Judge Robert R. Reed: Professional Background and Legal Expertise

The Hon. Robert R. Reed is a justice for the New York County Supreme Court (Civil Term) in the First Judicial District of New York. He was elected to the bench in 2017.

Reed earned an A.B. in political science from Stanford University in 1981. He then completed a J.D. at Harvard Law School in 1984.

After graduating from law school, Reed began his legal career as an associate at Carpenter, Bennett & Morrissey in 1984. He practiced there for two years before moving to Sive, Paget & Riesel in 1986.

Reed left the private sector in 1988, accepting a position as an assistant attorney general in the New York State Office of the Attorney General. While initially assigned to its Litigation Bureau and its Criminal Prosecutions Bureau, he rose through the ranks, eventually becoming a deputy bureau chief in the Civil Rights Bureau in 1991.

Then, in 1993, he joined William & Harris, where he worked as a senior litigation associate, counsel, and partner. Five years later, he became counsel at Bryan Cave. He held this position until 2006, at which time he started his own private practice as a sole practitioner.

Reed began his judicial career as a judge for the Civil Court of the City of New York in New York County. He was elected to the bench in 2008 but quickly appointed to the Bronx County Family Court by Chief Administrative Judge Ann T. Pfau. He was then assigned to the Civil Court of the City of New York in Bronx County, where he presided from 2010 to 2012. Then, in 2014, he was designated as acting justice for the New York County Supreme Court, a position he held until his election to the bench.

His professional memberships have included the New York State Bar Association, the New York County Lawyers Association, the Metropolitan Black Bar Association, the New York Women’s Bar Association, the Association of Black Women Attorneys, the Dominican Bar Association, the Puerto Rican Bar Association, the Haitian American Lawyers Association of New York, the Judicial Friends Association, and the Association of Justices of the Supreme Court of the State of New York.

His civic memberships have included the NAACP, the Park Avenue United Methodist Church, and One Hundred Black Men, Inc. He has also served as a board member of the Children for Children Foundation and the New York League of Conservation Voters.

Reed was born and raised in Compton, California.

He is registered as a Democrat.