Linus Kafka

Professor of Practice in Planning and Real Estate Law

Programs

  • Real Estate Development
  • School of Landscape Architecture and Planning
  • Urban Planning

CAPLA A310

Areas of Expertise

  • Historic preservation law and policy
  • Real estate law
  • Urban history
  • Zoning and local planning law

Degrees

  • PhD in History, UCLA
  • JD, The University of Arizona
  • MA, New York University
  • BA, Rutgers University

Biography

Linus Kafka PhD, JD holds an appointment as a professor of practice at the College of Architecture, Planning, and Landscape Architecture, where he teaches urban planning law and real estate development law.  Linus also serves as the career strategies officer for the Bachelor of Law and Master of Legal Studies Programs at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law where he mentors students seeking career opportunities, internships, and career advice, and fosters community connections that will promote employment for graduates of the program.

As an attorney, Linus specialized in land use law and local government law and has also practiced juvenile law and workers’ compensation law. After earning his JD, he served as a clerk to Judge Mike Quigley at the Arizona Superior Court and later as a Deputy Pima County Attorney, pursuing land use code enforcement cases. He later practiced as an Assistant City Attorney for the City of Tucson, where he specialized in land use law. He became the zoning examiner for Tucson, hearing rezoning and other land use cases, worked in city management, and later practiced as an assistant attorney general for the State of Arizona and in private practice.

In addition to his work as a lawyer, Linus earned his PhD Ph.D.history, with a focus on American intellectual and urban history. His research work has focused on the influence elite world travelers have had on American arts and culture during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with special attention to developments in physical space and the built environment. He has been awarded fellowships from UCLA, Huntington Library, and the Massachusetts Historical Society, and has interned with the Department of Justice Consumer Litigation Division and the National Archives Architectural and Cartographic Division.

He has taught history and law at the undergraduate and graduate level at UCLA, UC Irvine, Eastern Kentucky University, and the University of Arizona. His law degree is from the University of Arizona and he also holds a BA from Rutgers University, an MA from New York University, and a PhD from UCLA.

News, Research and Projects