Mr. Beck specializes in litigation and trial work, but spends a considerable part of his practice counseling clients on strategies designed to avoid or minimize legal disputes.  He has extensive civil and criminal litigation experience, with a heavy concentration in construction law, design professional defense, probate law, personal injury and employment law, as well as contract and business tort matters.

He is admitted to practice in the Supreme Court and all other courts in the State of Michigan, the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan and the United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.  He has also been specially admitted to practice in Indiana, Illinois and California.

Mr. Beck is a member of the State Bar of Michigan and its Litigation and Law Practice Management Sections.  In 1997, he was elected as a Fellow of the Michigan State Bar Foundation, a distinction awarded to attorneys for outstanding legal ability and devotion to the welfare of their community, state and nation and limited so as to not exceed five percent of the total active membership of the State Bar.

He is a member of the American Bar Association and its Litigation and Tort and Insurance Practice Sections.  He previously served as Vice Chair of the Commercial Transportation Litigation Committee and is currently a member of the Construction Litigation Committee.  Mr. Beck is also a member of the Kalamazoo County Bar Association.  He served as chair of the Civil Practice Committee and is a member of the Bench Bar and Judicial Selection Committees.

Mr. Beck received a Bachelor of Arts from Michigan State University and a Juris Doctor from Thomas M. Cooley Law School.  He received the American Jurisprudence Award in law school.  After graduation, Mr. Beck served as an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney for the County of Kalamazoo from 1981 to 1986.  He served as Chief of the Special Prosecutions Unit and was an instructor for the Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan from 1983 to 1985.  He entered private practice with Howard & Howard Attorneys in 1986 and later was a partner/shareholder until 1999.  Mr. Beck then became a partner/shareholder at the law firm of Smith, VanWagoner, Beck & Shiner and served as its President until the firm consolidated with Howard & Howard Attorneys in 2006.

Mr. Beck authored Tort Reform in Michigan for the Tort and Insurance Practice Section of the American Bar Association.  He has served as a Federal Court Mediator and as a Commentator for the Michigan Institute of Continuing Legal Education.  He has presented seminars to numerous business groups and professional organizations.