Mediation & Arbitration – Nationwide
Most disputes don’t need a courtroom.
Thirty years of civil litigation for both plaintiffs and defendants – a true neutral with substantial trial and appellate experience in state and federal courts alike. Class actions, complex and emotional cases, he has done it all. Mr. Knauf teaches at USC Law and mediates and arbitrates full time, resolving cases efficiently and effectively. Compare his demeanor, availability, and rates: he stands out getting cases resolved!
Experienced, court-appointed neutral in the U.S. District Courts for the Central and Eastern Districts of California and various California Superior Courts.
- Employment, FEHA, and PAGA cases
- ADA, special education, conservatorship, custody, housing, landlord/tenant and any other disability-related cases
- Civil rights and class actions
- Consumer credit, business, and contract disputes
- Personal injury
If he can understand it, he can mediate it!
Start here
Is this you?
Two kinds of people book mediations, and they arrive with different questions. Attorneys want dates, rates and a neutral both sides will accept. Everyone else wants to know what actually happens in a session. Pick yours.
You don’t have to fit one of these perfectly. If a dispute has gotten bigger than you can handle on your own, that is reason enough to book a call.
You were fired or pushed out, and you don’t believe the reason you were given.
You want it taken seriously without spending two years and your savings finding out.
A contract fell apart and the other side has stopped answering you.
You would take a fair number this month over a perfect number in three years.
Your landlord wants you out, or your tenant won’t leave.
Both of you need this decided, and a court date is months away.
A divorce or custody conversation has stopped being a conversation.
You want the terms written down clearly, by someone who knows the law around families.
Your child isn’t getting what the school agreed to provide.
There is a plan on paper, a 504 plan or an IEP, and it isn’t happening in the classroom.
You got a demand letter about your website and you don’t know what it means.
Accessibility claims under the ADA. He has worked both sides of them.
Not on the list? It probably still fits. Ask on the free call. If mediation isn’t right for your situation, he will tell you so.
You already know how mediation works. Here is what you actually need: subject-matter fit, availability, and what it costs.
You need a neutral both sides will actually agree to.
Thirty years of civil litigation, for plaintiffs and for defendants. Neither side gets to call him theirs.
You need a date before a cut-off, not next quarter.
Open sessions are listed live in the availability calendar. Book the slot directly.
Your client needs to hear it from someone who isn’t you.
He has tried and appealed these cases in state, federal and appellate courts, and will say plainly what a courtroom is likely to do.
It’s a court-referred matter.
An experienced, court-appointed neutral in the U.S. District Courts for the Central and Eastern Districts of California, and in various California Superior Courts.
The dispute is multi-party, or the parties are in different places.
Sessions run over Zoom with separate rooms, so location and party count stop being scheduling problems.
What it costs
Session types, lengths and current rates are listed in the availability calendar.
Pick the session that fits the case and book it directly. The calendar shows what is open and what each session costs. If you need a written fee schedule for your client, or you want to settle how the fee is split between the parties first, raise it in a free initial call and he will confirm the arrangement in writing.
Lower rates and pro bono sessions are available for parties in need and for low-dollar cases.
Who you’d be sitting across from
Thirty years arguing both sides.
Now he sits between them.
30years
Civil litigation
Trials and appeals in state, federal, and appellate courts, representing plaintiffs and defendants both.
2federal panels
Court-appointed neutral
Appointed in the U.S. District Courts for the Central and Eastern Districts of California, and in various California Superior Courts.
USC
Teaching professor
He teaches law students and undergraduates. It is the daily practice of saying complicated things in plain words.
Super Lawyers
Top Rated Attorney
See Chris’s profile, opens in a new tab
How mediation works
Four steps, and you can stop at any of them.
Mediation is a conversation with someone in the middle who has seen how these end. Every decision stays yours, and nothing binds you until you have read it and signed it.
The first call
No chargeYou tell me what happened, in your own words. I tell you plainly whether mediation fits your situation, what it would cost, and where I think the hard parts are. If it isn’t a fit, I’ll say so on that call.
Intake
Before the sessionEach side sends me a short summary of the dispute and anything they think I should read. You can mark what you send confidential, and I won’t pass it to the other side.
The session
Zoom or in personEither via Zoom or in person — it’s the parties’ choice. Typically on Zoom, we keep each side in its own breakout room. I move between rooms, targeting the crucial issues and carrying offers and reality checks until we reach a deal. Nobody is required to agree to anything, and you can stop at any point.
The agreement
In writingTypically a term sheet is agreed upon via email and the parties agree to prepare a long-form agreement as needed and within a specific time. Mediation in California is confidential by law: what is said in mediation stays there.
What he mediates
If he can understand it, he can mediate it.
The kind of dispute changes what gets argued about. It doesn’t change the process, the effectiveness of mediation, or the potential outcomes.
Employment & workplace
Firings and forced resignations, discrimination and harassment under FEHA, retaliation, PAGA and wage claims, and accommodation at work.
Personal injury
Liability and damages disputes where the argument is what the harm is worth, and how much of it belongs to whom.
Civil rights & class actions
Claims against public entities and officials, systemic matters, and the compliance disputes that follow a settlement.
Business & consumer
Deals that broke down, partners who stopped agreeing, work delivered and never paid for, and consumer credit disputes.
Housing & landlord/tenant
Evictions, deposits, repairs and habitability, and the disagreements owners and tenants can’t settle between themselves.
Family, custody & conservatorship
Separation terms, custody and parenting schedules, conservatorship, and the money conversations underneath all three.
Where he goes deepest
ADA, disability & accessibility
ADA, FEHA, Section 504, and IDEA matters. Housing, higher education, reasonable accommodations, and website accessibility claims.
In plain terms: Mr. Knauf has litigated and now mediated every type of disability claim there is.
- Now
- Mediation, training, and teaching
- Teaches at
- USC, law students and undergraduates
- Depth in
- Disability · education · housing · employment
Meet Chris
Thirty years of litigating and mediating cases.
When he tells you what a court may do with your case, he isn’t guessing.
He has taken cases like it all the way through bench and jury trials and, when necessary, through appeals. He has sat on both sides of the podium and seen it all.
Teaching exercises similar muscles. Explaining the law to people who have never studied it is what he does at USC and in numerous trainings and MCLEs to lawyers, companies, and public agencies. Very helpful in pro se cases where he can explain without advising.
So you will not be handled. You will be told what is strong about your position, what is weak, and what it would cost you to keep fighting about it.
What people say
Testimonials
Mediations are confidential, so published accounts of them are rare. The first of these is from a Director of Special Education who worked with Chris in mediations for more than ten years. The three below it are from people he represented as an attorney. A different job, but the same person in the room.
For more than ten years when I served as Director of Special Education for school districts, without exception, Mr. Knauf was successful in working genuinely with all parties to reach fair resolutions in mediations… Mr. Knauf consistently and respectfully listened to the issues and through his skill, patience, and creativity was able to put options on the table which always benefitted students and also made sense for the school district. In even the most contentious of situations, Mr. Knauf brought the parties to a resolution and in doing so, eliminated the need for prolonged litigation.
It is without reservation that I offer the highest recommendation for Mr. Knauf for any education related mediation, hearing, or arbitration.
Mr. Knauf represented us in an ADA claim related to our website… Would highly recommend!
AnonymousADA claim defense A lawyer that truly made me feel equal… I would recommend 100%
CristinaClient, law practice The highest degree of professionalism, and extraordinary respect and concern for folks with disabilities… Mr. Knauf will be the first person we call.
MarkClient, law practice
Common questions
The things people ask before they call.
Asked plainly, answered plainly. These are the ones that come up most. The full list answers fourteen. If yours isn’t there either, it is a good first question for the free call.
Neither. That is the job. A mediator does not represent anyone and does not decide anything. What he brings is a read on how a court would likely see the case, and that read is usually uncomfortable for both sides in about equal measure.
Yes. Mediation in California is confidential by law: what is said in the session is meant to stay in the session and generally cannot be used against you in court. Anything you send before the session can be marked confidential, and it will not be passed to the other side.
Parties sometimes realize they are just too far apart, or it is too early in the case and discovery is needed. That is a real outcome and that is okay. Mr. Knauf will follow up and work hard for the parties when a resolution is within reach.
The first call is free, and there is no charge for finding out whether mediation fits. Fees for the mediation itself depend on the matter and the time it takes, and current rates are listed in the availability calendar. Lower rates and pro bono sessions are available for parties in need.
Much less time than litigation. Many matters resolve in a single session of two to four hours; more complicated ones take several. Most of the schedule is set by when both sides can meet, not by a court’s calendar, and sessions are on Zoom so nobody is waiting on travel.
No. You can mediate without one, and you can bring one if you would rather. Nobody will talk over your head. If a term comes up that you don’t know, say so and it gets explained in plain words. That is a normal part of the session, not an interruption.
Only what you sign. If both sides reach terms, they are typically set out in a term sheet agreed by email, with the parties agreeing to prepare a long-form agreement as needed and within a set time. A signed settlement agreement is enforceable much like any other contract. Nothing becomes binding by accident, and nothing becomes binding because you discussed it.
Book
Book a session, or start with a free call.
Two ways in, depending on how far along you are. Neither one commits you to anything until you say so.
- You talk
- You describe the dispute in your own words. There is no form to fill out first and no vocabulary test.
- He answers straight
- Whether mediation fits, what it would cost, and where the hard parts are. If it isn’t a fit, he will say so.
- You decide later
- Nothing is booked, signed, or owed at the end of the call. You go away and think about it.
What happens on that call
Or just write
Rather ask a question first?
Send a note and Chris will reply himself. You don’t have to explain everything. A couple of sentences about what has happened is enough to start.
Nothing you write here is confidential in the way a mediation is, so keep it general until you have spoken to him.