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About USC Gould
USC Gould is a top-ranked law school with a 120-year history and reputation for academic excellence. We are located on the beautiful 228-acre USC University Park Campus, just south of downtown Los Angeles.
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Academics
Learn about our interdisciplinary curriculum, experiential learning opportunities and specialized areas.
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Admissions
USC Gould helps prepare you for a stellar legal career. You can pursue a JD degree, one of our numerous graduate and international offerings, or an online degree or certificate.
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Students
Participate in an unparalleled learning experience with diversity of people and thought. Get involved in the law school community and participate in activities that enhance your studies.
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Careers
We work closely with students, graduates and employers to support successful career goals and outcomes. Our overall placement rate is consistently strong, with 94 percent of our JD class employed within 10 months after graduation.
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Faculty
Our faculty is distinguished for its scholarship, as well as for its commitment to teaching. Our 12:1 student-to-faculty ratio creates an intimate and collegial learning environment.
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Christopher Knauf
USC Gould School of Law
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- SAKS INSTITUTE FOR MENTAL HEALTH LAW, POLICY, AND ETHICS
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Lecturer in Law
699 Exposition Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90089-0074 USA
Last Updated: August 15, 2023
Christopher H. Knauf is the founder and senior attorney of Knauf Associates, a private disability rights and education law firm located in Santa Monica, Calif. In addition to serving as lecturer in law at USC Gould School of Law teaching Disability Rights Law, he is a certified mediator and former director of litigation for the Disability Rights Legal Center in Los Angeles.
Knauf has practiced more than 27 years, primarily focusing on disability rights and education-related legal issues, including special education litigation, in various state and federal trial and appellate courts. He was fortunate to win six cases before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal and has successfully litigated hundreds of cases, including various hearing and trial verdicts. In addition to litigation and mediation, Knauf also serves as an independent Section 504 hearing officer and Los Angeles County Bar fee arbitrator.
Prior to founding his law office in 2006, Knauf was an associate with the public agency law firm Lozano Smith for more than three years, focusing on special education and employment litigation on behalf of school and community college districts. Previously he served as a staff attorney with the Western Law Center for Disability Rights and Bet Tzedek Legal Services. Knauf has also served as an officer and board member of the Disability Community Resource Center (formerly Westside Center for Independent Living) for more than 10 years, and is a co-founder of the City of Santa Monica’s Disabilities Commission.
FACULTY IN THE NEWS
Annenberg Media
September 19, 2023
Re: Thomas Lenz
Thomas Lenz was quoted by Annenberg Media about the United Automobile Workers union ready to go on strike. "Strikes affect the livelihoods of those who choose to stop working. To the extent those persons aren’t earning money to spend that means stores, restaurants, and other businesses might not be as busy. If a strike lasts a long time bills might not get paid as easily, if at all," Lenz wrote.
RECENT SCHOLARSHIP
Mugambi Jouet
August, 2023
“Guns, Mass Incarceration, and Bipartisan Reform: Beyond Vicious Circle and Social Polarization,” 55 Arizona State Law Journal 239 (2023).
Edward McCaffery
August, 2023
"The Curiouser and Curiouser Case of Carried Interest" (with Darryll K. Jones), Arizona Law Review (Spring 2024).
Scott Altman
August, 2023
"Are Parents Fiduciaries," 42 Law and Philosophy 431 (2023).