The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions is mourning the loss of Paul Lynch, who was a PSA member for 52 years. 

“When someone who has contributed powerfully to a society leaves us, there is a real sense of loss,” said retired Senior Crown Prosecutor, Chris Maxwell KC. “Paul was such a person.

“Paul had a fine analytical mind and a very true sense of the strength (or weakness) in a Crown case. He developed great efficiency in finding the weaknesses, and his judgement on the decision to prosecute was as good as any that I have seen among the Prosecutors of NSW.

“As an advocate in court he was direct, persuasive and passionate. All being human qualities that appealed to juries. He prosecuted trials across the board from assaults to murders. He loved the cut and thrust of the courtroom which drew upon these qualities I have mentioned. He was a fierce competitor. A quality first demonstrated all those years previously when he played in the front row for St Patrick’s schoolboy rugby team in the late 1960s.

“In his last 15 or 20 years, he had the difficulty with his vision. He managed to continue as a fine and well prepared advocate for all of this time. I often wondered how he could do this with such a difficulty. The kind of cases Paul prosecuted during that period often required him to assimilate myriad details from the brief.”