For more than 50 years, Judge Robert W. Winsor has ennobled and improved the administration of justice as an attorney, trial and appellate court judge, mediator and chair of the Washington State Clemency and Pardons Board. In all these positions, he has actively promoted improvements to the judicial system. In recognition of his many contributions, Judge Winsor is being awarded the William L. Dwyer Outstanding Jurist Award.
Judge Winsor was appointed to the King County Superior Court by Gov. Dan Evans in 1972, following nearly 20 years in private law practice. In his courtroom, litigants, attorneys, jurors and witnesses always were treated with respect because their causes and their time were important to him. This was reflected not only in his exemplary judicial demeanor, but in his commitment to ensuring that court processes were fair, efficient and understandable to litigants.
For Judge Winsor, a fair result is essential, but it is only part of a judge's responsibility. A keen listener, he placed great importance on communicating that he understood the parties' legal positions and he strove to explain, in terms non-lawyers would understand, the reasons for rulings that he recognized would not be welcomed by unsuccessful litigants.
Judge Winsor never demanded more of others than he did of himself. He expected attorneys to be punctual and well prepared. A lawyer who was late to a hearing could expect to be ordered to make a contribution to a law school scholarship fund of the lawyer's choice as a sanction. Typical of his humility and respect for the litigants and lawyers in his courtroom is a letter addressed to Dean Schatzki of the University of Washington School of Law. It enclosed Judge Winsor's contribution to the Law School's Scholarship Fund, a sanction that he levied on himself for being a few minutes late to an early morning sentencing.
After 15 years as a Superior Court judge, Judge Winsor was elected to the Washington Court of Appeals, Division One. In 1991, he "retired" and joined J.A.M.S., where for 10 years he was a highly respected mediator and arbitrator.
Over his career, Judge Winsor made many valuable contributions to the administration of justice in Washington. As a practicing attorney, he chaired the committee that drafted Washington's no-fault dissolution law. As a judge, he helped create King County Superior Court's Family Law Department and, with Judge Gerard Shellan, the mandatory settlement conference program.
For several years, he taught family law at the National Judicial College. As co-chair of the Washington State Superior Court Judges Association Education Committee, he spearheaded a judicial conference program focusing on women's perspectives of family law processes that many judges failed to appreciate or understand. His article, "Guidelines for the Exercise of Judicial Discretion in Marriage Dissolutions," published in the January 1982 Washington State Bar News, remains the definitive article on the subject.
Judge Winsor's contributions extend far beyond family law. As presiding judge, he launched the Bench/Bar Delay Reduction Task Force, which streamlined case scheduling in King County Superior Court and reduced the backlog of cases. He coordinated with plaintiff and defense law firms to develop procedural rules for complex asbestos litigation. Earlier in his judicial career, Judge Winsor proposed changes to streamline the voir dire process and to allow juror note taking - a practice that, while unsettling to some at the time, has been widely adopted.
Though "retired," Judge Winsor remains committed to the law. He is in his third four-year term on the Clemency and Pardons Board, having been appointed by, and served, Governors Lowry, Locke and Gregoire. He also continues to serve as a member of the Washington Supreme Court panel that maintains a list of attorneys qualified to represent defendants in death penalty trials and appeals and, on occasion, as a judge pro tem.
It is especially fitting that Judge Winsor receive an award that honors the memory of his friend, Judge William L. Dwyer. In his celebrated 1963 representation of Washington legislator John Goldmark, Dwyer called Winsor as a trial witness. Winsor was then chair of the ACLU of Washington and Dwyer knew that he would be the ideal person to explain that organization's activities to an Okanogan County jury to refute allegations that Goldmark's ACLU membership made him a communist.
Judge Dwyer would be pleased that the KCBA has chosen to honor, with the William L. Dwyer Outstanding Jurist Award, a man whose lifetime commitment to justice was only beginning with that appearance as a witness.
