Carl Edward Ver Beek

Title

Carl Edward Ver Beek

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Description

Carl Edward Ver Beek was born in Byron Center, Michigan. Raised in west-central Michigan, he graduated (1955) from Holland High School in Holland, Michigan and enrolled at Hope College, also in Holland. He graduated from Hope, cum laude, with an A.B. in history in 1959. Ver Beek then enrolled at the Indiana University School of Law. While in law school he served on the editorial board of the Indiana Law Journal (v. 37), was elected Order of the Coif, and graduated with his JD in 1962.

Fresh from law school, Ver Beek returned to his home state and joined the Grand Rapids firm of Varnum LLP, as their twelfth lawyer and the firm's first non-University of Michigan law graduate. He would remain with the firm for more the fifty years, during which time it would grow to more than 170 attorneys. Ver Beek soon discovered he had a passion for labor and employment law. Ver Beek has negotiated hundreds of union contracts, tried hundreds of arbitration cases and arranged numerous National Labor Relations Board elections by agreement or through NLRB proceedings. He has been involved in collective bargaining for manufacturing, health care, education, and religious employers in both private and public sectors.

Ver Beek has held leadership roles with the Michigan State Bar, as well as the American Bar Association. Carl Ver Beek received the State Bar of Michigan’s highest honor in 2014, when he was awarded the Hudson Award. A year later, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Award from the Labor and Employment Section of the Michigan State Bar. He has been honored by Hope College with its Distinguished Alumni Award (2009) and was inducted into the Indiana University Maurer School of Law Academy of Law Alumni Fellows in 2017.

Keywords

Maurer Alumni, Academy of Law Alumni Fellows, Varnum LLP

Disciplines

Labor and Employment Law | Law | Legal Biography | Legal Profession

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Download Carl Ver Beek (ca. 1959) (297 KB)

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Carl Edward Ver Beek
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