A multi-protocol lock manager efficiently manages granting, revoking and releasing of various types of locks on files or regions of files located on a file server, such as a filer. The various locks are associated with multiple different file access protocols, each having its own semantics. The multi-protocol lock manager allows the filer to take appropriate actions with respect to locking requests and other file access operations, while ensuring that the actions taken are always consistent with semantic requirements for each lock, as established by the associated file access protocol.