Prior to his appointment to the Court of Appeal of Alberta in 1999 Neil Wittmann had a private law practice in Alberta, mainly Calgary, for approximately 31 years.  Justice Wittmann was appointed Associate Chief Justice of the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta in 2005 and Chief Justice in 2009. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce, (1964) University of Manitoba; Bachelor of Laws, (1967) University of Alberta; Doctorate of Laws, (Hon.) (2013) University of Lethbridge.​

Neil Wittmann is a Fellow of the Canadian College of Construction Lawyers, a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and a member of the Canadian Academy of Distinguished Neutrals. He was the Founding Chair of the Canadian Lawyers’ Insurance Association, a former Chair of the Standards Advisory Board of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants, a past President of the Canadian Bar Insurance Association and a former Uniform Law Commissioner for Alberta. He served as a Bencher of the Law Society of Alberta from 1990 through 1997 and served as its President in 1996-97. From 1998-2010, Neil Wittmann was the Chair of the Alberta Law Reform Institute.

He served as a Member of Council of the Canadian Superior Court Judges’ Association. He also served as a Member of the Canadian Judicial Council and as a Vice Chair of its Judicial Conduct Committee from 2008-2017. He was a Canadian Football League arbitrator from 2006-2017. Neil Wittmann is also the author of a Report “Use of Force in The Calgary Police Service”, April 2018.       

Since 2018, Neil Wittmann has been engaged as an arbitrator in many large commercial, construction, energy and other disputes. He has also been a mediator and counsel in other similar matters.