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Currently, Robert M. Duncan is the Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary of the Board of Trustees of The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. After he left the federal bench in 1985, Judge Duncan joined the Columbus law firm, Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue, where he was the firm's coordinator for the New Associates Group and chaired the firm's minority recruiting task force.
Son of Benjamin A. and Kathleen Wanda Duncan, he was born in Urbana, Ohio, on August 24, 1927. He
received his B.S. and J.D. from Ohio State University, where he served as President of his law class. After graduating from law school, he served two years in the United States Army.
When leaving the army in 1954, Duncan opened an office for the general practice of law in Columbus, Ohio. In 1957, he became Assistant Attorney General of Ohio and served until 1959
when he became an attorney examiner of the Bureau of Workmen's Compensation. His duty was
the preparation of opinions and recommendations in workmen's compensation cases for
members of the Industrial Commission of Ohio. In 1960, he served as assistant city attorney of
Columbus.
In 1965, he was the chief of the Workmen's Compensation Section, Office of the
Attorney General of Ohio, and in 1966, he was promoted to the position of Chief Counsel to
the Attorney General of Ohio. Judge Duncan's duty was the supervision of a staff of 125
lawyers and the preparation of opinions of the attorney general as well as arguments in
the appellate courts. He was appointed to the position of municipal judge of Columbus in
1966 and in 1967, Judge Duncan was elected to a full term on that court. Governor James A. Rhodes appointed him to Ohio's highest court in 1969 and he became Ohio's
youngest Supreme Court Justice as well as the first Black to serve on that
bench.
In 1971, President Richard M. Nixon appointed Judge Duncan to the United States Court of
Military Appeals and he became Chief Judge on that court, January 15, 1974. On
July 12, 1974, Judge Duncan was sworn in as Judge of the United States
District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, having been nominated to
that position by President Nixon. After ten years on the court, he resigned to return to private practice.
Judge Duncan has served on the President's Commission for the Observance of the 25th
Anniversary of the United Nations and on the President's Commission on White House
Fellows. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of Urbana College, Urbana, Ohio; Defiance
College, Defiance, Ohio; Franklin University, Columbus, Ohio; United Community Council,
Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and the Columbus Galley of Fine Arts. He also is a member of
several professional associations including the American Bar Association, the American Bar
Foundation, the Columbus and Ohio State Bar Associations, the Federal Bar Association, and the American
Judicature Society.
He has received numerous awards and honors, including the Ohio Bar Medal for "unusually meritorious service," the Ralph D. Mershon Alumni award from Ohio State, the Award of Merit of Ohio Legal Center Institute, two-time recipient, and the Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce's "Columbus Award" in recognition of his distinguished community service. He has also received the Governor's Award for Human Rights, the United Negro College Fund's Dr. Frederick Douglas Patterson Award, and has been listed in the Litigation Section of The Best Lawyers in America. He has received Honorary Doctor of Laws degrees from the following educational institutes: The Ohio State University, Capital University Law .
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