Attorneys

Steven L. ReedPartner

STEVEN L. REED is a partner in the Washington, DC office of Smith, Currie & Hancock LLP.  Steve attended North Georgia College and received his B.S. degree, magna cum laude, from the University of Georgia .  He was a Distinguished Military Graduate and was commissioned upon graduation as a Regular Army Field Artillery Second Lieutenant.  Following active Army service, Steve graduated from law school at the University of Georgia and continued his service in the U.S. Army Reserve and the Georgia Army National Guard.

Upon graduation from law school, Steve worked as an Assistant District Attorney in Gwinnett County, Georgia , prosecuting more than 75 felony cases before the grand jury, trial juries, bench trials, and the Georgia Court of Appeals.  He re-entered active Army service as a Judge Advocate officer (Captain), first conducting and reviewing 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.

Steve then joined the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as a contracts trial attorney, serving in the 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 and facilities including hospitals, military housing, military administrative structures, military training areas, communications sites, air and land weapons basing and storage areas and facilities, a chemical weapons demilitarization plant, a flood prevention dam, stream alignments, harbor construction, navigation, maintenance dredging, and ship salvage or recovery.

In 1988, Steve was assigned as a Hearing Examiner with the Corps of Engineers Board of Contract Appeals (ENG BCA) in Washington, DC, primarily to resolve disputes remaining under an agreement to build extensive military facilities in Saudi Arabia .  He was appointed as an ENG BCA Administrative Judge in 1994.  His docket at the ENG BCA included 225 appeals addressing matters related to locks, dams, navigation, flood prevention, construction of the Washington Metro light rail system, Panama Canal construction and procurement, and Saudi military facilities and foreign military sales transactions.

The ENG BCA was merged into the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals (ASBCA) in 2000.  From 2000, until Steve's retirement from the ASBCA in 2006, he mediated, assisted in the resolution of, or adjudicated 136 appeals involving all types of Department of Defense contracts, projects, and facilities, as well as contractual matters arising out of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, NASA, the U.S. Postal Service, the U.S. Justice Department, the Washington Metro bus and rail system, and the Panama Canal Commission.

Steve has mediated or otherwise facilitated 50 alternative dispute resolution (ADR) conferences involving more than 220 separate disputed matters.  Most of these matters involved appeals on his docket at the ENG BCA or ASBCA.  After retirement from the ASBCA in 2006, he co-founded ImMediate LLC, an ADR services firm.

Steve also continued his reserve military career, retiring from the U.S. Army Reserve as a Colonel in 2002.  His military assignments involved inter-service functions with Marine Corps, Air Force, Navy, and Coast Guard forces, including special forces units, as well as operations and training with forces from South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, and Germany .  During his final six years, he served as a military judge.  Steve's final position was Chief Senior Military Judge, U.S. Army Reserve, Alexandria, Virginia .  In addition to other awards and decorations, Steve was awarded the Legion of Merit for 30 years of achievement in the military.

Steve and his wife, Linda, enjoy five children and five grandchildren.

Articles & Publications

• Numerous Decisions at the ENG BCA and ASBCA

Classes & Seminars Taught

• Army Judge Advocate General's School, Contract Litigation Seminar, 2005
• Board of Contract Appeals Judges Association Annual Seminar, Moderated Fraud Panel, 2003
• The Public Construction Superconference, ADR Panel Member, 2001