The 2025 Game Changers Summit has become known as a large-scale celebration of the accomplishments of the nation’s top law firm owners.
For the third consecutive year, Michael and Jessica Mogill took the stage throughout the two-day Summit to recognize the most committed Crisp Coach members for their incredible transformations and contributions this year.
This highly anticipated set of distinctions has become known as the Crisp Game Changer Awards.
Winners of these carefully vetted, highly prestigious awards were determined based on specific results each firm generated, each leader’s commitment to their goals, and more.
While Firm of the Year Awards at each level (ELITE, PREMIER, SELECT, and CrispX) were reserved for Day 2, four firm owners were celebrated on Day 1 for Excellence in the following categories:
- Excellence in Visionary Leadership
- Excellence in Client Experience
- Excellence in Community Impact
- Excellence in Firm Culture
While there were many worthy firms that applied, one firm stood out and truly earned the Excellence in Client Experience Award: Michael Beckman and Kayla Grayson of Viles & Beckman!
Meet Michael Beckman and Kayla Grayson
The path to becoming an exceptional law firm owner rarely follows a straight line. For Michael Beckman and Kayla Grayson, their legal leadership journeys were shaped by both classrooms and courtrooms. Both brought unique passions and discipline from their previous careers into their legal roles.
Before law school, Michael Beckman taught theater at the University of South Florida. It wasn’t until he had a conversation with a friend’s father — a personal injury lawyer — that Michael found his true calling: helping those in need while excelling in a challenging profession.
From there, he leveraged his love for storytelling and persuasion into a legal career and eventually founded Viles & Beckman with his business partner, Marcus Viles.
Kayla Grayson, the firm’s COO, has served 19 years in the Navy Reserve as a Chief Petty Officer. She seamlessly balances her military leadership with leading her civilian team members at the firm.
Unfortunately, neither learned business fundamentals in their previous careers, and law school certainly didn’t fill that gap.
“I hate to use the word immaturity, but when you’re in law school, you really don’t learn about business,” Michael explains. “We started the law firm as a law firm, not as a business. We started because we were attorneys. That’s what we did.”
The firm practices personal injury law in Fort Myers, Florida, handling car accidents, trucking cases, slip and falls, and wrongful death. They were good attorneys who got results for their clients — but something critical was missing.
“We were very misshapen. We were very discombobulated,” Michael admits. “[We were] good attorneys, but we didn’t have a team. We didn’t have a culture.”
When Michael’s former business partner, Marcus Viles, discovered Crisp in 2018, he returned to the firm with ideas that seemed foreign to his partners. Although Marcus passed away in July 2023, he planted the seeds of change that jump-started the firm’s transformation.
“One of the things Marcus said often was, ‘I have no idea why they let us in this room,'” recalls Kayla. “But he’d say, ‘One day we’re going to be the top Crisp law firm.’ It was always a dream of his.”
With Crisp’s support and the foundation Marcus laid, Michael and Kayla have transformed Viles & Beckman from a collection of attorneys into what they now call “The 5-Star Law Firm.”
“We have truly transformed from just being a personal injury firm — a couple of lawyers that go out and try cases — into a business that provides Ritz-Carlton type of service to its clients,” says Michael. “Our team is focused on impact. We want to successfully change the lives of our clients and employees in a meaningful and positive way.”
Client Experience at Viles & Beckman
Before fully committing to their journey with Crisp Coach, Michael and Kayla struggled to prioritize client experience initiatives, even though they believed deeply in the importance of world-class service. The actual legal work consumed all their time and energy.
“We built a book of business based upon tangible results, but the ‘wow factor’ was definitely missing,” Michael reflects.
The breakthrough came when Kayla attended a Crisp workshop and heard a concept that changed everything: Culture is how you get things done. That single insight shifted their entire approach from feel-good activities to building a culture of accountability.
“I came back from that workshop, and Michael and I sat down and kind of figured out, ‘How do we build a culture of accountability?’” recalls Kayla. “‘How do we build a culture that is focused on impact?’”
After starting their journey with Crisp Coach, the firm developed a clear vision, mission, and core values that moved beyond vague platitudes into actionable principles. These foundational elements became the lens through which they viewed every decision, guiding hiring, shaping client interactions, and giving the entire team a unified direction.
With Crisp’s guidance, Viles & Beckman moved beyond good legal work into delivering a consistent five-star client experience at every interaction. The firm began by looking beyond other law firms for inspiration.
“We’re not just competing with law firms. We’re competing with every other business out there because it raises the expectation for service,” says Kayla. “If a car dealership can do this, we certainly can.”
The firm implemented policies and procedures that ensured every client received heartfelt care from initial contact through case resolution. They developed welcome packages, systematized check-ins, and multiple touchpoints to help clients feel seen, valued, and supported during what’s often the most challenging time in their lives.
The firm also discovered that exceptional client experience couldn’t exist in isolation. It required hiring people who genuinely wanted to serve and building a culture where serving clients felt natural.
“If you don’t have a culture where you want to give client experience, where you don’t hire based on people wanting to serve the clients, they’re not going to want to serve the community, which is one of our core values,” Michael explains.
The firm expanded its impact beyond the courtroom and into ongoing community service in Southwest Florida. They established a foundation with ambitious goals to contribute at least $1 million to the community, award hundreds of scholarships, and lead summer leadership academies for youth.
Viles & Beckman Today
Client experience is one of many areas still evolving at Viles & Beckman.
“Being a part of the Crisp community has helped me take both my personal and professional life to the next level,” shares Michael. “Having a Crisp Coach help me map out the path to success has helped me become the leader, partner, and attorney that I always knew I was capable of becoming. It helps me to recognize my potential and my strengths, but also my weaknesses and areas for growth, and that has been invaluable in taking the firm to the next level.”
Their involvement in Crisp Coach has also helped build the confidence needed to become a next-level firm. Last November at the Game Changers Summit, Michael and Kayla watched other firms share their success stories and asked themselves a hard question: Why hadn’t they seen the same growth after being Crisp members since 2018?
The question sparked something. They looked inward. They got honest about where they were falling short. They committed to doing the work differently. The result? Their strongest results to date.
“We’re on track for our best year yet this year,” says Kayla. “We took what we watched last year and realized we weren’t hitting the mark — and we transformed the business this year.”
The firm’s evolution confirms that when you commit fully to the process, the results follow.
“Obviously, completing Marcus’s legacy and one of his dreams is a huge part of that,” says Kayla. “But it also means we really took what we sought out to do this year, and we’ve done it. That doesn’t mean that we’re done in any means, but it means that we’re on the right track.”
