JENSIE ANDERSON

Jensie L. Anderson is a Clinical Professor at the SJ Quinney College of Law who has taught Introduction to Law, Legal Methods, Innocence Law, and Post-Conviction Law. Professor Anderson directed the law school’s in-house Innocence Clinic from 2002-2022 and developed the Post-Conviction Clinic in the Fall of 2023. She has received the Young Lawyer of the Year Award;  Peter W. Billings Excellence in Teaching Award; the Christine M. Durham Women Lawyer of the Year Award; the Distinguished Faculty Service Award; the Lieutenant Governor’s Public Service Award; the 2023 Outstanding Professor Award; and the Utah State Bar's Lifetime Acheivement Award. In addition to teaching at the law school, for twenty-two years Professor Anderson worked closely with a non-profit organization whose mission was to seek the exoneration and release of innocent individuals convicted of crimes they did not commit and serving prison sentences or awaiting execution for those crimes. Professor Anderson continues to represent individuals in innocence cases as well as in other post-conviction cases. She also works with policy makers to affect criminal justice reform. Finally, for twenty-six years, Professor Anderson ran a legal outreach site for homeless individuals.

Professor Anderson graduated from the University of Utah with a B.F.A. in Theatre Performance in 1985, and a J.D. in 1993. Before joining the faulty of the S.J. Quinney College of Law in 1999, Professor Anderson worked at Holme, Roberts & Owen, the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah, and Cannon, Cleary & Match.  When Professor Anderson is not teaching or lawyering, she spends time with her husband of 34 years, along with her three dogs and two cats. She also spends a great deal of time being extremely proud of her twenty-six-year-old daughter. Finally, now that she is retiring from teaching and assuming emerita status at the U, Professor Anderson is returning to her first passion, theatre and acting.