Debra McVicker Lynch was appointed U.S. Magistrate Judge on October 24, 2008.  Magistrate Judge Lynch was Of Counsel at the law firm of Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP (formerly Sommer Barnard PC), from 1988 to the time of her appointment.  Her practice included litigation of contract disputes, business dissolutions, antitrust matters, securities fraud cases, professional malpractice actions, and non-competition and trade secret matters.  Magistrate Judge Lynch served as a law clerk to the Hon. Sarah Evans Barker from 1986 - 1988.
 
Judge Lynch is a summa cum laude graduate of the Indiana University School of Law, Indianapolis, where she served as Editor-in-Chief of the Indiana Law Review, and a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Miami (Florida).  Judge Lynch was formerly an adjunct professor at Indiana University School of Law, Indianapolis, where she taught the Complex Litigation course.  She served as Special Master for Judge Sarah Evans Barker in the Bridgestone/Firestone Tires Products Liability Multidistrict Litigation from 2000 to 2004.  She is an active member of the Local Rules Advisory Committee for the Southern District of Indiana and has served as a volunteer for the Heartland Pro Bono Council.  Judge Lynch is a member of the Indiana State Bar Association, the Indianapolis Bar Association, the Seventh Circuit Bar Association, and is a Master Member of the Indianapolis American Inn of Court.