Lynch served as chief counsel to Governor Edward J. King from January 1979 to March 1981, when King nominated Lynch to a seat on the state supreme court vacated by the retirement of Justice Benjamin Kaplan. The appointment was described as being unusual in that it was "one of the few times a governor has named a close advisor to a top judicial post".[3] Lynch chaired the court's Commission to Study Racial and Ethnic Bias in the Courts.[4] Lynch served until he reached the mandatory retirement age of 70, on June 26, 2000.[5]
Lynch died "after a long battle with cancer" at the age of 84.[4]