On January 1, 1946, two Chicagoans made good on their Casablanca pact and formed Goldberg & Devoe, the law firm now known as Miller Shakman & Beem. Balance of Community Spirit and Commercial Success The firm was successful from the beginning. Goldberg became an acknowledged expert in labor law, while Devoe was known for his work in corporate and real estate matters, including venture capital. Monetary success was not, however, their only goal. Both men believed strongly in doing pro bono work. Arthur Goldberg was known to say that "lawyers are more than just money machines." Over the years, the attorneys at the firm became known as intellectually talented and public spirited. The Next Generations In 1961, Goldberg left the firm to accept an appointment by President Kennedy to become Secretary of Labor. Kennedy later selected Goldberg for a position on the U.S. Supreme Court, where he served until 1965, when President Johnson asked him to become the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. Devoe went on to become president of the Executive House Hotel chain. In the intervening years, attorneys Abraham Brussell, Milton Shadur and Abner Mikva had joined the firm. All three attorneys followed in the footsteps of Goldberg and Devoe with careers of legal excellence and community service: Abraham Brussell became a Cook County judge. Milton Shadur was a highly regarded attorney who served as lead counsel in many public interest litigation matters. He was appointed to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in 1980. Abner Mikva went on to become a state representative, a U.S. Congressman and Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. He also served as White House Counsel in 1994 and 1995, during the Clinton Administration. The firm was featured in an article in The American Lawyer entitled "The Judges' Training Ground." Former Miller Shakman & Beem partners have served as judges at all five levels of the federal court system including one Supreme Court Justice, one Court of Appeals Judge, two District Court Judges, one Bankruptcy Judge and two Magistrate Judges. The legal excellence and community service begun by Goldberg and Devoe have remained a hallmark of the firm they founded. Our Clients During our six decades of existence, the firm has represented a wide range of businesses, individuals, labor organizations and government entities. Our clients have hailed from all sectors of the economy and include large publicly-held companies, privately-held entities, professional organizations and individual executives and business owners. Many are long-term clients who have relied on us to represent their legal interests over the course of many years. Although the firm historically provided a range of transactional services, we have long been known for our litigation skills and now concentrate our practice on commercial litigation in state and federal courts, both in Chicago and throughout the country, as well as on complex arbitrations and mediations. Awards In 1994, the firm won the prestigious Civil Liberties Award from the Illinois chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. The firm has encouraged attorneys to volunteer thousands of hours of their time over the years. In 1997, Ronald Miller was honored with the Edwin A. Rothschild Award for Lifetime Achievement in Civil Rights for his 30-year effort to improve conditions for the disadvantaged by the Chicago chapter of the Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. In 2003, Miller received a "Special Recognition Award" from the national organization of the Lawyer's Committee at their 40th Anniversary celebration. In 1999, Chicago Magazine listed Michael Shakman as one of the 100 most influential Chicagoans of the century. Arthur Goldberg and Abner Mikva were featured in a special publication entitled Century of Law printed by the Law Bulletin Publishing Company, highlighting Illinois' most outstanding lawyers of the twentieth century as selected in a survey of the profession. The Future The clients of Miller Shakman & Beem can depend on two things. First, that we will continue our long tradition of hiring intellectually-talented attorneys who understand the challenges of the law and the needs of their clients. Second, that we will continue our tradition of public service through pro bono work. This combination serves the firm as well today as it did when it was founded over sixty years ago.