Moyenda Mutharika Knapp

Biography

Moyenda Mutharika Knapp represents clients in all phases of employment law and business litigation matters, including the representation of litigants as first chair in jury trials. She counsels employers with regard to the discharge of employees, provides employment-related trainings, and litigates employment discrimination cases on behalf of employers and their management. Her employment law experience includes matters involving the Americans with Disabilities Act; Family Medical Leave Act; racial, reverse racial, gender, age, sexual orientation, and religious discrimination; and termination due to claims of retaliation and First Amendment retaliation. She handles employment discrimination cases in state and federal court, as well as before administrative agencies, such as before the Equal Employment Opportunity Community, the Illinois Department of Human Rights, and the Illinois Human Rights Commission. She also handles wrongful termination claims before the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. In addition, she defends employee welfare benefit plan claims arising under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).

In her business litigation practice, Ms. Knapp handles breach of contract actions, Carmack Amendment cases arising from interstate trucking losses, and matters involving fraud, unjust enrichment, conversion, violations of the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Practices Act, matters involving claims of breach of non-disclosure agreements, actions for an accounting, and matters before the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

Ms. Knapp has provided employment law seminars and regularly writes on noteworthy employment cases and trends as a columnist for the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin. Recent areas in which she writes and provides seminars are social media as it applies to employment law and the discoverability and admissibility at trial of social networking site content. She is an adjunct professor at Northwestern University School of Law, where she has taught Introduction to Trial Advocacy since 2005 and Civil Discovery, a class that she co-created, since 2006.

In the legal community, Ms. Knapp is a member of the American Bar Association and the President of the Chicago-Lincoln American Inn of Court, an organization of attorneys and judges that is devoted to professionalism, ethics, and civility in the legal profession (Vice President and Treasurer 2012-2014; Membership Co-Chair 2010-2012; and Social and Hospitality Chair 2008-2010). She is a former member of the Illinois Association of Defense Trial Counsel (Board of Directors 2011-2013; Co-Chair, Employment Law Committee 2009-2011; and Recipient, Meritorious Service Award 2011 and 2013). Also active in her community, Ms. Knapp is a member of the Women’s Board of Misericordia, a home for over 600 adults and children with developmental disabilities and physical disabilities. She is also a member of the Union League Club of Chicago. She was recognized by the Woman’s Club of Evanston in 2010 with a Community Service Award for creating Dreams Delivered, a project that donates prom dresses to high school students in need.

Ms. Knapp earned her J.D. at Boston University School of Law and an A.B. in Government and Religion at Dartmouth College. She is admitted to practice in Illinois; the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, including Trial Bar; and the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

Education & Bar Admissions

Education

• Boston University School of Law, J.D.
• Dartmouth College, A.B.

Bar Admissions

• Illinois
• U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, including Trial Bar
• U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan

In the News

• 1/12/2015 - Moyenda Mutharika Knapp Speaking at Fundamentals of Employment Law
• 12/1/2014 - GSH Welcomes Moyenda Mutharika Knapp to the Employment Group

Publications