William P. Lynch

Board Chair

Judge Lynch received his juris doctor (JD) degree from the University of Illinois College of Law in 1979. He practiced law in Roswell, New Mexico for sixteen years, mostly in civil trial practice. In 1995 he was appointed to serve as a state district judge in New Mexico’s Fifth Judicial District. As a general jurisdiction judge, Judge Lynch was responsible for a caseload of approximately 1300 cases per year that involved a broad range of civil, criminal and domestic relations issues. In addition, he handled cases in the court’s specialty dockets: abuse and neglect, children’s court, domestic violence and competency. Judge Lynch was frequently selected by the New Mexico Supreme Court or the parties to preside over complex cases, such as a class action lawsuit alleging price fixing by 22 prescription drug manufacturers filed in Las Vegas, New Mexico, and six consolidated wrongful death cases arising out of an El Paso Natural Gas pipeline explosion that occurred in Eddy County, New Mexico. During that time he served for nine years on the New Mexico Rules of Civil Procedure Committee, and was chair of the Committee for the last six years.

Judge Lynch was appointed as a United States Magistrate Judge in 2005. He handled a variety of cases involving both civil and criminal issues in Las Cruces and Albuquerque until he retired in the fall of 2017. The parties in civil cases often consented to having Judge Lynch serve as their trial judge, he conducted hundreds of settlement conferences while on the state and federal bench, and he was a frequent speaker at continuing legal education seminars. Since his retirement Judge Lynch has served as a mediator and arbitrator in civil cases throughout New Mexico.

Judge Lynch received a Master of Judicial Studies (MJS) degree from the University of Nevada, Reno in 2001, and his master’s thesis, which examined problems presented by Court-annexed mandatory arbitration programs adopted in New Mexico, was published in the New Mexico Law Review. He has also published law review articles on Rule 68 offers of judgment, the role and proper scope of treating physician testimony at trial, and the dynamics of settlement conferences in federal court.