About Courtney Knox, Senior Management Partner
Courtney Knox said having an empathetic personality is necessary for a divorce lawyer when dealing with people going through a very traumatic event in their lives.
“However, it’s not just being empathetic and understanding,” she said. “It’s also about trying to introduce levity into their situation because if they are doom and gloom all the time it’s going to be so much harder for them to get through it.”
Ms. Knox said she tries to pull her clients away from the emotion as much as possible so they can see their case from an outside perspective.
During her time as a Support Hearing Officer, Ms. Knox found it appalling how many people were unprepared to go into support hearings just thinking someone else was going to do the work for them.
“There are so many nuances that help you tweak things in your favor, and that experience really opened my eyes to the possibilities that were there in regards to arguing support,” Ms. Knox said.
Licenses
Ms. Knox is licensed to practice law in Pennsylvania.
Education
Ms. Knox graduated from American University with a degree in justice and a minor in psychology. She received her Juris Doctor from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law as well as her Masters of Public and International Affairs (MPIA) in Security and Intelligence Studies.
While at law school Ms. Knox served as vice president of the Student Bar Association as well as a member of the Pitt Legal Income Sharing Foundation.
Professional Experience
After law school, Ms. Knox began a judicial clerkship with the Honorable John M. Cascio, the Honorable David C. Klementik, and the Honorable D. Gregory Geary of the Court of Common Pleas of Somerset County, Pennsylvania. During her clerkship, she performed legal research for the judges on a variety of legal issues including family law. She also served as an interim Support Hearing Officer.
Since her clerkship, Ms. Knox has focused her practice in the areas of family law and domestic relations.
Ms. Knox is a certified mediator and trained in collaborative law.
Associations
She currently is a member of the Allegheny County Bar Association, and a member of CLASP, the Collaborative Law Association of Southwestern Pennsylvania.
.
Awards
Ms. Knox was recognized in 2014-16 as a Pennsylvania Rising Star in the family law practice area by Super Lawyers, a Thomson Reuters rating service of outstanding lawyers.
Click here for Super Lawyers selection criteria.
Click here for The National Advocates Top 100
In 2016, the American Institute of Family Law Attorneys named Ms. Knox one of the 10 Best Family Law Attorneys for Client Satisfaction in Pennsylvania.
Publication
Ms. Knox has been a featured speaker at Cordell & Cordell divorce seminars and educates fellow attorneys on tax issues in family law.
Watch Ms. Knox’s lecture, presented with Scott Trout, from Cordell & Cordell’s 2016 Continuing Legal Education seminar on “Family Law Update 2015 Case Law.”
Ms. Knox was quoted in a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article about Cordell & Cordell’s focus on representing men in divorce cases.
