James W. Winslow, Attorney

JAMES W. WINSLOW handles all CRIMINAL MATTERS from traffic tickets to murder. In the past several years, alone, he has tried cases throughout New York State involving murder, kidnapping, rape, robbery, burglary, sex abuse, criminal use of a firearm, drug possession and sale, enterprise corruption, embezzlement, internet child pornography trafficking and DWI.

Jim was born May 14, 1948 in Kingston in the beautiful and  historic Hudson Valley region of New York. His dad, William, and mom, Marjorie, raised three children in all. Jim is the oldest. He completed his early formal education through secondary school when he graduated from Kingston High School in 1966.

His early extracurricular interests involved the outdoors. He played Little League and Babe Ruth League baseball and CYO basketball. He joined the Cub Scouts and, later, the Boy Scouts. Eventually, he achieved the Scouts' highest awards, becoming an Eagle Scout and being accepted into the Order of the Arrow. Scouting introduced him to hiking and camping endeavors he continues to this day.

He graduated from college in 1970 at the height of the Vietnam War. His activities at Albany State University (now called SUNY Center at Albany) were diverse. He played intercollegiate basketball and lacrosse.  As he did in high school, he became the sports editor of the college's twice weekly newspaper. He was elected to the college student government and served on the university's athletic advisory board. He was a member of Sigma Tau Beta social fraternity. In his senior year, Jim was chosen to appear in Who's Who in American Universities and Colleges and was one of only thirteen elected to Albany's traditional social honor society, MYSKANIA.

After graduation, he served two tours of duty in the Vietnam combat zone as the navigator of a naval destroyer.  Although firmly against the war, Jim refused to avoid military service. Even so, he has fond memories of the heroic young men who served with him and will always recall with pride his responsibilities and successes in guiding the warship on which he was stationed across oceans and from port to port using, only, the ancient tool, the sextant, to calculate sunlines and the position of the stars. Between college and law school, Jim also spent valuable time and gained immeasurable life experience that he has utilized in his law practice while serving as a probation officer and a drug abuse counselor.

At Brooklyn Law School, he was admitted to the Moot court Honor Society and was employed during his final two years of study as a trial preparation assistant at the Manhattan (New York County) District Attorney's office. Following graduation in 1980, he accepted a position as an Assistant District Attorney in the New York County District Attorney's office, gaining substantial trial experience in the nation's premier prosecutor's office. That experience has served him well in his years as a defense attorney.

He understands the prosecutorial function and knows how prosecutors carry out their duties. Consequently, he is able to advise his clients with a rare, well-rounded understanding of a process many of his clients are going through for the first time. Likewise, at trial, there is nothing that can surprise him. His experience, his reputation for trustworthiness and his successes in the courtroom have won him the respect of his fellow defense attorneys, prosecutors and judges everywhere. Although Jim has litigated many cases in the areas of negligence including automobile accidents and medical malpractice, divorces and family law issues as well as civil suits involving business disputes of all kinds, since 1997, he has concentrated all of his professional efforts on his first and enduring love in the law: criminal defense. He is committed to the protection of the rights of the accused. He is a knowledgeable and practical negotiator, and, when that fails or is inappropriate, he is a fierce fighter in the courtroom.

For recreation, Jim loves to travel, still plays competitive softball and basketball, hikes and camps in the wilderness of the Catskill and Adirondack Parks and along the Appalachian Trail. He is a devoted father to his son, Roberts, and husband to his wife, Orialis. He thoroughly enjoys being a soccer dad, a Little League coach, reading the new classics to his son and teaching him about the wonders of life.