Sandra Lea Lynch (born July 31, 1946) is an American lawyer who serves as a senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. She is the first woman to serve on that court. Lynch served as chief judge of the First Circuit from 2008 to 2015.
Sandra Lea Lynch
First Circuit Court of Appeals
Chief Judge — U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
Born 1946 in Oak Park, IL
FJC ID: 1447
Career output and lasting influence
Opinions attributed per year · peak 50/year
Later decisions citing those opinions, per year · peak 1,704/year
First Circuit Court of Appeals · 1995–
Both charts share the same year axis. Opinion counts include only opinions in our corpus attributed to this judge so far — a year at zero can mean an attribution gap, not judicial silence. Influence typically outlasts the career: citations keep climbing after the last opinion.
- Gender
- Female
- Race
- White
Prior employment
- Judicial Conference of the United StatesMember · 2008–2015
- Private practice, Boston, Massachusetts1978–1995
- Judicial Conduct Commission of MassachusettsSpecial counsel · 1990–1992
- Massachusetts Department of EducationGeneral counsel · 1974–1978
Commonwealth of MassachusettsAssistant attorney general · 1973–1974
Instructor · 1973–1974
Law clerk , Hon. Raymond Pettine · 1971–1973
Appointments
U.S. Court of Appeals for the First CircuitChief Judge1995–2022 · Appointed by William J. Clinton (Democratic)
Education
- J.D. · 1971
- Wellesley CollegeA.B. · 1968