PATRICIA A. LYNCH, Judicial Member, Justice of the Peace, Reno

Patricia Lynch currently serves as a Judge in Reno Justice Court having been elected in November of 2006. Prior to becoming a judge, Ms. Lynch served as the elected Reno City Attorney from 1987 to 2006 serving an unprecedented five terms. Ms. Lynch has also served as a Deputy Attorney General, a Deputy Reno City Attorney, a Legislative Assistant in the US House of Representatives, a VISTA lawyer at Washoe Legal Services and was in private practice with James W. Hardesty. She is a graduate of the University of Nevada, Reno (B.A. Political Science) and the McGeorge School of Law, University of the Pacific (J.D.). She is a graduate of the FBI National Academy for Prosecutors and Police Legal Advisors.

Ms. Lynch is past President of the International Municipal Lawyers Association, and a member and past chair of IMLA’s International Committee. She is the Budget Officer for the State and Local Government Law Section of the American Bar Association. She is a member of the World Jurist Association and has participated in legal conferences in Kiev, Budapest, Dublin, Adelaide, Beijing, and Shanghai. She is a former President and cofounder of the Northern Nevada Women Lawyers Association and a member of Nevada Domestic Violence Prevention Council. She has served as an original member of both the Nevada Prosecution Advisory Council and the Nevada Commission on Domestic Violence. She is a former President of the Sierra Nevada Girl Scout Council.

Ms. Lynch received the 2006 Distinguished Public Lawyer Award from the International Municipal Lawyers Association and was honored as the Outstanding Woman Lawyer by the Northern Nevada Women Lawyers Association in 2005. She was honored as the Outstanding Public Lawyer by the Public Law Section of the State Bar of Nevada in 1999, and her office received the 2004 ABA Jefferson Fordham Award by the State and Local Government Law Section of the American Bar Association for being an outstanding public law office. She was the recipient of the Northern Nevada Martin Luther King Commission Award in 1989.

Judge Lynch was appointed to the Commission by the Nevada Supreme Court on January 1, 2009. Her current term expires on January 7, 2013