Mr. Reed grew up the son of a United States Air Force fighter pilot spending most of his young life in Europe and Japan, finally settling in Houston for high school. Mr. Reed was a Houston police officer and detective for 10 years. During his time as a police officer he took classes and earned his Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice from the University of Houston Downtown in 1988. He then moved to Austin to attend law school. In 1991 Mr. Reed graduated from the University of Texas School of Law earning his J.D. He was admitted to the State Bar of Texas in 1991.