Peter Knecht

Peter Leo Knecht (born September 16, 1936) is a criminal defense attorney from Los Angeles, California, and is nationally known for his knowledge about the subtleties of the law in action.

Knecht’s exemplary pro-defendant stance bespeaks a rigorous insight into the broader legal issues and an admirably consistent commitment to client rights. Unlike his contemporaries Robert Shapiro and Johnnie Cochran, who became world famous during the 1995 O. J. Simpson trial, Knecht is a wildcat who works somewhat under the radar, which is a tribute to his low-key but effective approach to lawyering, as well as an indication of his determination to keep his sometimes very well known clientèle out of the headlines.

In the course of his career, Knecht has represented many Hollywood and music-biz celebrities, including David Crosby, Sly Stone, Dennis Hopper, Charles Bronson, Peter Fonda, Sal Mineo, Ryan O’Neal, John Phillips, Jan Berry (of Jan and Dean), Tom Wopat, Robert Downey Jr., Andy Garcia, Jason Priestley, Heidi Fleiss, John Frankenheimer, Dan Haggerty, Ike Turner, Robert Blake, Tom Sizemore, Harry Dean Stanton and Paula Abdul have also been his clients, among many others.

Knecht has often dealt with these notable figures at nadir points in their public lives and careers, when their legal problems have involved touchy and potentially embarrassing issues such as drug use, weapons possession, family and marital scrapes, and unfortunate interpersonal incidents. His skill at quietly effective representation is legend, and has been a boon to the famous and infamous who have availed themselves of his services. Yet Knecht is not simply an L.A.-based “celebrity lawyer.” He has also taken on important cases involving physicians, fellow attorneys and police officers and their families.

Knecht was born in Vienna, Austria, just before the German Anschluss. His family endured persecution under the Nazis but was fortunate to escape to America, where Knecht’s father eventually re-established his medical practice.

Knecht attended Black Fox Military School, Hollywood High School, University of Southern California, and the Southwestern Law School. He was admitted to the California bar in 1964.

While still a student, Knecht served as a law clerk for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office. He later went on to serve as the district attorney in charge of the Beverly Hills Judicial District, while also teaching the rules of search and seizure at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Knecht eventually moved to the defense side of the law, primarily through his affiliation with the law practice of Harry Weiss, considered by many to be the granddaddy of all Los Angeles criminal lawyers. The flamboyant Weiss had a significant celebrity clientèle, and Knecht’s exposure to the world of show business eventually gained him his own client base, as well as the reputation for being an attorney skilled at keeping cases low-profile.

Knecht is too well-known to completely stay within the shadows of his discreet approach to his work. When called upon, he has appeared as a television analyst and consultant on criminal justice for major news outlets, including national CBS, NBC, ABC and FOX broadcasts, and locally for KCAL-TV-Channel 9 and KCOP-TV-Channel 13. He has also appeared on Celebrity Justice and on CNN. His major cases have been featured on morning talk shows like The Today (NBC program) Show and Good Morning America.

Besides his obvious technical skills as an attorney, Knecht is also an articulate spokesperson on contemporary legal issues, expressing staunch opinions on the vagaries of the three strikes law, the importance of a necessary balance between individual rights and the protection of society in post-9/11 America, abuse of power within the legal system, and the burden of proof obligation as pertains to prosecutors. He’s also a strong advocate of increased educational requirements for peace officers—to make law enforcement more a real profession rather than merely a job.

Knecht maintains professional affiliations with the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL), the American Bar Association (ABA), the Criminal Courts Bar Association, and the Los Angeles Bar Association.

Personal life

Knecht has been married to Ava Cadell since 1992.