Attorneys

Steven L. ReedPartner

STEVEN L. REED is a partner in the Atlanta, GA and Washington, DC offices of Smith, Currie & Hancock LLP.  Steve opened the firm’s Washington, DC office in 2008.  Steve joined Smith Currie in May 2007, after retiring from his position as an Administrative Judge, Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals (ASBCA), in May 2006.

From 2000-2006, until Steve’s retirement from the ASBCA, he mediated, otherwise resolved, or adjudicated 136 appeals involving all types of contracts awarded by the Department of Defense, the Department of Health and Human Services, NASA, the U.S. Postal Service, the Department of Justice, the Washington Metro bus and rail system, and the Panama Canal Commission.

During 1994-2000, as an Administrative Judge with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Board of Contract Appeals (ENG BCA) and from 1988-1994, as a Hearing Examiner with the ENG BCA, Steve’s docket included 225 appeals addressing matters related to the Corps’ Civil Works program (locks, dams, navigation, and flood prevention), the Washington Metro rail system, the Panama Canal, and Saudi Arabian military facilities and foreign military sales transactions.  The ENG BCA was merged into the ASBCA in 2000.

From 1995 to the present, Steve has mediated, arbitrated, or otherwise facilitated 52 alternative dispute resolution (ADR) processes involving more than 220 separate disputed matters.  Most of these matters involved appeals on his docket at the ENG BCA or ASBCA.

During 1981-88, Steve served with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as a contracts trial attorney, working in the Hawaii, other Pacific islands, Korea, Japan, Western Europe, and Turkey.  He was involved in the negotiation, settlement, and/or adjudication of hundreds of contract claims involving military and Civil Works contracts for hospitals, military housing, other military facilities, training areas, and communications sites, air and land weapons basing and storage areas, a chemical weapons demilitarization plant, a flood prevention dam, stream alignments, harbor construction, navigation, maintenance dredging, and ship salvage or recovery.

From 1978-81, Steve was an active Army Judge Advocate officer, first conducting or reviewing internal investigations and later defending more than 225 individual soldiers before courts-martial and administrative boards of officers.  As a Judge Advocate, Steve tried more than 60 contested jury trials.  Earlier in 1978, Steve worked as an Assistant District Attorney in Gwinnett County, Georgia, prosecuting more than 75 felony cases before grand juries, bench trials, trial juries, and the Georgia Court of Appeals.

Steve graduated from the University of Georgia School of Law in 1977.  He earned his B.S. degree, magna cum laude, in physical geography, from the University of Georgia in 1972.

Prior to entering law school, during 1972-75, Steve served on active duty as an Army Field Artillery officer.  In addition to his active Army service during 1972-75 and 1978-81, Steve continued his parallel military career in the Army’s reserve components, retiring from the U.S. Army Reserve as a Colonel in 2002.  His military assignments involved operations and training duties with the Army and other services, special operations units, and allied forces from South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, and Germany.  During his final six years, he served as a military judge, including two years as the Chief Senior Military Judge, U.S. Army Reserve.

Articles & Publications

• Numerous Decisions at the ENG BCA and ASBCA.
• Frequent Contributor, Smith, Currie & Hancock's Common Sense Construction Law newsletter, 2007 to the present.
• Book Co-editor, Smith, Currie, and Hancock's Federal Government Construction Contracts, 2^nd Edition, 2010.
• Chapter Co-author, "Inspection and Acceptance," ABA Public Contract Law Section's Federal Government Construction Contracts, 2^nd Edition, 2010.
• "Cutting the Knot on Concurrent Delay," Construction Briefings, co-author, February 2008.

Classes & Seminars Taught

• “Federal Contracts - What’s Different?” presented numerous times to various trade organizations and construction firms during 2009 to the present.
• National Association of Surety Board Producers, Speaker at Regional Meetings and Virtual Seminars, various federal construction and bonding issues, 2009-11.
• Smith, Currie & Hancock Annual Update Seminars, Atlanta and Washington, DC, 2008 to the present
• ABC of Virginia, “ARRA Reporting Requirements – How to Comply,” 2010.
• Ohio Surety Association/CFMA, “Federal Contracting Opportunities – Small Business is Big Business,” panel member, 2010
• AGC Annual Convention Speaker, “Project Documentation” and “Alternative Dispute Resolution,” 2009
• “How to Try a Case Before the Board of Contract Appeals,” ABA Public Contract law Section and ABA Construction Law Forum joint conference, 2009
• “Construction Delay, Acceleration, and Inefficiency Claims,” Federal Publications Seminars, Las Vegas and Washington, DC, 2007-09
• “Cutting the Knot on Concurrent Delay,” Construction Superconference, 2008
• “Federal Contractor Ethics and Compliance Programs,” New Jersey AGC, 2008
• “Contract Terminations, the Death Penalty,” ABA Annual Convention, 2008
• “Federal and State False Claims,” AGC National Convention, 2008
• Mock Mediation, NCMA National Congress, 2008
• “The $50 Million Question: The Morse Diesel decisions,” Annual AGC Surety and Construction Risk Management Conference, 2008
• Contract Litigation Seminar, Army Judge Advocate General’s School, 2005
• Fraud Panel (moderator), Board of Contract Appeals Judges Association Annual Seminar, 2003
• “ADR,” Construction Superconference, 2001