CNN’s Elie Honig On: Lessons Learned from the Most Prominent Justice Department Investigations of the Last 50 Years
Date: Dec 12, 2025 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Location: New Jersey Law Center, New Brunswick, and Online
Member Price: $159.00
Non-Member Price: $199.00
Section Price: $0.00
Areas of Law: Criminal Law, For All Attorneys, Local Government
Earn up to 3.3 credits! (More Information)
Keynote
- Elie Honig
- CNN Senior Legal Analyst
Lowenstein Sandler, LLP, Roseland
Moderator
Presenters
Imagine you’ve been put in charge of investigating your own boss - who also happens to be the most powerful person on the planet.
You might unearth information that will be politically, professionally, and personally devastating to your subject, and you alone hold the power to indict and potentially imprison him. At the same time, the boss can fire you and end the case - and might even turn the tables and launch an inquiry aimed at you. As the lone-wolf assassin Omar put it in The Wire: “You come at the king, you best not miss.”
That’s the crucible for any Special Counsel. For decades, the Department of Justice has appointed outside prosecutors to handle our highest-stakes cases. But do these independent investigations lead to just results?
In this program based on his latest book, CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig delivers a fast-paced, insider’s account of the most important Justice Department investigations of the past fifty years, spanning both major political parties and based on dozens of on-record interviews with firsthand participants. A Watergate prosecutor reveals she hid copies of key documents at home to guard against potential destruction of evidence by the president’s allies. A member of the Iran-Contra prosecution team explains why they made a shocking election-eve revelation. A defense lawyer for Donald Trump details his private meeting with Jack Smith just days before Trump was indicted.
From Ken Starr’s investigation of Bill Clinton to modern cases involving Patrick Fitzgerald, Robert Mueller, Jack Smith, and more, Honig charts how the Special Counsel system developed and evolved over time. We know the maxim that a nation can be measured by how it treats its weakest members. This book explores an inverse corollary: A nation reveals much about itself by how it holds accountable its most powerful leaders when they’ve done wrong.
Now, Honig addresses the most important questions of all: Can the system evolve to better serve the call for justice and how can lawyers help?
**This seminar will include a “meet and greet” with Elie Honig. His latest book, “When You Come at the King” will be available for purchase at the seminar and Elie will autograph them upon request.**
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