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Beck finds inspiration for legal career from family friend

By: Jimmy Nesbitt//September 18, 2019//

Beck finds inspiration for legal career from family friend

By: Jimmy Nesbitt//September 18, 2019//

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Nina Beck - Godfrey & Kahn
Nina Beck – Godfrey & Kahn

Becoming a lawyer was Nina Beck’s dream as a child.

There weren’t any lawyers in her family, but her mother’s best friend was an attorney in Chicago. She was successful, Beck recalls, and had started her own law firm.

“I vividly remember seeing her in action — this petite woman passionately commanding a courtroom. I was captivated and inspired,” Beck said. “Likewise, my mom, who is a librarian, instilled in me a lifelong love of learning, reading and writing, and encouraged debate and intellectual curiosity. A legal career fit the bill for me.”

Beck is a commercial litigator at Godfrey & Kahn. She is also a member of the firm’s financial services litigation and government investigations, white collar and compliance practice groups in its Milwaukee office.

She represents clients in state and federal court on a range of civil matters, including commercial-contract disputes, financial-services litigation and fraudulent-transfer actions. It’s a demanding job but still one that Beck relishes.

“We’re incredibly busy as a team, and sometimes it feels like there are not enough hours in the day,” she said. “Staying organized is imperative.”

Her colleague, Zachary Willenbrink, who is a member of Godfrey & Kahn’s Litigation Practice Group and a fellow 2019 Up and Coming Lawyer award-winner, said that Beck has made contributions that go far beyond what you’d expect from someone who only graduated from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 2012.

“In this way, she has been a very positive example for me and other attorneys with fewer years of practice in our firm,” Willenbrink said. “Nina is a young attorney who will take every case she works by the reins and devote herself to achieving the best result for her clients. Her comfort in the courtroom and her ease with people are admirable and an inspiration both to me and to the many other young women litigators in our city, who are working in what is often a male-dominated field.”

Beyond Godfrey & Kahn, Beck is a volunteer with the Eviction Defense Project and Mobile Legal Clinic, where she lends her services to those who cannot afford a lawyer.

“I’m incredibly privileged, and with that privilege I feel a responsibility to give back to the Milwaukee community,” she said.

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