Timothy Lynch

Timothy "Tim" Lynch has served as the University of Michigan's Vice President and General Counsel since January 2013 ^[1]. In that role he leads the university's Office of the General Counsel and advises university leadership on the range of legal matters facing a large public research institution. His practice is centered on higher education law. Lynch is also an adjunct professor at the University of Michigan Law School ^[1].

Lynch joined the University of Michigan from the U.S. Department of Energy, where he served as Deputy General Counsel for Litigation and Enforcement and, for a period, as Acting General Counsel. Before his service at the Department of Energy, he spent seven years as an Assistant United States Attorney in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, where he was a senior prosecutor in the Fraud and Public Corruption Section. While serving as an Assistant United States Attorney, he was a lecturer at the University of Virginia School of Law and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center ^[1].

Earlier in his career, Lynch was an attorney at the Washington, D.C., law firm of Shea & Gardner, and he clerked in Detroit for Judge Cornelia G. Kennedy of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Rochester and his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Georgetown Law Journal ^[1].

Lynch is active in higher education law organizations and university governance. He chairs the board of directors of the National Association of College and University Attorneys (NACUA) and previously served on the NACUA board from 2016 to 2019, chairing its audit committee ^[2]. He also serves on the general counsels committee for the Association of American Universities and on the Executive Committee of the Raoul Wallenberg Institute. In 2024, he served as chair of the Advisory Committee on the University of Michigan Principles on Diversity of Thought and Freedom of Expression ^[1].

Recognition

• Board of Directors — National Association of College and University Attorneys (NACUA) (2025) ^[2]