Goldsboro attorney Shelby Duffy Benton was recently appointed to the statewide board of directors of the North Carolina Community Foundation.

Benton is the lead attorney at Benton Family Law in Goldsboro and has dedicated more than 40 years to legal practice and service to her community. A graduate of North Carolina State University and Campbell University School of Law, she has practiced in Wayne County since 1985.

After first focusing her career on criminal and family law, she became certified as a specialist in family law in 1995, devoting her practice exclusively to family law since then.

Benton is a past president of both the Wayne County Bar Association and the North Carolina Bar Association; a fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers; and a diplomate of the American College of Family Trial Lawyers. She is a commissioner on the NC Domestic Violence Commission and serves as a director for the Mount Olive Pickle Company and Shallco, Inc.

In addition to being active at the local, state and national levels in the family law field, Benton is engaged in a variety of educational and community initiatives in eastern North Carolina, particularly those supporting public education and youth development in Wayne County.

She chaired the Wayne County Day Reporting Center Task Force and helped guide the initiative – which provides an alternative to jail for first time, non-violent offenders – from grant development through implementation.

Benton also partnered with the Wayne County Bar Association and the local Communities Supporting Schools program to develop the Teen and Attorney Partnership for Success (TAPS), which created county-wide mock trial competitions for high school students. She has continued to support middle school mock trial teams preparing for the North Carolina Bar Association Middle School Mock Trial Competition.

An active member of First Presbyterian Church, she also helped establish a traveling volleyball program for young women in Wayne County and has served on the advisory board for The Salvation Army.

“Shelby’s legal knowledge and long history of supporting her state and local community will be a true asset to our board,” said John Willingham, chair of NCCF’s board of directors.