Robert Benham

Robert Benham is the second African-American graduate of the University of Georgia School of Law and the first African-American to serve on the Supreme Court of Georgia. Justice Benham is a lifelong resident of Georgia, and was born to Jesse Knox Benham and Clarence Benham in Cartersville, Georgia. He graduated from Summer Hill High School in Cartersville in 1963, and Tuskegee University with a B.S. in Political Science in 1967, attended Harvard University, graduated from the University of Georgia School of Law with a J.D. in 1970, and received his L.L.M from the University of Virginia in 1989. While attending the University of Georgia, he was a member of the Demosthenian Literary Society. After completing law school, Justice Benham served in the U.S. Army Reserve, attaining the rank of Captain. He then served briefly as a trial attorney for Atlanta Legal Aid Society, Inc., later returning to Cartersville, where he engaged in the private practice of law, served as Special Assistant Attorney General, and served two terms as President of the Bartow County Bar Association. Justice Benham became the first African American to establish a law practice in Bartow County.