April Milburn-Knizner

April Milburn-Knizner is the Associate Director of Bar Studies and an assistant professor of law at the Thomas R. Kline School of Law of Duquesne University.  Her expertise includes 15 years of teaching Legal Research and Writing to first-year law students and Core and Applied Competencies to third-year students, a course designed to hone students’ critical reasoning skills as they prepare to enter legal practice.  As the Associate Director of Bar Studies, Milburn-Knizner helps develop Duquesne Kline’s comprehensive bar preparation curriculum, provides character and fitness counseling, and co-coordinates the summer BEST program.

In addition to the above, Milburn-Knizner teaches environmental law and an interdisciplinary course on climate change, resiliency and sustainability. She is also the faculty advisor of both the Environmental Law Society and Joule, the Energy and Environmental Law Journal, and serves on the University’s Sustainability Committee.

She frequently speaks and writes on issue related to legal writing pedagogy, the Pennsylvania bar exam, and the impacts of a built America on communities and health.

Milburn-Knizner is an environmental lawyer by trade. After earning her law degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, she joined the Pittsburgh law firm of Babst, Calland, Clements & Zomnir, P.C. (now Babst Calland) where she was a member of the Environmental Group for close to a decade. Her practice focused on advising clients on environmental regulatory issues related to permitting, spill prevention and response, and compliance at both the federal and state levels. She was also a member of the team that handled Superfund matters. She has been recognized in Pennsylvania Super Lawyers-Rising Stars for her practice in the field, and is published in both the Pennsylvania Environmental Law Supplement and the second edition of the American Bar Association's "Implementing Institutional Controls at Brownfields and Other Contaminated Sites."

She is licensed in Pennsylvania and is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States of America.  

She lives with her husband and two sons in Murrysville, Pennsylvania. 

• J.D., University of Pittsburgh School of Law
• B.A., Gettsysburg College