Bree Kilby

Bree Kilby is a criminal defence lawyer and associate at Friedman Mansour LLP.

She earned her J.D. (cum laude) from the University of Ottawa in 2023, where she distinguished herself academically, consistently earning a place on the Dean’s Honour List and focusing her studies on criminal law.

During law school, Bree gained extensive hands-on advocacy experience as a Caseworker with the University of Ottawa Community Legal Clinic for two years. In that role, she represented clients before both the criminal and provincial offences courts, developing practical courtroom skills at an early stage in her career. She was also selected as one of two students to represent the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law at the prestigious Arnup Cup Trial Advocacy Moot in Toronto in 2022.

Her academic contributions included serving as a Dean’s Research and Writing Fellow, where she completed a substantial project examining the constitutionality of section 33.1 of the Criminal Code, and as a teaching assistant for the first-year Legal Research course.

Before law school, Bree worked for several years as a paralegal with criminal defence lawyers in the Pembroke and Ottawa Valley region, gaining valuable experience in the day-to-day realities of criminal practice. She also broadened her perspective on justice and human rights through international work, spending three months in Kampala, Uganda with a human rights organization. There, she assisted the United Nations expert on democracy in preparing a report for the 39th Regular Session of the Human Rights Council and conducted research on extra-judicial killings in Uganda.

Bree completed her articles of clerkship in 2023 with an Ottawa criminal defence firm, where she continued as an associate following her Call to the Bar in June 2024 before joining Friedman Mansour LLP.

She has experience defending clients charged with a wide range of criminal and regulatory offences, including assault, sexual assault, drug trafficking, impaired and dangerous driving, and other serious allegations. Bree is dedicated to providing rigorous, client-focused advocacy and is committed to ensuring that her clients’ rights are vigorously protected at every stage of the criminal process.