Dan started his career by working in his father’s construction business; gaining knowledge from experienced tradespeople about the “right” ways to construct foundations, build residential/commercial structures, and work in the public right-of-way. During high school Dan worked at Pete’s Automotive in Morro Bay, California.
After graduation from high school, Dan started his own one-person

general construction business and, through hard work and tenacity, grew it into a full-service general building and general engineering company. At the same time, Dan went back to school, earned both a bachelors and master’s degree in accounting, and then continued to and graduated from law school, passed the bar and began his career as a licensed attorney. Along the way Dan also obtained his real estate broker’s license.

Dan lives in Atascadero with his wife Shawn (married in 2013), and three precocious children. When not working, Dan enjoys playing rugby at the Prop or Lock positions, weightlifting/kettle bell workouts, endurance backpacking and other outdoors activities. Dan’s goal in his hobbies is to push the body hard enough that it becomes both a physical and mental test of discipline.

James is highly skilled in addressing issues and formulating solutions for a wide range of real property matters, such as title defects, subdivision, mineral rights ownership and leasing, complex transactions, boundary line disputes, and access/right-of-way issues. Having worked closely with many attorneys over the years, James was excited to make the transition to become a part of Dan Knight Law and found that the same skill sets applied; intellectual curiosity and “outside the box” thinking coupled with a detail oriented, logical and methodical approach to serving the client’s needs.

A lifelong Californian, James was born and raised in the central valley. After obtaining a B.S. in Economics from C.S.U.B. he began working in the title insurance industry and in pursuing that career lived and worked in both Southern California, Monterey, and the San Francisco bay area. James was fortunate to be able to return home to the central valley to care for his mother during the last few years of her life and, as a person who is committed to life-long learning, he was able to obtain a degree in human biology during that time.

Now, having been back in San Luis Obispo County and living in Atascadero for the last decade, James spends his leisure time exploring this remarkable area, building model rockets and wrangling slightly overweight cats. All while being lucky enough to have his son, daughter-in-law, grandson and stepdaughters nearby.

Dana has variously worked as her husband Craig’s legal assistant in his estate planning and probate administration practice for the last 15 years. For the last 8 years, she has also worked integrally in developing and growing a multi-million dollar general contracting firm, shepherding its growth from a small family business. Dana was born in Saigon, Vietnam one month before the 1975 evacuation of American personnel. She is a lifetime California resident, having lived in San Luis Obispo for the last 25 years. She has one daughter, Alexis, who is the center of her universe. Dana developed early on in her professional career extraordinary administration skills that have served her employers well. She has worked in several attorneys’ offices and insurance agencies, as well as for the Superior Court.