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Gerard Lynch
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Columbia Law School Professor Gerard E. Lynch, a 1972 graduate of Columbia College, a 1975 alumnus of Columbia Law School, and a member of the faculty since 1977, was nominated this week by President Clinton to serve as a judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Lynch, a renowned criminal law expert who holds the Paul J. Kellner Professorship in Law, has been associated at Columbia since he arrived as an undergraduate almost 32 years ago. Following law school, he left campus briefly to clerk first for the Honorable Wilfred Feinberg of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1975-76, and then for the Honorable William J. Brennan, Jr. of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1976-77.
With these seeds of government service planted, Lynch returned to teach at Columbia. In addition to teaching, he served as vice dean of the Law School from 1992-97; part-time counsel since 1992 at the New York office of Covington & Burling (formerly Howard, Darby & Levin); Chief of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York from 1990-92; and Assistant U.S. Attorney and Chief Appellate Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 1980-83. He has also been appointed counsel to city, state and Federal commissions investigating public corruption, including the Iran/Contra investigation, where he briefed and argued the prosecution's case in the appeal of Oliver North.
As a professor, he received the student-selected Willis Reese Award for Excellence in Teaching at the Law School in 1994, and the University-wide President's Award for Outstanding Teaching in 1997.
"I am very honored and excited by the prospect of serving on the Federal bench," said Lynch. "As a former prosecutor, I know that the life and culture of the courthouse are exciting and I will be pleased to be back in that world. This will also be a great challenge, because I've specialized in criminal law for 20 years, and in this role I will have to master many other areas of law."
Senate confirmation hearings on Lynch's nomination have not yet been scheduled. Though serving as a Federal judge will be demanding, Lynch hopes to continue teaching at Columbia. Many academics who become judges continue to teach, he said.
"Columbia has been a part of my life in one way or another for all but two years since 1968," he said. "Columbia is really my home. It would feel very odd not to have a CU ID in my pocket."
Also nominated to a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York was alumnus Nicholas G. Garaufis (CC '69, Law '74).
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