Meet Your 2025 Pro Bono Stars

The Denver Bar Association’s Access to Justice Committee has announced its 2025 Pro Bono Stars, honoring legal professionals who have gone above and beyond in delivering free legal services to Colorado’s underserved communities. These honorees exemplify a deep commitment to justice—empowering individuals who might not otherwise have access to legal representation. Each recipient’s story reflects the transformative impact of pro bono service, both for the clients whose lives are changed and for the attorneys who champion them.

Ashley Cordero | Del Pueblo Law

Ashley Cordero (she/her/ella) is a First-Generation Queer Latina attorney and the co-founder of Del Pueblo Law LLC. Her practice is focused on indigent criminal defense. Upon graduating law school, Ashley worked as a Public Defender in Arapahoe County. She is now a contractor for Alternate Defense Counsel throughout the Metro Area with experience in Municipal Defense to Felony Charges. Prior to the practice of law, Ashley managed a multi-million project for the City of Los Angeles creating employment pathways for unhoused and previously incarcerated individuals.

Ashley believes that the law systematically targets BIPOC, unhoused, working class, and LGBTQIA2S+ individuals. From 2024-2025, as a member of the Protest Defense Committee, in addition to providing free legal navigation for folks appearing in Denver Municipal Court, Ashley has represented over ten individuals on a pro bono basis who were targeted for protest activities for speaking out against Genocide in Palestine, ICE in Communities, and other forms of oppression against marginalized communities.

Kevin Homiak | Wheeler Trigg O’Donnell

Kevin Homiak is a Partner and the Pro Bono Chair at Wheeler Trigg O’Donnell LLP. His victories for pro bono clients include some of the largest awards in civil rights cases in Colorado history, and his pro bono work nationwide has been featured in Law360, NPR’s “All Things Considered,” USA Today, and other national news outlets. His successes in pro bono cases range from winning a $3.5 million jury verdict in an intentional discrimination case brought against the Colorado Department of Corrections to securing a decision from a Texas federal court judge that incarcerating nearly 90,000 individuals in extreme heat in unairconditioned Texas prisons is “plainly unconstitutional.”

In the time he has led WTO’s pro bono program, the firm’s annual pro bono hours has doubled and, last year, more than 90% of the firm’s associates participated in at least one pro bono matter. Kevin was also a founding member of the Denver Law Firm Pro Bono Working Group and helped organize the inaugural Colorado Pro Bono Summit. He achieves all this pro bono success while maintaining an active litigation practice, which focuses on professional liability defense and appeals. Kevin believes that every client, regardless of their means, deserves exceptional legal representation, and that pro bono legal work plays an essential role in protecting due process, defending the rule of law, and fighting government overreach.

M. Kent Olsen | Olsen & Mahoney

Throughout his career, Kent has volunteered to present at meetings and seminars for the DBA [Denver Bar Association], CBA [Colorado Bar Association] and other public entities.  He has participated in the volunteer self-help clinic at the Denver Probate Court since its beginning. Kent is a member of the board of directors of three non-profit organizations, Advocacy Denver for 40 years, Arc of Colorado for 15 years and Colorado Fund for People with Disabilities (as a founding member) for 30 years.  All of these organizations advocate for and assist people with disabilities.  The Colorado Fund for People with Disabilities is the non-profit pooled Medicaid trust for Colorado.  Kent strongly believes in doing pro bono work as payback for the benefits life and society have provided for him.

Amalia Sax-Bolder | Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck

Amalia is a Shareholder at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP, where she focuses on bankruptcy, finance and litigation, representing companies, secured creditors, lenders, purchasers, trustees, and investors in restructuring matters in Colorado and nationwide. Her pro bono work includes representing LGBTQ-focused nonprofit organizations in impact litigation and policy advocacy, as well as providing direct legal services to individuals seeking name and gender-marker changes.

She is driven by a commitment to use the law as a platform to elevate the voices of those too often unheard and to close the gap in access to justice for historically marginalized communities.  Amalia also co-chairs Brownstein’s Pride Employee Resource Group and is the Co-Chair of the Board of Directors at The Center on Colfax, the largest LGBTQ+ community center in the Rocky Mountain region. In recognition of her work, Amalia was named one of the 40 Best LGBTQ+ Lawyers Under 40 by the National LGBTQ+ Bar Association in 2023 and received a 40 Under 40 award earlier this year from the Colorado LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce.

Hannah Taylor | Holland & Hart

Hannah graduated from The University of Denver Sturm College of Law in 2018 and started her career as a Deputy District Attorney in the 17th Judicial District. After serving almost four years in the public sector, Hannah transitioned to private practice, specializing in domestic relations. Hannah is currently an Associate at Holland & Hart, LLP, where she advises high net worth individuals, families, and family offices on the full range of issues involved when a marriage begins and ends, including pre-marital and co-habitation agreements, and dissolution petitions, allocation of parental responsibilities, post-decree disputes, guardianships, and protection orders.

Having started her career as a prosecutor with a docket full of domestic violence cases, that is a cause that has stayed close to Hannah’s heart and has been where she has focused her pro bono work, primarily assisting domestic violence survivors with divorce, custody, and protection order issues.