Mark Reichel

Mark J. Reichel is a criminal and civil attorney in Sacramento, California and a partner in the law firm Reichel & Plesser, LLP. He is also the vice chairman of the Sacramento board of the American Civil Liberties Union. Reichel has been involved in several prominent criminal and civil cases including: United States v. Eric McDavid^[1] and United States v. Grubbs.

Education and accolades

Reichel attended college the McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento, California. He was selected as a Finalist for the Best Brief and Best Oral Argument Award as well as giving the commencement speech for his graduating class of 1991. Shortly after graduating from law school, Mark handled a civil rights lawsuit in a case that was featured across the nation and highlighted in the December 1992 issue of Life magazine. Reichel is also a 1995 graduate of the National Criminal Defense College in Macon, Georgia. Reichel has also been selected to the "Top Attorneys in Northern California" for 2008 by San Francisco magazine in their August 2008 edition.^[2]

Career

Reichel spent 13 years as a trial attorney for the Federal Public Defender in Sacramento. Reichel handled thousands of cases over these 13 years. One of the most celebrated cases in Reichel's career came as he took United States v. Grubbs all the way from arraignment to argument in front of the United States Supreme Court. Reichel argued in this case that the Fourth Amendment requires officers to provide a copy of the search warrant to the homeowner when conducting a search.^{[3][4][5][6][7][8]}

After leaving the Federal Defender, he entered private practice in 2005, founding the Law Offices of Mark Reichel. Reichel became law partners with Steve Plesser, a prominent Sacramento criminal defense attorney, in May 2010 with the founding of Reichel & Plesser, LLP.

Soon thereafter, the firm, as part of a coordinated defense team, enjoyed a much publicized victory when the U.S. Department of Justice issued a press release announcing dismissal of all charges against prominent members of the Hmong community, (at one point the indictment included Hmong community leader and war hero, General Vang Pao), who were wrongly accused of plotting to overthrow the government of Laos. The failed prosecution had inspired massive rallies in support of the accused and had been roundly criticized as a betrayal of the brave Hmong who had fought on behalf of the United States during the Vietnam War.

References