We are honored to announce SMU Dedman School of Law has honored Founding Partner Mike Lynn, Class of 1975, with the 2019 Distinguished Alumni Award for Private Practice.

Since founding LPCH 26 years ago, Mike has established himself as one of the best-known and most respected litigators in Texas, leading the firm to be consistently ranked as one of the Top Five Litigation Boutiques in Texas by Chambers and Partners and one of the Top Ten Firms in the U.S. by Benchmark Litigation.

Mike has tried to verdict more than 120 civil and criminal jury trials and handled over 100 non-jury, arbitration and injunction matters in his distinguished career. Since 2014, he has won over a billion dollars in verdicts, including the largest verdict ever reported in Dallas, the largest defamation verdict in Texas, and in 2016 the largest verdict in Reeves County. Mike also settled one of the largest, if not the largest, trade secret claims in Dallas history.

Clients describe him as "passionate," a "game changer," an "incredibly creative lawyer," and as "a highly effective storyteller." Judge Higginbotham of the Fifth Circuit is quoted as saying, "Mike is simply one of the best trial lawyers in the country."

Mike has repeatedly been recognized in industry publications as one of the top trial lawyers in the U.S. Chambers and Partners quotes admirers describing Lynn as a "ferocious litigator" and one of few recognized as Band One in the nation. Twice he has been recognized as having tried the "Defense Win of the Year in the U.S." by the National Law Journal. The Dallas Business Journal has also recognized Lynn as the "Defense Lawyer of the Year." Benchmark Litigation recognized Lynn as one of the Top 100 Trial Lawyers in the U.S., and Best Lawyers has consistently recognized Lynn as one of the Top 100 Lawyers in Texas.

Mike believes one of the keys to his firm’s success is that “[w]e are an elite, highly-motivated group of business trial lawyers. We like to say that we are the ‘special forces of litigation.’ We are prepared, experienced, tough, relentless, and creative.”

In addition to his impressive legal triumphs, Mike hiked alone for about 700 miles of the Appalachian Trail in 2015 and kept a blog throughout his experience, TinManOnAt. He has just been on the trail again and returns to us from somewhere between Damascus, VA and Harpers Ferry, VA. Mike is married to the Honorable Barbara M.G. Lynn, United States Chief District Judge, Northern District of Texas. They have two children. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia and his law degree from SMU Dedman School of Law.

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