The attorneys at Shambaugh, Kast, Beck & Williams are committed to providing our clients with excellent service. Our objective is to get the job done right, efficiently, and ethically. This standard is not only self-satisfying, it is the proper way to practice law.

Our story begins with Willard Shambaugh - one of the two sons of William Shambaugh who were products of Harvard Law School. Both Howard and Willard joined their father in his Fort Wayne office following graduation and admission to the bar. Howard, who was editor in chief of the Law Review, was a scholar who found the practice mundane. Willard, who would continue the practice, was the consummate practitioner. He would become one of northeastern Indiana's outstanding lawyers of the twentieth century. He was rightfully proud of his reputation for getting the job done, efficiently and equitably, with unswerving attention to ethical precepts.

Michael Kast was working alone during the 1960s in an office in Lincoln Tower, two floors above Mr. Shambaugh's office. A mutual friend of Shambaugh and Kast asked Kast if he would be interested in doing some legal work for another nameless attorney. Kast gratefully accepted the assigned legal work, which was to design a consumer contract for a small gas company to be used for multiple customers. A few days after the work was completed and delivered through the mutual friend to Shambaugh, Shambaugh requested the friend to set up a meeting with Kast to discuss this work. At the meeting, Shambaugh complimented Kast on what he had prepared, and asked Kast if he would like to take responsibility for serving the client. Thereafter, Shambaugh, by mutual agreement, referred legal work to Kast on a weekly basis. Finally, in 1961, Shambaugh proposed that Kast join him.

They made a handshake agreement to be partners and started working together on the same floor. They were known as Shambaugh & Kast until 1976, when Shambaugh passed away unexpectedly. In 1978 Kast brought on a young trial lawyer, Ed Beck, to help him continue to provide exemplary service to his clients. The choice was an easy one for Mr. Kast, because Beck was known as an excellent young lawyer, with trial experience, and had a reputation for the highest of ethics. By 1980, Steve Williams, an experienced expert in tax, estate and trust laws, joined the firm.

While the look and size of the firm has evolved since its founding, the goal of Shambaugh, Kast, Beck & Williams has remained rooted in the professional legacy of Willard Shambaugh and Michael Kast: to provide excellent service to our clients. We work to "get the job done," no matter how much effort is involved. The objective is to do the job in a timely manner and do it right. The attorneys at Shambaugh, Kast, Beck & Williams are dedicated to quality work products and services rather than quantity of clients and being ethical, but vigorous in our representations. Not only is this ideal self-satisfying, it is the proper way to practice law.