Simon Upton resigned; Neill was again the next candidate on the National Party list, allowing him to return to Parliament.
In the 2002 election, Neill was ranked 22 on the National Party list and also contested Wigram, where he placed third behind the Progressive leader Jim Anderton and Labour candidate Mike Mora.
[7] Neill was the leader of the right-leaning Independent Citizens grouping[8] and, after the 2007 elections, sought the chairmanship of the council but lost to Sir Kerry Burke by one vote.
Before urgent legislation was passed on 30 March 2010 to enable the Government-appointed commissioners to provide the region's governance,[10] concerns about poor regional relationships and water management had surfaced, including through a Government-commissioned review led by former deputy prime minister Wyatt Creech.
[12][13] He has worked as a resource management commissioner and served on the board of the Rata Foundation (formerly the Canterbury Community Trust) from 2009 to 2013.