Nick Reiner's Attorney Has Previously Represented Karen Read and Kevin Spacey
"There are very, very complex and serious issues that are associated with this case."
Published Dec. 17 2025, 5:07 p.m. ET
If the name Alan Jackson sounds familiar to you, it might be because he was all over the news during both Karen Read trials. The Massachusetts woman was accused of second-degree murder and manslaughter in connection to the death of her boyfriend, Boston Police officer John O'Keefe. Between her two trials, a documentary about her case provided more details about Read and Jackson. She was ultimately acquitted.
Six months after that high-profile case ended, Jackson was onto another. In December 2025, he was hired to represent Nick Reiner, the younger son of Rob and Michele Reiner, who were fatally stabbed in their Los Angeles home.
Nick has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder and could face the death penalty. While we don't know what will happen, we do know he has a very good lawyer.
Karen Read (L) speaks with her attorney, Alan Jackson (R)
Nick Reiner's attorney is already working.
Nick's first court appearance was scheduled for Dec. 17, 2025, but Jackson managed to get the 32-year-old's arraignment pushed back three weeks. Speaking to reporters, Jackson said his client needed to be "medically cleared" before they could be transferred to court, per ABC News.
Outside of the courthouse, Jackson was unable to go into detail about what needed to be done, but did say, "There are very, very complex and serious issues that are associated with this case."
Jackson continued, "These need to be thoroughly but very carefully dealt with and examined and looked at and analyzed."
He asked that members of the media, as well as the public, "allow the system to move forward in the way that it was designed to move forward."
(L-R): Kevin Spacey and Alan Jackson
Alan Jackson has an impressive list of former clients.
Before Jackson represented Read and now Reiner, he had already made a name for himself in the world of flashy criminal trials.
He started his legal career as a prosecutor.
Jackson was a deputy district attorney in Los Angeles County when he served as the lead prosecutor for both of Phil Spector's trials, in March 2007 and October 2008.
The first trial ended in a mistrial, but on April 13, 2009, Spector was convicted of second-degree murder.
When Jackson transitioned to private practice in 2013, that's when he made the jump to criminal defense.
He joined Palmer, Lombardi & Donohue LLP as a Partner and Co-Chair of the Trial and Arbitration Group. E. Scott Palmer, Palmer, Lombardi & Donohue’s Managing Partner, said in a press release that Jackson is an "attorney with unmatched instinct and ability in the courtroom."
Six years later, Jackson had moved on to another law firm, where he is now a partner. While at Werksman Jackson & Quinn LLP, he defended Kevin Spacey during his 2019 groping case, as reported by the Associated Press.
The actor was accused of groping a young man in a Nantucket bar back in 2016. The case was dropped the following month after Jackson grilled the accuser about deleting texts that allegedly proved Spacey was innocent, per NPR.
In 2022, Jackson represented Harvey Weinstein during his second sex crimes trial in Los Angeles. The disgraced film producer had already been convicted in New York, but that conviction was overturned in 2024.
He is currently awaiting a new trial. The trial in Los Angeles ended in a conviction on three sexual assault charges. Weinstein was sentenced to 16 years in prison. Attorneys filed an appeal in June 2024, reported CNN.