Richard W. Benson’s Biography
Photo by Sherry A. McGowan. Summer, 2010.
Richard W. Benson was born during the legal, moral, and political firestorm that was the Army-McCarthy hearings. He grew up in Topeka, Kansas. As if born for a life in the middle of the law and conflict, Richard gravitated to law school in Brooklyn, and was first admitted to practice law in New York. He has practiced in Kansas in recent years.
Richard loves a law library as much as he does a courtroom. Because Richard loves competition. Thus Richard enjoys success championing aggrieved litigants in the appellate courts just as much as he enjoys success in trial courtrooms.
Richard dates his love of competition back to 1968, when he won an 8th grade Topeka city wrestling championship. Love of competition has been a continuing thread. In 1981 Richard and his partner placed 6th in the American Contract Bridge League’s North American Rookie Pairs Championship. Richard was Shawnee County Democratic Party Chairman from 1992-97, dismal years for Democrats nationwide. But by 1997 Shawnee County Democrats held majority status within Shawnee County’s State House and State Senate delegations, majority status on the County Commission; a majority of all county elective offices; the Mayor’s Office in Topeka; and majority status on Topeka’s City Council. And by 1997 most Shawnee Countians were represented by a Democrat on the State Board of Education.
Richard’s first really important legal victories were zoning appeals. But since those early successes, he has widened his range quite considerably and has enjoyed unusual successes representing persons accused of crimes in trial and appellate courts; parents fighting out custody, residency, parenting time, and child support issues in trial and appellate courts; and all manner of civil litigants, mostly in the appellate courts. And he has accomplished all of that in a context of a practice that permits him to help people with the ministerial business of name changes, wills, and other non-competitive matters.
Benson married Sherry A. McGowan while she was attending Washburn Law School in 1978. They will celebrate their 33rd Anniversary on September 2, 2011.
Benson has a very strong preference for face-to-face relationships with his clients. Office hours are by appointment only. Please call for an appointment.
