Meet Lynne

Lynne and DadAttorney-activist Lynne Williams was born Feb. 10, 1950 in Brooklyn, New York, where she was raised in a third generation New York family. Lynne’s father was a businessman and her mother was a homemaker. She was raised in a Catholic family, along with her brother Glenn.

In 1967 Lynne left New York to attend college in Massachusetts. After attending Bradford Junior College in Haverhill, Mass., she graduated in 1972 from Merrimack College in North Andover, Mass., with a B.A. in psychology. She returned to New York City and attended Brooklyn College, where she received an M.A. in Experimental Psychology in 1975. After getting her degree from Brooklyn College, Lynne attended the University of Southern California and worked towards a Ph.D. in Social Psychology, which she received in 1981.

After receiving her Ph.D., Lynne became a community and political organizer, working with tenant groups in California and as a fundraiser for the 1982 successful state legislative campaign of Tom Hayden. She also worked against the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant as a member of the Abalone Alliance.

In 1983, Lynne moved to New Hampshire to work on the presidential campaign of Democrat Gary Hart, subsequently working for Hart in Massachusetts, Michigan, Tennessee and California.

In 1988, Lynne’s son, Brendan, was born with multiple physical birth defects and Lynne became very involved with groups advocating for the rights of those with disabilities. During this time she owned and managed a bookstore in San Francisco as well as a medical and legal transcription business in Marin County, California. She enrolled full-time in the Golden Gate University School of Law, receiving her law degree in 1998. A Dean’s List student, she graduated with a certificate in public interest law and an American Jurisprudence award in corporate law.

Later that year, Lynne and Brendan moved to Maine, where she worked for Medical Care Development in Augusta for a year, designing training protocol for home-care providers. She worked for six years as an independent special education hearing officer, and she now represents families with special needs children.

Lynne also represents community groups that are resisting inappropriate development in their communities. In support of her clients, Lynne continues to fight against Plum Creek, TransCanada, FirstWind, Nestle and other corporate interlopers who seek to colonize Maine. Given her personal history of protest and resistance, Lynne values her current representation of community and environmental activists.

Lynne lives in Bar Harbor, is currently a visiting professor at the College of the Atlantic, and runs a solo law practice. Her son, Brendan, attends the Academy of Art University in San Francisco.

A member of the Bar Harbor Planning Board, she served previously on the Bar Harbor Conservation Commission. She has served on the Family Advisory Committee of the Maine Department of Health and Human Service’s Children with Special Health Care Needs program, as well as on the board of directors of  Different Abilities, an program assisting people with disabilities.