He studied law in his native village and for some years after his admission to the bar was engaged there in the practice of his profession. In the law firm of which he was a member, Nicholas Hill, Jr., and Augustus Bockes, who was later a supreme court judge of that district, were the other partners. From the first, he showed remarkable powers in influencing juries to the conclusions he desired, and a keenness in seizing upon the jjoints of advantage in his cases, and he soon acquired a local reputation as an advocate of ability.

In 1851 he removed to Troy, New York, where he made his residence for the next twenty years. In this new and larger field, he achieved a proportionately greater fame and success. He founded the firm of Pearson, Beach & Smith, which later, on the retirement of Hon. Job Pearson, became Beach & Smith. Legal interests of great importance were intrusted to his care, and he became attorney and counsel for all the large railroad corporations in the city.

When the Hudson River Bridge Company secured articles of incorporation for the purpose of bridging the Hudson River at Albany, the city of Troy, which was opposed to the building of the bridge, engaged Mr. Beach to endeavor to prevent its construction by an appeal to the courts. A preliminary injunction was obtained enjoining the bridge company from proceeding with their work, but an attempt to have the injunction made permanent resulted in the case being carried into the Supreme Court of the United States, where the bill of complaint was dismissed.