Jilenne Gunther, a native New Yorker, began her career in aging as a caretaker. A social worker by passion and an attorney by trade, Ms. Gunther earned her MSW from Washington University of St. Louis, and Juris Doctor from the University of Utah. She was the recipient of the Utah Bar Foundation's James Clegg Award and the University of Utah's Fordham Award. She most recently was a recipient of the Borchard Foundation Center on Law and Aging Fellowship, during which she was co-principal investigator in one of the first published studies on the Legal Needs of Older Americans.
Currently, Ms. Gunther is the Legal Services Developer for Utah's Division of Aging and Adult Services where she is the principal author of the Legal Guide for Older Utahans, and is working to implement the findings of the legal needs study as well as improve the quality and quantity of legal services for older Utahans.
Among her accomplishments, Ms. Gunther has taught Aging and Law classes at the University of Utah, acted as a consulting attorney for The Center for Social Gerontology assisting states in implementing legal needs assessments of seniors, is a member of the End-of-Life subcommittee of Utah's Commission on Aging, and volunteers at legal clinics.
