30 June 2025

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – By order of the Court, Supreme Court of Missouri Judge W. Brent Powell will assume the role of chief justice beginning July 1. His two-year term as chief justice will run through June 30, 2027. He succeeds Judge Mary R. Russell, who remains on the Court.

A native of Springfield, he attended Springfield and Rogersville public schools before graduating from Greenwood High School on the Missouri State University campus. He received his undergraduate degree, magna cum laude, from William Jewell College in Liberty, where he also earned a varsity letter in football, and his law degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law. While in law school, he was president of the Student Bar Association and case note editor for the Missouri Law Review and also interned for Supreme Court of Missouri Judge Elwood Thomas. 

Powell began his legal career at the Lathrop & Gage law firm in Kansas City before entering public service as a prosecutor a year later. He worked for the Platte County prosecutor’s office until 2001, when he became an assistant United States attorney for the United States attorney’s office in Kansas City. During his tenure there, he served as chief of the general crimes unit and executive assistant United States attorney. In 2008, then-Governor Matt Blunt appointed him as a circuit judge in Jackson County. Then-Governor Eric Greitens appointed him to the Supreme Court of Missouri in April 2017, and voters retained him for a 12-year term in November 2018. 

Powell’s family sparked his interest in law and public service – his father and uncle have served as attorneys in private practice in Springfield, and his mother served as a probation and parole officer. Through the years, he has been involved in a number of committees regarding criminal law, family law and trial judge education. He was named “Judge of the Year” in 2009 by the Association of Women Lawyers of Greater Kansas City and received the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association President’s Award in 2014. In 2022, he received the Citation of Achievement from William Jewell College – its highest alumni award – and was elected to the American Law Institute to bring his legal expertise in clarifying the law through model codes and restatements. In addition to being chief justice, Powell will continue to serve as chair of the Missouri Sentencing Advisory Commission. 

Powell and his wife live in Kansas City, where they are active with their church and community. 

Contact: Beth S. Riggert

Communications Counsel

Supreme Court of Missouri

(573) 751-3676