Judge Duane Benton began a two-year term as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Missouri on July 1, 1997. He succeeds Judge John C. Holstein in that post.
Judge Benton was appointed to the Supreme Court of Missouri on August 16, 1991, and retained in office by the people of Missouri at the November 1992 election. He is the only Certified Public Accountant serving on any supreme court in America.
Born in Springfield, Judge Benton grew up in Mountain View, Willow Springs, and Cape Girardeau. He is a 1972 graduate of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, graduating summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. He received a law degree from Yale Law School in 1975, distinguishing himself as editor and managing editor of the Yale Law Journal. Selected as a Danforth Fellow, he completed the Senior Executives Program at Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government. He has also accomplished the post-graduate Appellate Judges Course at the Institute of Judicial Administration, New York University. Judge Benton earned an LL.M. from the University of Virginia School of Law in Charlottesville, Virginia. He also received a Doctor of Laws (honorary) from Central Missouri State University.
From 1975 to 1979 Judge Benton served with the U.S. Navy as a judge advocate. While in the Navy, he attended Memphis State University and earned a master's in business administration and accountancy, with a perfect 4.0 grade average. He became a certified public accountant in Missouri in 1983.
Before becoming a judge, he practiced law as a private attorney in Jefferson City for six years, in the general practice of law. He is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, United States Tax Court, United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, and all Missouri courts.
From 1989 to 1991 Judge Benton served as the 14th Director of Revenue in the history of Missouri. While Director of Revenue, he wrote the Missouri Taxpayer Bill of Rights, initiated the short-form state tax return, administered income tax refunds to retirees, and led Missouri to ninth place among all states in sales-tax audits of out-of-state firms. He also served on the Multistate Tax Commission, with tax administrators from 32 other states, who eventually elected him chair of the group. He also served as president of the Midwestern State Association of Tax Administrators.
Judge Benton, a Vietnam veteran, still participates in the U.S. Naval Reserve, holding the rank of captain. He belongs to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion, the Navy League, the Vietnam Veterans of America, the Military Order of the World Wars, and served on the Missouri Military Advisory Commission.
From 1987 through 1989, Judge Benton was a regent on the board for Central Missouri State University in Warrensburg. He has also served as chair of the board of trustees for the Missouri State Employees Retirement System, the Missouri Commission on Intergovernmental Cooperation, the board of directors of the Jefferson City United Way, and the Council for Drug Free Youth.
A deacon and trustee of the First Baptist Church in Jefferson City, he is former counsel to the Missouri Baptist Convention.
Judge Benton is a member of the American Bar Association, The Missouri Bar and the Cole County Bar Association; the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants; Missouri Society of Certified Public Accountants; Association of Government Accountants; National Society of Public Accountants; and Independent Accountants Society of Missouri.
Judge Benton and his wife Sandra, a registered nurse, are the parents of two children — daughter Megan and son Grant.