Jonathan Lee Hipps has twelve years of experience in criminal law and handles the firm's criminal defense cases. Mr. Hipps vigorously and aggressively represents those charged with criminal offenses from traffic violations to serious felonies. He believes in being accessible to the firm's clients and meets with them frequently to discuss their case. He has represented clients in Mecklenburg, Gaston, Lincoln, Iredell, Cabarrus, Stanly, and Union counties.

Mr. Hipps experience includes a career as an assistant district attorney in the 20th Prosecutorial District. The district at that time encompassed four counties including Stanly, Union, Richmond, and Anson. He stayed with that position for ten years. During that time he successfully wrote a grant proposal for the office to obtain funds from the North Carolina Crime Commission for the domestic violence program. He has prosecuted thousands of cases in District Court from speeding tickets to assaults. His experience also includes over thirty jury trials including three murders trials. Furthermore, he has prepared and worked on dozens of other murder cases. Other types of cases he has tried before a jury includes drug trafficking, habitual felons, felony assaults, robbery with a dangerous weapon, rape, sex offenses, indecent liberties with a child, kidnapping, burglaries, obtaining property by false pretenses, larceny, forgeries, driving while impaired, and misdemeanor appeals. Three of his former trial partners are now judges. He regularly wrote articles in the office's newsletter on subjects such as DWI law changes, rules of evidence, fingerprint requirement for felons, autopsies, and criminal case updates of cases that were recently prosecuted. He attended and completed the Career Prosecutor Course sponsored by the National College of District Attorneys in Charleston, South Carolina in 2005 and completed the Child Fatality Course sponsored by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He also served on the Gang Awareness Committee in Richmond County. In the last few years at this position, he served as a Senior Assistant District Attorney supervising the Richmond County office and training new assistant district attorneys. There, he enjoyed a good working relationship with the judges, attorneys, clerks, probation offices, and all law enforcement including the Sheriff and Police Chiefs. In fact, he received a commendation from Police Chief Robert Voorhees of the Rockingham Police Department for his cooperation and dedication to the department.

After serving as an assistant district attorney, he spent a short time in the Buncombe County Sheriff's Department. There, he became certified as a detention officer through the North Carolina Sheriff's Standards Commission graduating first in his class. There, he supervised a unit with sixty inmates while waiting to attend BLET. He took classes such as evidence preservation, legal aspects, subject control techniques, self defense, emotional intelligence, first aid, physical education, hostage negotiation, and verbal judo.

Jonathan Lee Hipps is a native of Black Mountain, North Carolina. He graduated in the top ten percent of his class from Charles D. Owen High School in Swannanoa, North Carolina. He then attended Appalachian State University where he received his Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science/ Criminal Justice and minored in Psychology and Sociology. He graduated with Summa Cum Laude honors and served as the President of the Gamma Beta Phi Honor Society and a member of the Alpha Chi Honor Society, Pi Gamma Mu Honor Society, and Pi Kappa Phi Honor Society. His internship included a summer with the Public Defender's Office in Buncombe County. He wrote his internship thesis on the pros and cons of plea negotiation. In 1997, he graduated from North Carolina Central University School of Law with Cum Laude honors. In his third year of law school, he spent much of his time representing indigent clients while enrolled in the school's criminal litigation clinic. The professor in the Criminal Litigation Clinic was Mary Easley.