Austin Kurtz and Brian Riley didn’t meet at Kurtz Riley Law Group — they arrived there together. Both spent their final pre-KRLG years as attorneys at Morgan & Morgan, and both left in February 2024 to found their own firm, a shared departure point this profile could independently verify from each founder’s own career history rather than just the firm’s marketing copy.
AN AWESOME ATTORNEYS EDITORIAL PROFILE
ATTORNEY ADVERTISING NOTICE. This profile was researched and written independently by Awesome Attorneys’ editorial team. It was not paid for, commissioned, or reviewed prior to publication by the firm profiled. All case results, recoveries, and recognitions described below are attributed to their sources. Past results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in any future matter. This article is for general information only and is not legal advice; reading it does not create an attorney–client relationship.
KURTZ RILEY LAW GROUP (KRLG) — At a Glance
| FOUNDED | February 2024, by Austin Kurtz and Brian Riley, both departing Morgan & Morgan, P.A. at the same time to start the firm |
| OFFICES | Phoenix and Scottsdale, AZ |
| PRACTICE MODEL | Plaintiff-only personal injury: auto and construction accidents, and general negligence claims across Arizona |
| CO-FOUNDER: AUSTIN KURTZ | A Phoenix Valley native; attended law school in California and began his legal career in Colorado before returning to Arizona; licensed in Arizona, California, and Colorado; three years as an attorney at Morgan & Morgan before co-founding KRLG |
| CO-FOUNDER: BRIAN RILEY | Born and raised in Tucson; B.B.A./B.S., Northern Arizona University (2011), former team captain and starting tight end on the NAU football team; J.D., Arizona Summit Law School (Magna Cum Laude, Dec. 2015, on academic scholarship); licensed in Arizona and Washington |
| TEAM SIZE | Approximately 11 attorneys and legal staff, per the firm’s team page |
| RECOVERY CLAIM | “Over $200 million” recovered for clients injured across Arizona (per the firm) |
| PEER RECOGNITION | Both founding attorneys named to the Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch list, per the firm’s own announcement |
Sources: kurtzriley.com (firm website), LinkedIn, ContactOut, RocketReach, Lawyers.com. Compiled July 2026.
Two Attorneys, One Shared Exit From Morgan & Morgan
Brian Riley’s career path is unusually well documented across professional networking sites: born and raised in Tucson, he played tight end and served as team captain for Northern Arizona University’s football program while earning his undergraduate degree (2007–2011), then attended Arizona Summit Law School on an academic scholarship, graduating Magna Cum Laude in December 2015. He began working at Zanes Law — a Tucson-founded firm profiled elsewhere in this series — in 2014, continuing there as an attorney and eventually Pre-Litigation Managing Attorney through March 2021. He then spent three years as an attorney at Morgan & Morgan’s Phoenix office before departing in February 2024 to co-found KRLG with Austin Kurtz.
Kurtz’s own account, published in the firm’s about page, describes a Phoenix Valley native who attended law school in California and began his legal career in Colorado before returning to Arizona; he is licensed to practice in Arizona, California, and Colorado. A LinkedIn post from around the same February 2024 date shows Kurtz marking his own departure from three years at Morgan & Morgan to launch KRLG — corroborating, from an independent source, the same shared origin story the firm’s marketing describes.
What the Firm Handles
KRLG’s stated caseload centers on auto accident claims — car accidents specifically feature prominently in the firm’s content — alongside construction accidents and general negligence-based personal injury matters. The firm’s team has grown to roughly eleven attorneys and legal staff since its February 2024 founding, including Bryce Montague, Findlay Holbrook, J. Tyrrell “Ty” Taber, Jason Nguyen, John Van Dyk, Miguel A. Cardenas, Tyler J. Weber, and Victoria Svorinic, alongside legal associate Kyle Goodier.
The Results Board
KRLG’s own marketing states the firm’s legal team has recovered “over $200 million” for clients injured across Arizona. Awesome Attorneys did not locate an itemized, case-by-case settlement or verdict table to substantiate that aggregate figure and reports it as the firm’s own claim rather than an independently verified total.
Past results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in any future matter.
What Clients Report
Client testimonials published on the firm’s site consistently name individual attorneys handling the file, a pattern this profile treats as a positive signal of direct client contact even at a firm that has grown quickly.
“I contacted Kurtz Riley Law Group and Tyler Webb and his team got to work immediately. They pushed hard for the maximum payout and I had no out of pocket cost for my diagnosis, treatment and physical therapy.”
— Client review, published via the firm’s website
A separate reviewer described a case involving $80,000 in medical bills after a crash involving the client and four children, crediting the firm’s negotiation for securing a settlement that covered the full medical debt. Another reviewer specifically praised attorney Bryce Montague by name for keeping them “calm and focused throughout the process.”
Building a Firm Culture, Publicly
KRLG has been unusually visible, for a firm this new, about its internal culture: Brian Riley hosts a podcast, Personal Injury Mastermind, and both founders have appeared together on The Newfangled Lawyer Podcast discussing the firm’s approach to practicing law. The firm also organizes recurring community and charity events under its own branding, including the Barristers’ Bar Battle — a 2026 installment of which reportedly sold more than 480 tickets and raised funds for Almost There: A Mom + Pups Rescue — along with March Sadness and Putt Putt Palooza golf tournaments.
Peer Standing
Both Austin Kurtz and Brian Riley have been named to the Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch list, a recognition the publisher directs at attorneys who have demonstrated strong early-career results, according to the firm’s own blog announcement. Awesome Attorneys did not independently verify this listing against Best Lawyers’ own published directory as part of this research pass. This profile does not use the word “specialist” to describe either founder, as no State Bar Board of Legal Specialization certification was located for either attorney.
The Arizona Backdrop, in Plain English
Readers weighing a Phoenix or Scottsdale-area injury claim should understand a few baseline Arizona rules. What follows is general information, not legal advice.
The two-year clock. Arizona’s statute of limitations for personal injury and wrongful death claims is generally two years (A.R.S. § 12-542).
Fault is shared, not all-or-nothing. Arizona follows pure comparative negligence (A.R.S. § 12-2505): a claimant’s recovery is reduced by their share of fault but not eliminated entirely.
Construction sites carry layered liability. A construction-accident claim in Arizona can implicate the general contractor, subcontractors, property owner, and equipment manufacturers simultaneously, each potentially governed by different contractual indemnity provisions in addition to ordinary negligence law.
Suing the government is faster and stricter. Claims against a public entity require a formal notice of claim within 180 days (A.R.S. § 12-821.01) and suit within one year (A.R.S. § 12-821).
The Awesome Attorneys Assessment
KRLG’s strongest asset is the clarity and corroboration of its founding story: two attorneys with genuine, independently verifiable Morgan & Morgan and (for Riley) Zanes Law backgrounds who left together to build their own firm, growing to roughly eleven attorneys within roughly two years and drawing early peer recognition for both founders. Client reviews naming specific attorneys, and an unusually public podcast and community-event presence, suggest a firm actively building a distinct culture rather than just a caseload.
The honest gap is the one inherent to any firm this young: KRLG’s $200 million recovery figure is an aggregate claim without an itemized public ledger behind it, and the firm’s short operating history means there isn’t yet a long track record independent of its founders’ prior firms to evaluate. For a claimant who wants attorneys with substantial big-firm experience now running their own shop with apparent energy and community visibility, KRLG is a strong candidate; a client with a very high-value or unusually complex claim may want to ask specifically which attorney, with what track record at their prior firm, would be handling the matter.
Methodology & Sourcing
This profile was researched and written independently by Awesome Attorneys’ editorial team in July 2026. Primary source: the firm’s current website, kurtzriley.com, including its About, Team, Testimonials, and Blog pages. Secondary sources: LinkedIn (for both founders, including a contemporaneous post marking Austin Kurtz’s departure from Morgan & Morgan), ContactOut and RocketReach (Brian Riley’s employment history), and Lawyers.com (Brian Riley’s professional biography). Awesome Attorneys did not independently verify the firm’s $200 million aggregate recovery claim or its Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch listing against original-source databases. Kurtz Riley Law Group did not commission, pay for, or pre-approve this article. All figures are attributed to their sources; past results do not guarantee or predict future outcomes. This article is general information, not legal advice.
© 2026 Awesome Attorneys. Independent editorial. Sponsored placements on Awesome Attorneys are always clearly labeled; this is not one.
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