James Benison is the Training Attorney and Internship Coordinator for the Prosecuting Attorneys Coordinating Council. He previously was an assistant prosecuting attorney in Kent County, including 17 years as a trial attorney and 8 years as the Chief Appellate Attorney. He received an Outstanding Advocate Award in 2005 from the Crime Victim Foundation for his work on domestic violence and stalking cases. He later received the national Criminal Justice Award for Prosecutors from MADD in 2009 for his work on OWI cases. Prior to working for Kent County, Jim worked as a research attorney for the Court of Appeals and as a law clerk for the Honorable Charles Levin of the Michigan Supreme Court. He is a graduate of Michigan State University’s James Madison College and the University of Chicago Law School. He lives in Grand Rapids with Julie, his wife of 32 years, and occasionally can be found in the chorus of a Gilbert & Sullivan opera.