Benjamin Schmickle | Saint Louis Personal Injury Lawyer | Missouri

Ben, a founding member of SWMK Law, has been successfully litigating cases on behalf of individuals, small businesses and multi–national companies for over a decade. After growing up in Missouri and Kansas, Ben attended the University of Missouri – Columbia for his undergraduate studies in philosophy. While attending Southern Illinois University School of Law to receive his law degree, Ben served as an articles editor for the SIU Law Journal and was a member of the ATLA regional trial advocacy team. He graduated law school with honors, finishing in the top ten percent of his class.

Over the course his legal career, Ben has worked in a variety of legal service settings ranging from a solo practitioner's office, government offices, as well as large and small firms. He has litigated cases in a number of different trial courts and appellate courts across the country. Immediately prior to forming SWMK Law, Ben was one of the original attorneys and trial team leaders at a nationally recognized plaintiffs’ asbestos litigation firm in Madison County, IL, where he worked on cases for hundreds of clients resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars in recovery. He is a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum, the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association and the Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys, among many other organizations. He has been a frequent speaker at various CLE programs and seminars.

Ben lives in Illinois with his wife, Melanie, and their son, Sam. Ben and his family enjoy spending their summers cheering for the St. Louis Cardinals.

School	Degree	Major	Graduation
Southern Illinois University School of Law	J.D.	Law School	1999
University of Missouri	B.A.	N/A	1995

State / Court	Date
MO	2005
IL	1999

• Madison County Bar Association
  Million Dollar Advocates Forum
  Illinois Trial Lawyers Association
  Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys
  Illinois Bar Association
  Missouri Bar Association
  Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis

• "The Bare Metal Defense: Almost a Decade of Claims," Perrin Cutting Edge in Asbestos Litigation Conference, 2012
  "A Brief Foray into Forum Non Conveniens in Missouri," Missouri Bar, Solo and Small Firm Conference, 2012
  "Discovery Motions and Practice," Illinois State Bar Association, Pre–Trial Motion Practices, 2012
  "Update on Law in Illinois on Proving Causation and Damages," Asbestos: Current Issues and Effective Litigation Tactics, 2012
  

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