Judges Danielle K. Chio and Jacob A. Reynolds will be ceremonially sworn in at an investiture on June 6 at 3 p.m. Investitures are formal ceremonies with significant symbolism, as new judges publicly swear an oath to uphold justice. The investiture will be live-streamed at https://www.facebook.com/clarkcountycourts.
Judge Chio was appointed by Governor Joe Lombardo to the District Court. She is the first woman of Hawaiian ancestry to serve on the District Court bench in Nevada. Prior to taking the bench, her service included work as the Las Vegas deputy city attorney. She handled battery domestic violence and DUI cases. In 2005, she joined the Clark County District Attorney’s Office. She served in the Special Victim’s Unit and the Gang Unit, where she was promoted to team chief. She has tried over 50 felony jury trials and hundreds of bench trials. As team chief of the Gang Unit, she worked with various organizations including, Hope for Prisoner’s and the Nevada Department of Parole and Probation to find alternatives to incarceration. Her work included a joint study with UNLV, the University of Cincinnati, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, and the Nevada Department of Parole and Probation to reduce crime in Las Vegas.
Judge Chio graduated from St. Andrew’s Priory High School, founded by Queen Emma to educate women of Hawaii. Her undergraduate degree is from Whittier College and she has a law degree from McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento, California. After college, she worked in the Los Angeles Unified School District and volunteered at the Child Abuse Services Team in Orange, California. Judge Chio attributes her passion for helping others and her motivation to attend law school to her volunteer experience.
Prior to becoming a judge, Reynolds worked in-house at Switch Ltd. as special litigation counsel. He successfully took to jury trial the largest antitrust case in Nevada history valued at $400 million. He also served as the chief legal officer of Scholer & Sons, LLC, which took him to Brazil and Uruguay. His cases have been before the United States Supreme Court, Nevada Supreme Court, as well as the United States Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Circuit courts, as well as the Federal Circuit.
Judge Reynolds, the 10th of 11 children, grew up in Utah, Scotland, Israel and Argentina. He speaks Spanish fluently. He graduated from Brigham Young University, where he double-majored in philosophy and economics. He also attended the Institute for Humane Studies seminar, hosted at Princeton University. During law school, he interned for Judges Lloyd D. George in Las Vegas and David Sam in Salt Lake City. Upon graduation from J. Reuben Clark Law School, he clerked for Chief Judge Roger L. Hunt in the U.S. District Court in Las Vegas. Upon completion of the clerkship, he joined Hutchison & Steffen, PLLC where he became a partner and worked primarily in complex commercial litigation, Constitution, election law, and practiced before the Nevada Ethics Commission. Judge Reynolds is an active member of the community who coaches youth sports teams and volunteers at his church.
“We welcome Judge Chio and Judge Reynolds to the District Court,” said District Court Chief Judge Jerry Wiese. “They have already been putting their knowledge and experience to use hearing cases in our very busy court.”