John Benson - Senior Partner
John S. Benson is a founding partner of the law firm, Penglase & Benson, Inc. Mr. Benson practices in the areas of state and federal court litigation in Pennsylvania and New Jersey with concentrations in criminal law involving driving under the influence and homicide by vehicle, appellate law, civil litigation, corporate law, real estate and zoning law, and personal injury law.
Mr. Benson graduated from Widener University School of Law, where he obtained his Juris Doctorate degree in 1998. Following Law School he served as the law clerk for The Honorable Judge James P. MacElree on the Court of Common Pleas of Chester County.
Following a clerkship in which he drafted more than thirty Court Opinions, he became an Assistant District Attorney for Bucks County. Mr. Benson was later promoted to Deputy District Attorney and appointed to be the Chief of the Homicide by Vehicle Division, and one of only five Trial Coordinators for the office. As Chief of Homicide by Vehicle Mr. Benson was responsible for the investigation of every fatal or near fatal accident in Bucks County. He has provided extensive training for police and prosecutors in the investigation and prosecution of traffic accidents and has appeared on television as an expert in vehicular prosecutions. Mr. Benson has prosecuted more than one thousand DUI cases. His work in the field of narcotics resulted in the asset seizure of more than ten kilos of cocaine and fifty pounds of marijuana with a street value of more than one million dollars! Mr. Benson has successfully argued many cases on appeal before the Pennsylvania Superior Court and has personally argued before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. His arguments in Commonwealth v. Acosta before the Superior Court of Pennsylvania garnered statewide attention and was televised due to its repercussions in the field of constitutional law.
He is admitted to the bar of both the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. He also enjoys admissions to the Bar of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.
Mr. Benson is a highly sought after professor. Due to his trial skills and experience he was appointed to the faculty of the National Advocacy Center in Columbia South Carolina where he taught prosecutors from around the country in trial skills and presentation. He is currently an adjunct Professor at Widener University School of Law and an instructor at the nationally recognized Intensive Trial Advocacy Program at that institute. Mr. Benson is also an Adjunct Professor at Delaware Valley College where he teaches Macro Economics and Business Law. He is one of only four professors selected to teach the first Honors Course at Delaware Valley College to specifically focus on the American Civil War.
He is the Past President of the Bucks County Civil War Roundtable and was responsible for directing the Roundtable's efforts in purchasing a home for the Civil War Library and museum which can be found in Doylestown on Broad Street. Mr. Benson is a frequent tour guide at the Gettysburg National Battlefield and lectures to various groups on the causes of the Civil War. Since 1997 Mr. Benson has appeared in a traveling play throughout Delaware entitled "A House Divided" which portrays several citizens in Delaware who fought in the Civil War. For the past ten years he has served as a book reviewer and has authored more than forty-five reviews for The Civil War News and Civil War Book Review, two internationally syndicated publications. Mr. Benson is an Eagle Scout and past Vice President of the Lenape District, Bucks County Council, Boy Scouts of America. He is the Chief Field Marshall for the Heart of Bucks Auto Show and has been named as a Director on the board of that corporation.