About me
Jim Berchtold joined Justice in Aging as a Senior Staff Attorney in 2022 to focus on issues surrounding guardianship reform and improvement, including the intersection of guardianship and equity. Jim is especially passionate about advocating for policies that promote the appointment of skilled legal counsel to zealously defend the rights and wishes of older adults facing or under guardianship. He works with advocates and organizations across the country to help build capacity and expertise in guardianship defense and other areas of law critical to older adults.
Jim became committed to guardianship reform and elder-rights focused work after a nationally reported scandal rocked his state, propelling a near-complete overhaul of its guardianship systems. A new right-to-counsel law gave Jim the opportunity to design and build a program to provide legal aid attorneys to all adults facing or under guardianship, fundamentally changing how guardianship cases were adjudicated. Jim’s experience manging this program and representing his own clients as they fought to retain control over their lives solidified his desire to champion the rights of older adults and improve policies and systems more broadly.
Jim was a partner at a large law firm for years before he changed direction and joined legal aid, developing and managing a court-based self-help center, a program to provide legal services to union members, a consumer protection and housing rights program, and the guardianship defense program. Jim graduated from the University of Utah College of Law, where he was a William H. Leary Scholar and on the Board of Editors of the Utah Law Review. Jim is admitted to the Nevada bar.
