Peter Knecht

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.


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Knecht — is a surname and may refer to:* Hans Knecht (1913 1996), Swiss road racing cyclist * Justin Heinrich Knecht (1752 1817), German composer * Peter Knecht (1798 1852), industrialist * Karl Kae Knecht (1883 1972), an American artist, cartoonist *… …   Wikipedia

  • Peter — (s. ⇨ Petrus). 1. Als S. Peter nur den Herrn Hof erschmeckt (gekostet) vnd sich da wermet, hat er sich alsbald den Hoffsitten bequemt. – Lehmann, 77, 30. 2. Der arme Sanct Peter hat viel ungelehrte Leute reich gemacht. – Petri, II, 81. »Pinguis… …   Deutsches Sprichwörter-Lexikon

  • Peter Roggisch — (* 10. August 1937 in Berlin; † 21. Februar 2001 in Hamburg) war ein deutscher Schauspieler und Regisseur, der sowohl für das Theater als auch für den Film sowie als Sprecher für Audioproduktionen unter so bekannten Regisseuren wie… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Peter Palitzsch — (* 11. September 1918 in Deutmannsdorf bei Löwenberg in Schlesien; † 18. Dezember 2004 in Havelberg) war ein deutscher Theaterregisseur. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Leben und Werk 1.1 Jugend und Wirken in der DDR …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Peter Bajus — (* 13. Juni 1795 in Klein Gerau; † 18. Februar 1875 in Kingston (Ontario)), der auch den Zunamen Stolz führte, war ein deutscher Schnellläufer und Hofläufer im Dienste des Großherzogs Ludwig I. Biographie Peter Bajus lebte bis zum 15. Lebensjahr… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Peter Musäus — (* 12. Oktober 1939 in Königsberg) ist ein deutscher Schauspieler und Synchronsprecher. Der Sohn der Schauspieler Hans Musäus und Maria Singer spielte bereits als Zehnjähriger am Tiroler Landestheater Innsbruck. Im österreichischen Kinderrundfunk …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Peter Mönch — (* 1937) ist ein deutscher Schauspieler. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Leben 2 Filmographie (Auswahl) 3 Weblinks 4 Einzelnachweise …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Peter Paul — (* 20. Februar 1911 in Berlin; † 5. Oktober 1985 in München) war ein deutscher Schauspieler. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Biografie 2 Filmografie 3 Hörspiele …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Peter Hofmann (Theologe) — Peter Hofmann (* 1958 in Hildesheim) ist Priester des Bistums Hildesheim und römisch katholischer Theologe. Seine Forschungsschwerpunkte sind die Bildtheologie, die Theologie Joseph Ratzingers sowie die Frage nach dem biblischen bzw. liturgischen …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Peter von Hagenbach — (around 1420 May 9, 1474 Breisach am Rhein) was born into a Alsace Bourgogne family. They were originally from Hagenbach and owned a castle there.He was instated as Landvogt by Archduke Sigmund of Habsburg to rule the land he had leased from Duke …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”