Steven Alan Reich

First impression of Steven Reich could be better. He doesn't comb his hair, nor dress well. Courtroom presence is abysmal. His best quality is the amount of time he will take with his clients to talk to them. A good quality, but lip service only gets you so far. Please read this review in its entiret...y. HARD WORKING? Appears to be working, and says he is doing things, and he is. Evidence suggests not as much as he'd like you to believe. 1. Steve Reich claims he read the transcripts several times, then was seemingly clueless about my prior testimony and devised part of the defense against my own sworn testimony. He was shocked to hear about it when I told him. A week later, he's doing the same exact thing. 2. Steve Reich is just starting to interview witnesses less than two weeks before trial after `6 months. After being told at the initial stages to secure the expert witness as soon as possible, he waited until the last possible moment to contact the expert about his availability. The expert who lives 300 miles away couldn't make it on the trial date forcing a continuance Mr. Reich claims was based on this, yet he hadn't done any interviews. HONEST? Steve Reich will devalue evidence that sums up to a strong defense, propose worthless conjecture as a defense, claim the case is weaker than it is, then remind his client of the dire consequences of losing trial. Is this to pressure his clients into taking a plea deal? educate them on the risk? see how serious his client is about going to trial? or in preparation for an "I told you so, the case was weak" when he loses via self-fulfilling prophesy? Steve Reich will call on the phone, say he is closing the door for more privacy, then say he's now taking you off speaker so nobody can hear, and then tell you nobody can hear the conversation. I'm not saying someone is listening, I'm finding the repeated pattern of this behavior as oddly suspicious. He wants his clients to believe they are talking to him in privacy and confidence. Why not just call your client on the phone with the door closed and not on speaker? COWARDLY Steve Reich is clearly scared of any confrontation with the prosecutor. Could it be he depends on him to provide plea deals to other clients? I asked Mr. Reich, he says this isn't the case. Was that because admission would be detrimental to him? SIGNS OF GOOD ATTORNEY A common tactic to trick a 'confession' from a criminal claiming innocence is to lie to them about the allegation(often exaggeration), or perhaps attacking a prosecutor's witness exculpatory statement in hopes of an accidental correction/corroboration. "The guy says he wouldn't have been afraid of you if you weren't holding a 10 inch knife." "It was a 4 inch knife!" "I know your leg is broke, and she claims she saw you running down the street, but the prosecutor is going to claim she had her eyes closed out of fear and saw nothing." "She saw it and he knows it." Steve Reich will use these tricks on you. A good defense attorney will do this to test if you are fit to take the stand. A bad defense attorney will do this to determine how well he will represent you. An even worse attorney will do this to attempt to justify how bad he is going to represent you. SUMMARY Is he a good attorney, or a bad attorney? I wanted to wait until after Steve Reich was done representing me before posting a review, however... Steve Reich snapped, "that's why I'm the attorney, and you're the defendant!" to me. In context, he was telling me about his defense strategy that contradicts statements I've already testified to, the accuser has testified to, and won't make sense. He asked me if I thought it was a bad idea. That was his reply to my answer. He insulted my intelligence, and asserted his own while he does something stupid to injure the integrity of the defense. I don't expect to be able write a review after he loses.