Walter L. Tippett, Jr.
- Raleigh
- t: 919.573.6220
- f: 336.232.9220
- wtippett@brookspierce.com
Overview
Walt Tippett provides legal counsel to professionals and privately held businesses, typically regarding fiduciary relationships, ownership rights, or the development of real estate, technology, or research innovations.
My Practices
With his extensive personal and professional experience in the governance of privately held companies, Walt is adept at handling disputes concerning complex agreements to govern, purchase, sell, finance, and dissolve business ventures. Having developed and financed real property, Walt has personal experience with the governance of closely held companies and commercial lender/borrower/guarantor relationships. Walt has an “AV" Peer Review Rating from LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell and was included in the Best Lawyers in America© from 2013-2022.
"Aggressive representation always starts with identifying the root problem – which often differs from the reason your client called – and developing creative and efficient strategies to eliminate it."
Walt particularly enjoys working with clients who improve and finance real estate in eastern North Carolina, where he grew up. These clients include commercial and residential developers and general contractors, financial entities and their borrowers, and a variety of real estate-based professionals. Having developed and financed real property, Walt has personal experience with many issues that come up in the business of improving raw land. Walt has been named a member of Business North Carolina’s “Legal Elite” for Construction Law from 2013-2021 and was inducted into the peer-nominated Construction Lawyers Society of America in 2018.
Walt has extensive experience with regulatory and administrative compliance, including matters before the medical, legal, dental, banking, engineering, audiology, general contracting, insurance, environmental and real estate boards, agencies and commissions.
Credentials
Honors & Recognitions
Fellow, Construction Lawyers Society of America (2018-present)
Selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America© in Commercial Litigation and Construction Law (2013-2023)
Recognized by his peers for inclusion in Business North Carolina’s "Legal Elite" in Litigation (2014, 2018, 2023) and Construction Law (2013-2021)
Recognized by North Carolina Super Lawyers (Thomson Reuters) for Business Litigation (2017-2023)
"AV" Peer Review Rating from LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell
Education
University of North Carolina School of Law, J.D., 1995; Chief Justice, Holderness Moot Court Bench
Certifications
Certified as a North Carolina mediator by the NC Dispute Resolution Commission
Admissions
North Carolina
U.S. Supreme Court
U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit
U.S. District Court for the Western, Middle, and Eastern Districts of North Carolina
Newsroom
News
Speaking Engagements
Professional & Civic
Professional & Civic Activities
CDRC Certified Superior Court Mediator
Board of Directors, Wake Technical Community College Foundation (2016-present)
Board of Directors and Executive Committee, Wake Education Partnership (2010-2022)
Board of Directors, Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce (2013-2014)
Advisory Committees, North Carolina Real Estate Commission (ad hoc bases)
Member, North Carolina Bar Association
Member, Wake County Bar Association
About Me
Walt Tippett has been a commercial litigator and business lawyer in his native eastern North Carolina for almost 20 years. Prior to law school, Walt worked as a staff member of a standing Joint Committee of the United States Congress and as a barrister’s research assistant in Lincoln’s Inn, London.
Walt has tried cases in state and federal courtrooms, but he is always alert for those times when staying out of court may be in the client’s best interest. "Sometimes the best result can only be earned by fighting as hard as we can all the way through trial," Walt said. "But for a long-term relationship with a client, that can never be your only strategy."
As a committee staff member on Capitol Hill, Walt saw firsthand the importance of effective communication in advocacy. "Communicating effectively and with authority has been an essential skill since governments first tried to control markets," he said. Walt applies those lessons every day to his work for clients, whether in a business transaction, in litigation, or in trying to clear hurdles imposed by government regulation. "That's the service good lawyers provide," Walt said. "We clear the way for things to get done."