W. Brent Powell will serve a two-year term as Missouri chief justice, which will run through June 30, 2027. He succeeds Judge Mary R. Russell who remains on the court.
Powell has been a Missouri Supreme Court Judge since 2017 when he was appointed by then-Governor Eric Greitens.
He attended public school in Springfield and Rogersville and graduated from Greenwood High School. He earned his undergraduate degree from William Jewell College and his law degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Powell began his legal career at the Lathrop & Gage law firm in Kansas City before becoming a prosecutor in Platte County. He was an assistant U.S. attorney in Kansas City and was appointed circuit judge in Jackson County in 2008.
His father and uncle served as attorneys in private practice in Springfield, and his mother served as a probation and parole officer.
Powell was named Judge of the Year in 2009 by the Association of Women Lawyers of Greater Kansas City, and he received the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association President’s Award in 2014.
In addition to being chief justice of the Missouri Supreme Court, Powell will continue to serve as chair of the Missouri Sentencing Advisory Commission.
