Windy R. Ortega

Daily Record Staff//November 27, 2024//

Listen to this article

Partner
Ortega Law, LLC

Windy R. Ortega is known for her superior litigation skills involving DUIs and a wide range of criminal cases, including assaults, theft, handgun and drugs charges and serious felonies such as robbery and attempted murder. She has also become known as one of the best juvenile defense attorneys in Maryland.

What’s the most important thing you do in your job?

I help people and feel blessed that I get to do it for a living. Being a lawyer is so much more than understanding the law. No one ever hires me because things are going great in their life. I listen to my clients’ fears, their concerns, and I learn a lot about their lives. I take pride in the fact that I provide comfort and a sense of security when their world feels like its falling apart. In representing juveniles, I am educating and helping the parents sometimes as much as I am the client.

What is one aspect of your profession you would like to change?

I do a lot of juvenile transfer work and the most frustrating thing about the work is losing. When I lose, it means that a 16- or 17-year-old child must face charges in the adult system. I do not lose often, but when I do it is usually because the judge thought that the juvenile system did not provide enough monitoring time to the child. Science tells us that the brain continues to develop until the mid to late 20s. The legislature needs to increase the jurisdiction of the juvenile court to 25.

If you weren’t in this industry, what would you be doing?

Running a doggie day care.

This profile is part of The Daily Record's Criminal Law Power List for 2024. Information used in this profile was sourced from the honoree. See the full list at thedailyrecord.com.