Ripped from the Headlines: The Lindsay Clancy and Nolan Wells Cases on Murder, Media, Mental Health and Ethics
Date: Nov 17, 2026 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Location: Online
Member Price: $179.00
Non-Member Price: $209.00
Section Price: $0.00
Areas of Law: Criminal Law, Ethics, For All Attorneys
Earn up to 3.3 credits, including 1.0 in Ethics! (More Information)
Featured Speaker
Moderator
- Robert A. Bianchi, Esq.
- Former Morris County Prosecutor and Certified Trial Attorney
The Bianchi Law Group, LLC, Parsippany
Presenters
- Hon. James J. Guida, J.S.C. (Ret.)
- LoFaro Carver, LLC
- David J. Bruno, Esq.
- Certified By the Supreme Court of New Jersey As a Criminal Trial Attorney
The Bianchi Law Group, LLC - Ashley Willcott
- Judge, Trial Attorney, Mediator, Legal Analyst
Court TV
Lindsay Clancy:
A mother. Three children. And one question that split a jury, the public and our profession: where does mental illness end and criminal responsibility begin?
The Lindsay Clancy case, and these other cases, have gripped - and at times divided - both the nation and the legal community. It put the insanity defense itself on trial, exposed how much rides on a prosecutor's decision to charge, and showed what happens when a verdict is argued on social media before it is argued in court. At this entirely new CLE spotlight program, noted defense attorney and former prosecutor Robert Bianchi and his esteemed panel of practitioners will take you inside the decisions that shaped it - what worked, what backfired and what they would have done differently. As an attendee, you'll learn how an insanity defense is built and challenged, how New Jersey's standards for competency, insanity and diminished capacity apply in practice, and how to protect a client and a jury when public opinion is already running hot. You'll gain the confidence you need to handle mental state issues in your own cases, from the first charging decision through the jury charge.
Dive into the hard questions behind this case - and more making headlines:
- Jury charge on NGIs: Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity and diminished capacity – what are they?
- The plea bargaining process: Pre-trial decisions, prosecutor’s discretion to bring a case to trial or allow a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity
- What were some tactical mistakes by the prosecutor? What witnesses should have not been called by the prosecution? Order of witnesses matters
- Krol hearings: What is a Krol hearing? What are the standards? Practical judicial perspectives
- The "holdout" juror who could not accept her insanity defense. Will his treatment by the media and the reaction from the other jurors deter jurors in future cases from voting according to their conscience?
- Should Lindsay's ex-husband Patrick have been investigated or prosecuted?
Nolan Wells:
- To what extent should the prosecutor have communicated with the public during the investigation to clear up misinformation and disinformation?
- The grand jury: a place where a good case can go to die, where secrecy can become problematic in a high-profile public case.
- Why would civil attorneys no provide valuable evidence to the prosecution during the prosecutor’s grand jury presentation?
- The prosecutor’s nightmare: what happens when your investigation has become a public spectacle?
- How creating a circus like environment during an investigation can impede witnesses from coming forward.
- What does the family do from this point after state and federal prosecutors have closed the case? Where we do go from here?
- Investigators found no signs of foul play. Did they miss something? What could have done differently?
Christa Pike:
- Did this case prove that lethal injection is cruel and unusual punishment?
- What are the defendant's and prosecution's legal options when execution fails?
- What's next?
The Cornell 7:
- What is the prosecutor’s office responsibility to investigate?
- Specialized experience that sex crimes units and homicide units have
- Possible conflict of the university’s police department when they police their own students
- The court of public opinion vs legal realities: the politics of prosecution
Ethics and Defamation: Lindsay Clancy and Nolan Wells:
- The impact of social media and defamation claims are rising. What are the bounds of content creators making accusations of criminality of uncharged individuals? And what attorney ethics rules apply?
Join them on November 17 as they explore five notorious criminal cases in the current headlines to spur an informative discussion that connects theory with real-world practice. This exciting seminar brings the true crime genre to continuing legal education!
Register today!
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