Past CLEs

Two CLE's in November 2023!  Intensive trial skills training on November 16 and the ever-popular DUI CLE on November 17 followed by the Annual Meeting.

November 16 - starting at 12:30 p.m. at UNH Law School in Concord.  This will be a small-group, intensive, interactive trial skills training with a DUI focus. The faculty include nationally-known top trial skills and DUI lawyers Joe Bernard, Mark Thiessen and John Webb. They will be joined by NH DUI and trial skills experts Len Harden and Mark Stevens. (Bios HERE)  For more info and to register throught the mail click HERE.  Or register on-line here.   

Voir Dire, Opening, Cross will be the focus of this training but there is flexibility depending on the desires of each small group. The goal will be to get participants on their feet, taking chances and trying things in a risk- and judgment-free space. Participants will be asked to bring a cross, opening and/or voir dire ideas from a past or upcoming case to use for practice segments. Some brief fact patterns will also be provided. The small groups will be 10 people or less with at least two instructors per group. This is a LIMITED SEATING event, so register right away to save your spot!

November 17 - this full day CLE at the Derryfield Country Club in Manchester will help you stay up-to-date on the NH DUI law and give you tips, tools and tactics for taking your DUI cases to trial.  Attending live via Zoom is also an option. Topics and speakers include:

Mark Thiessen of Houston, Texas - Trial Analogies, Stories & Demos to Win Your Case
Joe Bernard of Springfield, Massachusetts - Winning Breath Test Attacks
John Webb of Saco, Maine - Cross Examining the Officer on SFSTs
Kalee Doty of Concord, NH - 2023 SFST Manual Changes & Highlights to Prep Your Case
Chris Johnson of Concord, NH - NH Law Update: Medical Records, Preservation Letters, Privacy Rights (or lack thereof), Blood Testing
Eric Wilson of Nashua, NH - ALS Consequences - Interlock, Serious Motor Vehicle, etc. 

Check on the bios HERE.  Registration and more details HERE.  Or register on-line here. 

The annual meeting will be held at the end of the day along with the awarding of this years Champion of Justice.

If you wish to attend both days, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for a $100 discount.  

Members are invited to attend a free 1-hour CLE followed by a mid-year meeting of the membership on Wednesday, July 12 starting at 4 p.m. via Zoom.  The CLE will take place first and will include an appellate update from Ted Lothstein and a legislative update from Joseph Lascaze from ACLU-NH.  After the CLE, members are invited to chat about any issues in the practice of criminal defense in the state.  The intent is to have an additional time during the year for members to share info, ask questions and touch base with collegues.  To attend, just send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and you will be sent the Zoom link to join.  

Friday, May 19, 2023
The Derryfield Country Club
625 Mammoth Road, Manchester, NH 03104
Registration begins at 8 a.m. CLE starts at 8:30 am
6 Hours of CLE Credit is anticipated by the sponsor with 1 hour + of ethics
Register HERE online or print this form and mail it in with a check.

Speakers and Topics:
Ted Lothstein and Scot Wilson – Mitigation Evidence in Sexual Assault Cases
Julian Jefferson – All Proofs Favorable
Shannon Bader – Psychological Evaluations: Navigating the Difficult Aspects of an Expert Opinion
Nick Brodich - Justification Defenses: Notices, Jury Instructions, and Issues with Evidence
Tim Zerillo - Beating A Stacked Deck: Attacking Electronic Evidence In Digital Searches
Ethics panel on competency, pleas and sentencing with Gary Apfel, Len Harden, Laura Wilson and David Rothstein
(Page down for more details on topics and speakers!)

Logistics:
NHACDL is offering two ways to attend this CLE. You may take part live via Zoom – but NO recording will be available (per long-term policy). Or you can attend in-person. For in-person attendees, we will have a continental breakfast and lunch. Zoom attendees do not have to pay for food.

This CLE is open to defense and civil practitioners only. The cost includes written materials via email. Materials are available on a flash drive for $10 for people who are attending in person. Flash drives will not be mailed. Again, the ZOOM option is live only. No recording will be made.

Register HERE online or print this form and mail it in with a check.

More details on speakers and topics:

Tim Zerillo - Beating A Stacked Deck: Attacking Electronic Evidence In Digital Searches
Many excellent lawyers see the digital discovery in their case and give up before they begin. They assume that because they are not technologically sophisticated, or because the technology must be right, that they can never succeed in attacking the digital evidence. This talk discusses strategies for how to think about digital evidence cases, how to attack them in pretrial stages and to turn the tables on the government.  Timothy is the founder of Zerillo Law Firm, LLC, in Portland, Maine. He handles federal and state criminal defense and complex civil litigation. Tim serves on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, where he is Co-Chair of the Membership Committee, Vice-Chair of the annual Defending Modern Drug Cases seminar and a Member of the Criminalization of Voting Rights Committee. He is a Past President of the Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, where he Chairs the MACDL Continuing Legal Education Committee. He is a recipient of MACDL’s President’s Award.  Tim is the author of the book “Defending Specific Crimes,” and has been published in NACDL’s “The Champion."  He has been elected to the Best Lawyers in America in the category of White Collar Criminal Defense, and New England Super Lawyers for the years 2010-2019.  For more on Tim, please visit www.ZerilloLaw.com or @timzerillo.

Julian Jefferson - All Proofs Favorable
This training will explore our unique constitutional right to “all proofs favorable” and how it has been treated by the Court over the years. The goal of the training is to empower criminal defense attorneys to zealously advocate for the full force and effect of this amendment at the pre-trial discovery stage and when seeking the introduction of favorable evidence at trial.  Julian is a visiting professor at the University of New Hampshire School of Law.  He joined the faculty after 11 years at the New Hampshire Public Defender.  He has received the Robert E. Kirby Award for excellent advocacy from the NH Bar Association and the Champions of Justice Award from the NHACDL.  Julian is a graduate of Cambridge College and UNH School of Law.

Ted Lothstein and Scot Wilson – Mitigation Evidence in Sexual Assault Cases
Mental health and development concerns can bring quite a few mitigating factors into a case. Finding a clinician that will present those concerns in a way that is informed and measured is necessary to ensure those concerns are considered. Ted and Scot will address the ways a clinician should be assessing a client, the possible evaluations that can be administered and how to evaluate the quality of an assessing clinician.  Scot Wilson, LCMHC, has  been in the human services field since 2006 and began practicing therapy in 2015.  He is part of the Enso Counseling Group in Concord.  Ted Lothstein earned his A.B. from Duke University in 1989, then a J.D. from the University of Connecticut School of Law in 1993, graduating with honors Summa Cum Laude. Subsequently, he clerked for Associate Justice Robert Berdon, of the Connecticut Supreme Court, 1993-94. He went on to work as trial attorney, litigation support attorney, and assistant appellate defender at the New Hampshire Public Defender. In 2008, he opened his solo practice, Lothstein Law Office, PLLC focusing on DWI defense, criminal litigation and appeals. In 2013, Ted joined with Attorney Richard Guerriero to launch Lothstein Guerriero, PLLC, with offices in Concord and Keene, a firm focusing on criminal defense, post-conviction work and appellate litigation in state and federal court.

Nick Brodich - Justification Defenses: Notices, Jury Instructions, and Issues with Evidence
Requiring the State to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that your client’s actions were not justified is a powerful tool. However, there are traps for the unwary and often little guidance from the caselaw. This goal of this section is to help you navigate these issues and maximize the chances of having your jury be instructed that even if the State has proven all elements of the offense, the only way they can go on to convict your client is if the State has also conclusively disproven that your client’s actions were justified.  Nick was admitted to the New Hampshire Bar and the U.S. District Court, District of New Hampshire in 1988. Nick began his legal career with the New Hampshire Public Defender in the fall of 1988 and remained there for 6 years before going into private practice. He has been with Tarbell & Brodich, PA, in Concord, since 2007. His current practice consists of criminal defense matters, motor vehicle, administrative law and domestic violence proceedings. He is also regularly involved with probation and parole hearings.

Dr. Shannon Bader - Psychological Evaluations: Navigating the Difficult Aspects of an Expert Opinion
This segment will provide tips to locate and vet the best expert for your particular case, advise on ways to manage when malingering is reported, and discuss tactics when a mental health disorder impacts the legal case. Dr. Bader graduated from Vanderbilt University and spent a service year with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps before earning her doctorate in clinical psychology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She completed her internship and fellowship at Patton State Hospital in Southern California publishing articles about risk assessment and sexual violence. Dr. Bader stayed at Patton State Hospital as a unit psychologist, then the forensic evaluation department before becoming a founding member of the state hospitals’ Analytics and Research Team. As part of this team, she published five peer-reviewed articles related to institutional violence prevention and help shape the use of risk assessment at the five state hospitals. She re-located to New Hampshire in 2015, the first psychologist to serve as the state's chief of forensic evaluations. In addition to forensic evaluations, she participated in SAMHSA's community of practice for improving competency restoration and provided training to attorneys, judges, mental health centers, and law enforcement. In 2023, Dr. Bader joined Policy Research Associates as a senior project associate and also opened a private practice for forensic evaluations in New Hampshire and Vermont. Dr. Bader is currently the President of the American Academy of Forensic Psychology and is focused on expanding involvement among fellows in Academy business and programs.

Gary Apfel, Len Harden, David Rothstein and Laura Wilson - An Ethics Panel on Competency, Pleas and Sentencing
This panel on ethics is related to the fundamental principles surrounding competence to stand trial and how things happen in the real world.  Laura Wilson, Gary Apfel, David Rothstein and Len Harden  will focus on the pragmatic interactions between clients, courts and opposing counsel.  This will be a wide-ranging discussion on competence, pleas and sentencing issues, both real and hypothetical. The goal is to explore the rules of professional conduct to prepare for what happens in court when dealing with the lawyer's duties to the client, the court and treatment issues.  Gary is a former public defender and appellate defender and practices in NH and VT with the firm of Simpson and Mulligan.  He is a graduate of Dartmouth College and the University of Connecticut School of Law.  Len has been the go-to guy in the North Country for more than 30 years.  He has offices in Coos and Grafton Counties.  David was a public defender and appellate defender for 33 years before starting his privat practice in Exeter.  David is the past chair of the Professional Conduct Committee, a fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers, and on the faculty of the National Criminal Defense College. He was awarded NHACDL's Champion of Justice in 2009. Laura earned her undergraduate degree from Yale University, and then went on to complete Vermont’s unique 4-year Law Office Clerkship.  She currently practices in NH and VT with Young & Wilson.

Real Life Cases/Real Life Consequences

October 21, 2022
The Derryfield Country Club
625 Mammoth Road, Manchester, NH 03104
Registration begins at 8 a.m. CLE starts at 8:30 am
6 Hours of CLE Credit is anticipated by the sponsor with 1 hour of ethics

Speakers and Topics:
Leigh Goodmark and Gary Apfel – Domestic Violence Paradigm 
Tony Naro – Racial Trauma 
Steve Mirkin and Jay Duguay - Lessons Learned in State v. Zhukovskyy 
Tony Sculimbrene and Will Styler - Suppression and Miranda with a Linguistics Twist 
Gilles Bissonnette – Bodycams 
David Rothstein and Brian Civale – Hold the Line - Gagne and Discovery
Maya Dominguez - Child Suggestibility

Click here for more on the topics.  Click here for speaker bios.  

NHACDL is offering two ways to attend this CLE. You may take part live via Zoom – but NO recording will be available (per long-term policy). Or you can attend in-person. For in-person attendees, we will have a continental breakfast and lunch. Zoom attendees do not have to pay for food.

This CLE is open to defense and civil practitioners only. The cost includes written materials via email. Materials are available on a flash drive for $10 for people who are attending in person. Flash drives will not be mailed. Again, the ZOOM option is live only. No recording will be made.

Register by snail mail by clicking HERE and sending in this form or by clicking HERE to register on-line with a credit card.  

May 20, 2022
The Derryfield Country Club
625 Mammoth Road, Manchester, NH 03104
Registration begins at 8 a.m. CLE starts at 8:30 am
6 Hours of CLE Credit is anticipated by the sponsor with 1 hour of ethics

Speakers and Topics:
Larry Daniel - Live Cellebrite Mobile Phone Examination
Melissa Davis and Ed O’Neill – Richards Hearings (getting and keeping them)
Kara Simard – Ethics for Social Media, Email and the Internet
Emma Sisti – Support for Collateral Civil Consequences
Robin Melone – Social Media Investigations, Admissibility and Lewandowski
Cynthia Mousseau – Innocence Issues in Pre-Trial Litigation
Donna Brown – Update on Brady Issues in NH
(Page down for more details on topics and speakers!)

NHACDL is offering two ways to attend this CLE. You may take part live via Zoom – but NO recording will be available (per long-term policy). Or you can attend in-person. For in-person attendees, we will have a continental breakfast and lunch. Zoom attendees do not have to pay for food.

This CLE is open to defense and civil practitioners only.  The cost includes written materials via email. Materials are available on a flash drive for $10 for people who are attending in person. Flash drives will not be mailed. Again, the ZOOM option is live only. No recording will be made.

Register HERE online or print this PDF and mail it in with a check    

More details on speakers and topics

Larry Daniel - Live Cellebrite Mobile Phone Examination 
Cellebrite is the most utilized mobile device forensic tool in the world. Mr. Daniel will guide attendees through the extracted data from mobile devices from within Cellebrite forensic software live. Participants will be educated about the forensic artifacts that can be recovered from a mobile phone and how that data is relevant to cases. Attendees will also see and learn firsthand the examination process, from acquisition (data collection), data preservation, data analysis and reporting using Cellebrite.  Larry has twenty years of experience in digital forensics. He is co-author of the book, “Digital Forensics for Legal Professionals, Understanding digital evidence from the warrant to the courtroom” 2011, Syngress, and the sole author of the book, “Cell Phone Location Evidence for Legal Professionals, Understanding cell phone location evidence from the warrant to the courtroom”, 2017, Academic Press. Larry has qualified and testified as an expert in computer forensics, cell phone forensics, GPS forensics and cellular technology and call detail records analysis over 75 times in state and federal courts. Larry provides training and continuing legal education dozens of times each year.  He holds nine certifications; two in computer forensics, three in cell phone forensics, one in GPS forensics, and three is telecommunications.  

Melissa Davis and Ed O'Neill - Richards Hearings - Getting and Keeping Them
This segment will cover how to handle witnesses who have 5th Amendment problems in NH.  Melissa is currently the director of the Criminal Practice Clinic at the UNH Law School.  Prior to joining the law school, she was a New Hampshire Public Defender in Strafford, Grafton, and Coos Counties.  While at the NHPD, Melissa was the lead trainer for the New Lawyer Trial Skills Course and was managing attorney.  Melissa is a Board Member for the New Hampshire Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and a member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the National Legal Aid and Defender Association.  She is a graduate of American University, Washington College of Law and the University of California, Santa Barbara.  Ed O'Neill graduated Magna Cum Laude from DePaul College of Law in Chicago, IL in 2018, and has been employed with the NHPD since then.  Ed was a student coordinator for a Neighborhood Legal Assistance Project, helping people experiencing housing insecurity obtain State ID's and seal and expunge criminal records.

Kara Simard - Ethics on the Use of Social Media, Electronic Communications, and the Internet
This topic will cover the ethical considerations and relevant NH Rules of Professional Conduct with respect to using social medial to contact witnesses and investigate jurors, texting and e-mailing clients, posting on listserves, and other internet use.  Kara Simard is a staff attorney at the New Hampshire Public Defender in Nashua. Before joining NHPD, she worked for a law firm in Manchester, New Hampshire practicing primarily in civil litigation. Kara serves on the National Board of Directors of the American Civil Liberties Union as the New Hampshire Affiliate Representative. Since 2010, she has served on the Board of Directors of the ACLU of NH. Kara was also on the Board of the New Hampshire Women’s Bar Association for many years and served as President from 2016-2018. She is a member of the Executive Committee of the Manchester Bar Association and was its President from 2015-2016. Kara is also a member of the NHBA Ethics Committee and the New Hampshire Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. 

Emma Sisti - Assistance with Collateral Civil Legal Issues
Criminal defendants often have concurrent civil legal service needs that many criminal defense attorneys feel are beyond their ability to handle.  These civil needs are sometimes the root cause of the criminal concerns or consume so much of the client's time and energy that they can't focus on their criminal problems.  603LegalAid can help your low income clients who are struggling with finding help.  This talk will give you resources to help your clients with their civil legal needs.  Emma is currently the pro bono manager of 603LegalAid.  After 15 years at the NHPD, it was clear to Emma that individuals with criminal cases often had corresponding civil legal service needs that were going unmet and often contributed to, or exacerbated by, their criminal cases.  Emma moved to 603LegalAid to try and bridge this gap by increasing the number of clients served and the number of attorneys who participate. 

Robin Melone - Social Media Investigations, Admissibility and Lewandowski
Social media investigation is a valuable tool for your cases from jury selection to cross examination. Learn some tips, tricks, and ethical how-tos about how to research witnesses and jurors and get that information admitted.  Robin is the current president of NHACDL.  She has been a criminal defense attorney since 2004. She was in the Manchester office the public defender for nearly ten years before entering private practice. She is now a partner at at Wadleigh, Starr & Peters.  Robin has been awarded NHACDL's Champion of Justice and is also a recipient of the Marilla Ricker Achievement Award.

Cynthia Mousseau - Innocence Issues in Pre-Trial Litigation
This segment will cover the main indicators of wrongful convictions: mistaken/false eyewitness identification, false confessions, incentivized witnesses, flawed/misleading forensic science, and state misconduct. Since these factors are present in many criminal cases, whether actual factual innocence is at issue or not, Cynthia will discuss how to litigate these issues in a pre-trial context.  Cynthia Mousseau is a staff attorney at the New England Innocence Project. She is the first staff attorney based in New Hampshire, focusing on New Hampshire post-conviction cases. Prior to joining NEIP, Cynthia was a public defender in Manchester, NH and Lowell, Massachusetts. In addition to screening and litigating NEIP post-conviction cases, Cynthia also works with attorneys pre-trial to prevent wrongful convictions before they happen.  She is also involved in legislative reform.

Donna Brown - Brady Update in NH
Donna will discuss how to use Brady to get discovery before trial and how to litigate Brady violations after trial.  This presentation will include a focus on discovering Brady materials on informants, in drug cases, and cases involving joint investigations with multiple law enforcement and prosecution agencies.  After 25 years at NHPD, Donna went into private practice at Wadleigh Starr and Peters and is now a partner of the firm.  In addition to her practice, Donna is an adjunct professor at University of New Hampshire School of Law where she teaches trial advocacy to students selected to be in the Daniel Webster Scholar Program.  Donna is a recipient of the Champion of Justice Award from the New Hampshire Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, has received the Manchester NAACP's Freedom Fund Award, and has received an award for her pro bono work from the NH Bar Association.  

Back to the Courtroom - DUI Trial Skills 

and the 2021 Annual Meeting

November 19, 2021
The Derryfield Country Club
625 Mammoth Road, Manchester, NH 03104
Registration begins at 8 a.m. CLE starts at 8:30 am
6 Hours of CLE Credit is anticipated by the sponsor with 1 hour of ethics

Speakers and Topics:

Finding Common Ground for “Red” and “Blue” Jurors and Judges – Frank Mungo

The Power of Storytelling; it can transform you, transform the jury, make the room disappear – Tyrone Moncriffe

Effective Compassion – Cross Examining the Hometown Hero – Len Harden and Frank Mungo

Ethics and Difficult People – Nick Brodich and Meredith Lugo

Top 10 NH DUI Tips for Private Practice – Jim Cowles

Top 10 NH DUI Tips for Indigent Clients – Lefty Keans

FST Overview and Studies – Len Harden

To cope with ongoing COVID issues, we are offering several options. You may take part live via Zoom – but NO recording will be available per long-term policy. Or, you can choose to attend in-person. All in-person attendees will be required to wear mask. We can’t risk becoming a spreader event that impacts the criminal justice system.

There are also options to deal with eating. We will serve coffee, drinks and water during the morning but not food. You can choose to eat lunch on site or not. It will be a buffet served by staff. The venue will allow us to use the adjacent dining room and deck for social distancing space while eating provided there is space available (there usually is). You can also choose no food and bring a lunch to eat in your car or go out.  If you are not vaccinated, please choose to have lunch outside the facility to avoid the risk of shutting down your practice and that of other people. NH is already short on competent lawyers!

The Annual Meeting will be held at the end of the day, including the Champion of Justice award.
This CLE is open to defense and civil practitioners only.
Cost includes written materials via email. Materials are available on a flash drive for $10.
Again, the ZOOM option is live only. No recording will be made.

Register HERE online and pay with a credit card or mail in a check.  

Register

NHACDL will hold its spring CLE content on two dates, with 180 minutes of anticipated content each (60 minutes of ethics in June), via Zoom.  You can register seperately or for both at a reduced cost.  

Friday, May 21 - COVID Litigation

The COVID-19 pandemic is not over and its impact on the criminal justice system is far from complete.  The first segment of this CLE will begin at 1 p.m.  It will be a panel discussion by attorneys who have had recent federal and state trials in NH.  They will discuss what was different, what stayed the same, opportunities to seize upon and pitfalls to avoid.  The panel will be led by Federal Defender Eric Wolpin and he will be joined by John Newman and Matt Zahn.  

The second segment will cover voir dire in today's environment.  Individual voir dire has been available in recent trials because of COVID protocols.  This segment will discuss voir dire strategies and practices in general and also include individual voir dire advice for this day and age.  The speakers in this segment are Steve Mirkin, Margaret Kettles and Jason Novak.

The third segment will be presented by James McDermott, Chief Public Defender of the Far West Texas Regional Public Defender.  James will discuss the benefits of video hearings as well as when it's best to oppose them.  In his large area of coverage in Texas, his office has had extensive use of video hearings and he and his staff have discovered numerous nuances and strategies that are helpful for the defense.  He will also discuss nuts and bolts of effective advocacy on camera that he has developed after consulting with TV and film directors and producers.  

Speaker bios HERE.

Friday, June 18 - Substance Use Disorder 

One thing is for sure, substance use disorder has not gone away during the pandemic.  Finding help for clients and making ethical decisions about litigation and treatment are ongoing daily challenges for the defense bar.  This CLE will also begin at 1 p.m. 

The first speakers will be Sarah Landres and John Burns.  They will discuss using the science of addiction medicine, strategies of harm reduction, and the framework of public health in defending clients with substance use disorder.

Kerry Nolte of the New Hamphire Harm Reduction Coalition will then cover how to redirect narratives toward trauma as the gateway to substance use to better assist the substance use community. She will also review New Hampshire's syringe services program data and provide legislative updates.

The third segment of this CLE will be an ethics panel focusing on issues that arise in substance use disorder cases.  Christine List will lead this panel joined by Tony Naro and Kevin O'Keefe.

Speaker bios HERE.

Register

Part 2 of NHACDL's Fall CLE series will be held November 20, 2020 via Zoom.  (Part 1 was held on October 16, 2020).  The November 20 session will also include the Annual Meeting and awarding of this year's Champion of Justice.  The cost for members is $50 to attend one session, or attend both for $80.  Click HERE to register.   

12:30-1:30  Polygraphs: A Practical Guide for the Defense Practitioner.  In this segment, Jeff Odland will provide an overview of the law of polygraphy and retired FBI polygrapher Michael De La Pena will conduct a practical demonstration of a polygraph test.

Jeff Odland has represented thousands of New Hampshire residents charged with crimes. He has previously trained other lawyers in trial skills, including the rules of evidence and the art of cross-examination, as well as the intricacies of the New Hampshire wiretapping statute. He worked at the New Hampshire Public Defender Program from 2008 until 2019 when he left the program to join the law firm of Greenblott & O'Rourke PLLC. Now in general practice, he maintains a focus on indigent defense and is a member of the Superior Court's major crimes court-appointed list as well as the Federal Court's CJA panel.

Michael De La Pena has a B.A. in International relations from George Washington University and graduated from the FBI Academy.  He served as an FBI Special Agent for 30 years until his retirement in 2019. In that capacity, De La Pena became a certified FBI Hostage Negotiator, Undercover Operative and Polygraph Examiner.  De la Pena's polygraph training was conducted at the Department of Defense Polygraph Institute.  In his 16 years of polygraph service, De La Pena conducted approximately 3,000 exams, across the United States, Central and South America and Iraq.  De La Pena has been a featured speaker on polygraph cases and concepts at the American Polygraph Association and other polygraph groups, including in Singapore and the Ukraine, at the invitation of those governments.  De La Pena is the author of The Coyote Wars, The Last Coyote and Coyote Rising, FBI suspense novels, also known as the Coyote Wars trilogy (with approval from the FBI).  He currently works as a polygraph examiner for ORTSEC LLC, a Tampa based security company.  He resides in Massachusetts.  

Mary Price is General Counsel of FAMM (Families Against Mandatory Minimums). She directs the FAMM Litigation Project and advocates for reform of federal sentencing and corrections law and policy before Congress, the U.S. Sentencing Commission, the Bureau of Prisons, and the Department of Justice.  Ms. Price was a founder of Clemency Project 2014, serving on its Steering, Screening and Resource committees. She is a member of and Special Advisor to the American Bar Association’s Criminal Justice Section, is a member of its Sentencing Committee, serves on the ABA’s Sentencing Standards Task Force, and was a member of the Task Force on the Reform of Federal Sentencing for Economic Crimes. Previously, she served on the Practitioners’ Advisory Group to the United States Sentencing Commission. She is a member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) and serves on its First Step Implementation Task Force. Ms. Price is a founder of the Compassionate Release Clearinghouse, a joint project of FAMM, NACDL, and the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs.  She was honored in 2019 by NACDL with its Champion of Justice Restoration of Rights Award for her work on clemency and compassionate release.  Prior to joining FAMM, Ms. Price was associated with the law firm of Feldesman, Tucker, Leifer, Fidell & Bank, LLP where she handled appeals of courts martial and conducted administrative advocacy on behalf of U.S. service members.

2:30-3:45 Dispositional Advocacy in Juvenile Cases: Why Probation Shouldn’t be the Default.  Presented by Pam Jones, Shea Sennett and Morgan Taggart-Hampton.

Pamela Jones is a Staff Attorney with New Hampshire Public Defender (NHPD) in their Nashua Office. She has been with the NHPD since 2008. Pamela represents both adults and juveniles in court but has focused her practice on juvenile representation in delinquency court and juvenile issues as well as handling Miller cases. As part of Pamela’s focus on the area of juvenile defense she conducts new lawyer training specific to juvenile law and juvenile-specific topics. She also provides case assistance and support to attorneys on youth cases throughout New Hampshire. Pamela is the Co-Director of NJDC’s New England Juvenile Defender Center and is a certified JTIP Trainer.

Shea Sennett has been a Staff Attorney with the New Hampshire Public Defender in their Nashua office since 2015. Shea carries a mixed caseload of adult, juvenile delinquency, and CHINS cases. Shea co-facilitates the training of new lawyers within the New Hampshire Public Defender with respect to juvenile practice. Shea has assisted in training contract counsel in New Hampshire on juvenile practice in New Hampshire, helped develop and plan regional trainings on juvenile law, and presented at the National Juvenile Defender Center's annual Summit in 2019. Shea is a member of the New England Juvenile Defender Center board. Prior to practicing law, Shea taught 9th grade algebra. Shea earned his B.A. in Mathematics from the College of the Holy Cross and his J.D. from the University of New Hampshire School of Law.

Morgan Taggart-Hampton is an attorney with the New Hamsphire Public Defender in its Keene office and serves on the board of the New England Juvenile Defender Center.

3:45-4:30 - The NHACDL annual meeting will be held, which will include on-line voting for the 2020 Board of Directors (via Zoom polling) and presentation of this year's Champion of Justice.  

NHACDL usually holds a 6-hour CLE each fall.  This year, the fall CLE is offered in two parts: Part 1 on Race and Representation will be held October 16, 2020 from 1-4:15 p.m. and Part 2 will be held November 20, 2020 (page down for details).  The November 20 session will also include the Annual Meeting and awarding of this year's Champion of Justice.  Both sessions will be via Zoom.  The cost for members is $50 to attend one session, or attend both for $80.  Click HERE to register.     

1-2 p.m. Christian Williams discussing tips for building relationships with Black clients and other people of color and recognizing how race affects your client’s case from arrest to sentencing.
Christian Williams is a clinical instructor at Harvard Law School, Criminal Justice Institute. Prior to that Chris was a public defender with the Committee for Public Counsel Services (2010-2020). Chris defended people facing serious felonies in Bristol County, Norfolk County, and people wrongfully convicted in the Hinton drug lab scandal. Before joining CPCS, Chris was an attorney with the Virginia Capital Representation Resource Center defending people sentenced to death in state and federal habeas proceedings. He is a board member of the Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Prior to law school, Chris was a software developer and instructor for fourteen years focused on relational databases and internet application servers. He is a graduate of Cornell Law School (J.D., 2009); the University of Rhode Island (B.A., 1991); and the National Criminal Defense College - Trial Practice Institute (Certificate, 2015).
A long-time resident of Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood, he has been an activist and organizer on issues of war, immigrants’ rights, LGBTQ rights, racial justice and Palestinian self-determination. Chris is a member of the National Lawyers Guild. During the Occupy Boston movement he was part of its legal defense and support team, which provided nearly 24-hour support to the participants.

2-3 p.m. Race Data: Where to find it and how to use it. A panel with Gilles Bissonnette, Joshua Raisler Cohn and Radha Natarajan discussing the use of data in litigation. How to gather useful information using 91-A and other strategies to make an impact in court.
Radha Natarajan is the Executive Director for the New England Innocence Project (NEIP). Prior to joining NEIP as its Staff Attorney in 2015, Radha spent twelve years as a public defender, most recently at the Roxbury Defenders, handling serious felony cases in the Massachusetts trial courts. She has used her expertise in eyewitness identification to conduct trainings across the country, including at the National Forensic College, in a systemic effort to reduce wrongful convictions. For her work, she has been presented with the 2020 Carol Donovan Award for Exceptional Advocacy by the Committee for Public Counsel Services, 2020 Excellence in the Law Award from Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, the 2018 President’s Award from the Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the 2013 Top Women of Law Award from Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, and the 2011 Access to Justice Award from the Massachusetts Bar Association.
She is a member of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Standing Committee on Eyewitness Evidence, an advisory committee tasked with updating the Court on new research, developing education and training for the bench and bar, and making scientifically-based recommendations for reform, including considering and developing jury instructions addressing memory, perception, credibility, and implicit bias. She is a 2000 graduate of Stanford University, where she majored in Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity, focusing on the role of race in the legal system. She is a 2003 graduate of New York University School of Law, where she was the Managing Editor of the New York University Law Review. She is the author of Racialized Memory and Reliability: Due Process Applied to Cross-Racial Eyewitness Identifications, 78 N.Y.U. L. Rev. 1821 (2003). She teaches a course on Wrongful Convictions at Boston University School of Law. She has served on the Executive Board of the National Innocence Network.
Josh Raisler Cohn is a public defender at the Roxbury Defenders Unit of the Committee for Public Counsel Services, where he represents poor people charged with serious felonies. While representing individual clients, Josh’s litigation strategy looks to attack structures in the law (and in society) that perpetuate systemic oppression. Josh is also the co-chair of the Racial Justice Litigation sub-committee of the National Association of Public Defenders. Josh has been involved in legal work within social movements for decades, using the tools of the legal system to support organizing for justice, liberation and self-determination . He is a long time Board member of the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, where he works to ensure zealous representation for activists and organizers who end up entangled with the law.
Gilles Bissonnette is the Legal Director at the ACLU of New Hampshire, where he leads a team of three civil rights lawyers. He has litigated cases on the criminalization of poverty, voting, police and government accountability, public records, the First Amendment, immigrants’ rights, and criminal justice issues. Gilles has testified before the New Hampshire legislature on over one hundred bills impacting civil liberties.
Prior to joining the ACLU in 2013, Gilles was a civil litigator in Boston at the law firms of Choate Hall & Stewart LLP, Todd & Weld LLP, and Cooley LLP. Gilles clerked for Judge Thomas M. Golden of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Gilles received his J.D. from UCLA School of Law where he was the Chief Comments Editor of the UCLA Law Review. He received his B.A. and M.A. in history from Washington University in  St. Louis. Gilles is admitted to practice law in the state and federal courts in New Hampshire, the federal courts in Massachusetts, the First Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court. Gilles has taught multiple Continuing Legal Education courses on the United States and New Hampshire Constitutions. He is a member of the Hearings Committee of the Attorney Discipline System (term Jan. 1, 2020-Dec. 31, 2022), as well as a trustee of the New Hampshire Supreme Court Society.

3:15-4 :15 p.m. Gina Pruski on the existence of racial problems in the criminal justice system and how to approach them with humility.  Gina Pruski is the Director of Training and Development for the State Public Defender’s Office (SPD) in Wisconsin. After obtaining both her undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, she began her career with the SPD in 1992 serving first as a staff attorney in the Trial Division and then as Deputy Legal Counsel and Legislative Liaison for the agency.  Gina was the 2016-17 Chair of the National Alliance of Indigent Defense Educators (NAIDE), the trainers’ section of the National Legal Aid and Defender Association (NLADA) and is currently an executive officer of NAIDE. She is a member of the National Association for Public Defense (NAPD) and serves on NAPD’s Education Committee. She frequently conducts training for public defender trainers around the country.

Free CLE on Race and Policing September 1, via Zoom

Race and the Search and Seizure Law in NH: How Research on Pre-textual Stops, Proactive Policing, Implicit Bias and Marijuana Laws are Critical to Litigating the Legality of Police Encounters with Persons of Color
Historically, federal and state caselaw has made it difficult to litigate racial and ethnic bias in policing due to the apparent legitimacy of pre-textual motor vehicle stops as well as the objective “free to leave” analysis employed by the prosecution to legitimize police encounters with persons of color. This difficulty has been compounded by the failure of many courts to properly consider research on disparate and “proactive” policing as well as research on implicit bias.

On January 20, 2020, in a decision the ACLU described as historic, the New Hampshire Supreme Court held in State v. Ernest Jones that “race is an appropriate circumstance to consider in conducting the totality of the circumstances seizure analysis” regarding police encounters. Despite this holding, data shows that the New Hampshire police continue to engage in disparate policing of persons of color. This CLE will not only review recent favorable holdings from New Hampshire state and federal judges and other jurisdictions, but it will also review national and local research that can be used to litigate issues related to race and police encounters. This CLE will be presented by Donna Brown, who litigated the State v. Jones case, and she will discuss ideas for future litigation based on the Jones decision.

This CLE is free to members.  To register, simply send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to request an invitation.  Non-members are invited to join the association!  For a reduced rate for the remainder of 2020, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..