Legal specialist Michelle Lippert defends due process

In early December, defense attorney Michelle Lippert entered the mostly empty Burke County courtroom with a stack of files for her clients. One of those clients, Dillan Frye, entered not long after, sporting inmate attire and handcuffs.

Although he pleaded guilty to his charge, possession of a controlled substance on jail or prison premises, Frye stood calmly as Judge Daniel Kuehnert read his plea script.

When the judge asked how the defendant felt about the services of his court-appointed attorney, Lippert, Frye broke into a smile and shifted from the concise answers he had delivered up until that point to praise his defense and insist she deserved better pay.

Lippert’s extensive background and board-certified specialization place her alongside criminal defendants nearly every day, representing cases concerning the public’s most stigmatized crimes. For Lippert, it’s not about raking in the clients, but constitutional consistency in court proceedings.

“Everybody’s entitled to protection of their rights,” she said in an interview. “It’s not a matter of guilt-innocence. We don’t decide that. That’s up to the jury. That’s up to the members of their community. My job is to make sure that the law is followed and that everyone is entitled to their day in court, if they request it … Whether you have the hat of a prosecutor or a defense attorney, we’re all just mechanisms for the process to work.”

Lippert worked across the board in legal roles throughout her career. From prosecuting as a former assistant district attorney to defense and general civil representation as the current partner of Richard “Dick” Beyer, who began the firm in the mid-1990s, her resume makes camaraderie easy.

“Whether you’re wearing one hat or the other, whether you’re representing this defendant or that defendant or you’re prosecuting cases, everybody gets along,” Lippert said. “We can all be friends and go to a Christmas party at the end of the day. There is no animosity … It’s really great because you can just walk down the street and go get a coffee with somebody that you’re in the middle of a case with.”

Lippert grew up in Dayton, Ohio. As an undergraduate, she attended Miami University, double-majoring in business management and political science and minoring in business legal studies, with plans to attend law school.

At the University of North Carolina, Lippert participated in mock trials and interned with private attorneys and judges, building the rapport necessary to establish her footing in the industry.

Throughout her internships with the Wake County District Attorney’s Office and the Charlotte District Attorney’s Office, she worked in prosecution and property law. She eventually interned for a semester in a public defender’s office, where she learned the defense side of the legal system.

While interning and studying, she got comfortable in the courtroom by participating in moot court, a simulated appellate court where students argue cases by applying the law to the “facts” of a fictional case. Unlike mock trials, which emulate a juried courtroom, moot court hones the skills of technical application in law.

Lippert hit the workforce in 2014, joining the district attorney’s office covering Burke, Caldwell, and Catawba counties, with the expectation to work her way up.

“At that time, it was anticipated that new attorneys would go into district court — your low-level misdemeanor offenses, get used to the courtroom, etc.,” she said. “(I) got a call from the elected (district attorney) over the Christmas break before starting, indicating, ‘Hey, we’re going to put you straight into superior court.’ … I immediately started on felonies (and) property crimes. Then, pretty quickly, moved into the homicide and sex offenses over Burke County in 2016.”

She said she always had an interest in criminal law, but working in the DA’s office deepened her knowledge, allowing her to accumulate experience she could translate into defense work.

Lippert partnered with Beyer in 2021, covering everything from general civil cases to criminal defense. As Lippert puts it, the general practice is “well-known, helping the citizens of Burke County with almost anything that they need.”

“As a defense attorney, you’re in court all the time helping countless people in every aspect,” she said. “Every time they come into this office, it is presumably the worst day of their life — unless they’re buying a house, of course. … People are not having a good time when they’re here. Walking them through that process, walking them through what to expect, and helping is really the best part, being able to get closure on whatever issue may be looming before them.”

According to the Beyer & Lippert firm website, Lippert is the only privately practicing criminal law specialist in Burke, Caldwell, or Catawba County. While fewer than 4% of lawyers are certified specialists, according to the website, Lippert said the benefit is the deeper skill set it provides, not the financial reward.

“Honestly, it doesn’t have a huge impact professionally other than more knowledge,” Lippert said. “So, I just feel like I have a better understanding when I’m helping criminal defendants or clients. I’ve been tested on every element of criminal law. We keep renewing our knowledge. We keep renewing (with) the new cases that come out — things change every day. Keeping that specialization keeps me up to date with the most current laws and the most current ways that I can help our clients here.”