Dr. Laura McNeal is the Harold E. Harter Chair and Professor of Law at the Brandeis School of Law. Her current scholarship examines the intersection of artificial intelligence, neurotechnologies, law, and public policy, focusing on how emerging technologies reshape individual rights and access across education, employment, and criminal law. She teaches civil procedure, professional responsibility, education law, urban revitalization, and employment discrimination.

Dr. McNeal is a nationally recognized commentator on issues of law, artificial intelligence, professional responsibility, and education policy. She has provided expert analysis through op-eds and appearances on CNN, MSNBC, CBS, NBC, NewsNation, NPR, C-SPAN, and The Dr. Phil Show. Before joining Brandeis, she worked as a fellow at Harvard Law School, where she conducted national empirical studies on judicial decision-making, education, and policy initiatives. She has served as an expert witness for the Indiana Advisory Committee on education reform and leads professional development workshops for educators, students, judges, lawyers, and nonprofit organizations. Dr. McNeal has published extensively, contributing more than 60 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and presentations. Her recent work includes Integrating the Marketplace of Ideas: A New Constitutional Theory for Protecting Student Online Speech, published in the Stanford Law Review, and her handbook Neurotechnology and the Law (forthcoming, Cambridge University Press). She is frequently invited to speak at national conferences and universities, including Harvard, Columbia, Stanford, Fordham, and Michigan State.

Her honors include the University of Louisville Distinguished Faculty Award for Outstanding Scholarship, the Washington University School of Law Distinguished Alumni Award, a Stafford Faculty Fellowship through the National Institute on Leadership, Disability, and Students Placed at Risk, and induction into the Illinois State University Hall of Fame. She also serves as a summer lecturer at Columbia University and Brown University, teaching courses on law, leadership, and ethics.