During law school, Reade worked at two firms in Des Moines, Rosenberg & Marguiles and Brown, Winick, Graves, Donnelly, & Baskerville, and campaigned for Lawrence Pope.

[3] Reade presided over the trial and sentencing of kosher slaughterhouse operator Sholom Rubashkin.

[4] The case and Reade's 27-year sentence garnered the attention of many prominent politicians and received widespread media coverage.

[8] Reade presided over the case of William Aossey, the founder of Midamar Corporation and Islamic Services of America, who was convicted of fraud for falsifying labels on beef exported to Malaysia and Indonesia.

[9][10] On June 13, 2018, Reade sentenced Joseph Dierks to six years in prison for threatening to kill Senator Joni Ernst on Twitter.