Meghan Knapp

As Director of the Civil Practice Clinic at Texas Tech University School of Law, Meghan Knapp supervises students who represent indigent clients in various civil matters in state and federal court. 

Professor Knapp’s research and practice focus on accountability for human rights violations. After graduating from law school, she served as a staff attorney for the Guernica Centre for International Justice, a non-profit that works with local partners to confront public and private actors involved in the planning, execution, and cover-up of human rights violations. During her time at the Centre, Professor Knapp focused on human rights violations in Mexico, particularly issues related to torture; private military and security contractors (PMSCs); and state capture. This experience informed her research on defining accountability, developing a workable accountability framework, and applying that framework to efforts addressing human rights violations in Latin America and beyond. Her work includes identifying gaps in current accountability efforts and positing strategies to strengthen and expand victimized persons pursuit of justice, accountability, and change.     

Before joining Texas Tech, Professor Knapp was a clinical teaching fellow at Rutgers Law School in Newark, where she discovered how much she valued working with and teaching law students. Her teaching emphasizes critical thinking, practical application, and helping students develop analytical and advocacy skills they can carry into practice.

Professor Knapp holds a B.A. in History from the University of Wisconsin—Madison and an M.A. in Russian and Eastern European History from Indiana University Bloomington. She earned her J.D. magna cum laude from the University of Minnesota School of Law, with a concentration in human rights law.

Outside of work, Professor Knapp enjoys traveling with her dogs, a basset hound named Floyd, and a red-tick mix named Briar.