Pro Bono of the Month – April 2023

Alice Denton & Jarien L. Cho of Denton Cho

We have the honor to highlight two exceptional pro bono attorneys for the month of April.  Alice Denton and Jarien Cho who together form Denton Cho took on an incredibly challenging case assisting victims of the One October shooting massacre, securing over $1.3 million for the 61 victims that lost their lives.  Their firm has worked tirelessly over the past five (5) years to obtain as much money as possible for the family of the victims of this devastating tragedy and to ensure that the guns and firearms owned by the assailant were destroyed and could never harm another person.

Who are Alice Denton and Jarien L Cho:

Alice is a member of the State Bars of Nevada and Nebraska.  She graduated Magna Cum Laude from the Williams S. Boyd School of Law in 2003, thereafter garnering extensive experience and proficiency in the areas of Probate, Probate Litigation, and Estate Planning.

Alice is a past officer of Elder Law Section of the State Bar, a current member of the Probate and Trust Selection.  She is former Secretary/Treasurer of the Howard D. McKibben Chapter of the Americans Inns and served as a Commissioner of the City of Las Vegas Arts Commission.  Alice is also a member of the Clark County Bar Association and Southern Nevada Women Attorneys.

Alice received the 2023 Medal of Justice Award from the State Bar of Nevada.  She is married to Judge Mark Denton, and the two have four beautiful children and three grandchildren.

Jarien came to the United States from Korea in 1988.  She graduated from the William S. Boyd School of Law in 2003.  Jarien’s primary areas of practice are business, commercial, and family law, with a special emphasis on providing quality advocacy to Las Vegas’ burgeoning Korean community. Prior to coming to the United States, Jarien earned a Master’s Degree in Sociology, and completed Ph.D coursework in the same field at the Graduate College of the Academy of Korean Studies.  In law school, she served as the judicial extern to the Honorable Alan Earl and is a member of the State Bar of Nevada. She is married to her husband, Brian, and the two have one son, Dan, who is currently an attorney with the Clark County Public Defender’s Office.

Jarien received the 2023 Medal of Justice Award from the State Bar of Nevada.

How did Denton and Cho become involved in pro bono with Legal Aid Center?  Denton Cho has been involved in providing pro bono services through the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada for over 20 years.  Alice regularly participates in the Ask-a-Lawyer Probate.  Jarien has directly provided her time and services to local clientele with an emphasis on assisting the Korean community, who are often faced with the additional challenge of a language barrier.

When asked why they do pro bono work their answer was the following:

Every attorney is strongly encouraged to do pro bono work.  At Denton Cho, they view pro bono work as a duty.  They feel compelled to help those in our community that need their legal services but are not in a financial position to retain an attorney.  Their firm makes it a practice to regularly devote it’s time, efforts, and resources with the hope of inspiring others to give back to the people of Las Vegas.

Both Alice and Jarien shared their most memorable clients and shared a such a moving story about the horrific tragic event that occurred here in Las Vegas on October 1, 2017, at the Route 91 Harvest Festival held.  The One October Shooting Massacre resonates not only through the Las Vegas community, but also across the nation and internationally. Denton and Cho handled the estate proceedings from the shooter obtaining as much money as possible for the family of the victims of this devastating tragedy.  They were able to secure millions in recovery for the victims that lost their lives as a direct result of the One October shooting massacre.  It’s their firm’s greater honor to have waived the approximately $200,000.00 in attorneys’ fees to which they would have been entitled.  In an effort to ensure a safer tomorrow, Denton and Cho was able to have the weapons used during this shooting massacre destroyed and removed from public circulation. This case has had a huge impact on Alice and Jarien and they both will be forever grateful for the opportunity to assist these victims.

We can only say that we are honored to have such selfless, caring and dedicated attorneys defending and changing client’s lives.  They are a true example that when we open our hearts and give to our community, we can see amazing changes one step at a time.