Robert Reuland

Robert Charles Reuland (born 1963) is an American novelist and attorney. He commenced his legal career in 1990 in the litigation department of the Wall Street law firm of Winthrop, Stimson, Putnam & Roberts and later Brown & Wood. A graduate of Cambridge University and the Vanderbilt School of Law, Reuland specialized in international law and authored several law review articles on various topics of international jurisdiction and litigation. In 1996 he left private practice to join the District Attorney's Office in Brooklyn, New York, where he served as Senior Assistant District Attorney in the Homicide Bureau.

Since 2001 Reuland has had a parallel career as a novelist. He is the author of five novels, including a series originating with his first novel, Hollowpoint (Random House 2001), which was nominated for a Dashiell Hammett Award in 2002, and followed by Semiautomatic (Random House 2004), and Represent" (2011). All three books are set in the Brooklyn D.A.’s office, where Reuland worked an assistant district attorney between 1996 and 2001.

Influenced by Graham Greene and James Salter, Reuland’s hard-edged but elegant writing is known for its gritty realism and has drawn praise from Dennis Lehane, Alan Furst, and George Pelecanos. A reviewer for the Washington Post referred to Semiautomatic as “the best-written legal thriller I’ve ever read, hands down.” Marilyn Stasio of the New York Times called Reuland "a daring writer. His cityscapes are ugly to the point of insult, his characters have no hearts, and his abrasive dialogue will rub you raw. It's an irritating voice for a new writer — too quick and smart to toy with civilizing subtleties — and I like it a lot." Of Reuland's second novel, "Semiautomatic," Kirkus, in a starred review wrote, "Reuland is a real-life ADA, and if he prosecutes as effectively as he writes, Brooklyn is a lucky borough."

Following the critical success of his first two novels, Reuland wrote "Way of the World," a fictionalized account of the Abner Louima affair in Brooklyn, told from the perspective of a police union representative. "Way of the World," Reuland's first novel after the completion of his two-book contract with Random House, was rejected by his publisher as too difficult and remains unpublished.

In 2006, in something of a literary departure, Reuland completed "The Convict Maiden," a sprawling historical novel set in the penal colony of New South Wales in 1827. Written in the voice of the female protagonist, "The Convict Maiden" is Reuland's first work of historical fiction and first to be set outside his home of Brooklyn, New York.

Reuland gained additional national notoriety in 2001 when fired from his position in the Brooklyn D.A.’s office shortly after the publication of his first book, Hollowpoint. In an interview with New York Magazine, Reuland observed that Brooklyn had “more bodies per square inch than anyplace else,” which angered Brooklyn District Attorney, Charles J. Hynes. Hynes demoted then fired Reuland, who brought a federal lawsuit claiming infringement of his First Amendment rights. Reuland prevailed after trial in 2004.

Upon leaving the D.A.'s Office in 2001, Reuland established himself in private practice specializing in state and federal criminal defense. As a member of the Homicide Panel of the Mayor's Assigned Counsel Program, he represents indigent or poor persons accused of homicide or other serious felonies. Reuland is the first criminal defense attorney ever to successfully assert an alibi defense to a felony charge based upon his client's use of Facebook at the time of the crime.

Born in Dallas, Texas and raised in Dubuque, Iowa, Reuland has lived in Park Slope, Brooklyn since 1990.