Criminal Defence · Calgary & Southern Alberta
About KJR Law
KJR Law is the trade name under which Brad Kraus, Greg Janzen, and Elena Ryland practise in association in Calgary. We are not partners — each of us is independently responsible for our own clients. We share an office at 301 14th Street NW, court days across the Southern Alberta circuit, and a focus on a single area of law: criminal defence.
One Area of Law
Why we practise criminal defence exclusively
Criminal law is a field unto itself. The rules of evidence are distinct from those that govern civil or family practice. The disclosure regime — how the Crown shares the case against an accused person, and how defence counsel interrogates that disclosure for Charter and evidentiary issues — has no clean parallel in any other area of practice. The relationship with the Crown, the rhythm of trial preparation, the analysis of police investigative conduct, and the consequences of conviction all operate on their own logic. Practising criminal defence well requires reading every Alberta Court of Justice and Court of King’s Bench decision in the areas you cover, following the Supreme Court rulings that affect criminal procedure as they come down, and treating each file as the specific procedural problem it is. We do this every day, because it is the only thing we do.
Criminal Barrister
Brad Kraus
Brad Kraus is a criminal defence lawyer practising in Calgary and across the Southern Alberta circuit. Raised in small-town Alberta just south of Edmonton, Brad grew up in a policing family — his father served with the Edmonton Police Service for thirty-five years. He practises criminal defence exclusively.
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Criminal Barrister
Greg Janzen
Greg Janzen is a criminal defence and appellate lawyer who has conducted trials in both the Alberta Court of Justice and the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta. He has argued summary conviction appeals before the Court of King’s Bench and conviction and sentence appeals before the Alberta Court of Appeal. Greg holds a PhD in philosophy from the University of Calgary and a JD from Osgoode Hall Law School, and serves as a sessional instructor in jurisprudence at the University of Calgary Faculty of Law.
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Criminal Barrister
Elena Ryland
Elena Ryland is a criminal defence lawyer at KJR Law. She studied criminal law at the University of Alberta, articled at a criminal defence firm in Edmonton, and worked with Alberta Crown Prosecution Services before moving into private criminal defence. Elena practises criminal defence exclusively and serves as an advising lawyer with Student Legal Assistance.
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How to retain us
If you would like to talk to one of us about your matter, the first step is a phone call to our office. The initial consultation is at no charge; the scope is limited to an initial assessment of your matter and is subject to a conflict check. We will ask you about the nature of the charge or investigation, the timing of any court appearances, and the names of anyone else who may be involved — these last details are necessary to clear conflicts before we agree to act. If we are retained, we set out our fees, disbursements, and GST in a written retainer letter before any work begins.