615-298-5514, ext. 351
Mark Tipps is a native of Chattanooga. He graduated, cum laude, in 1982 from Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota. At Gustavus he played four years of varsity football and was named to the 1981 NAIA Academic All Region team. Mr. Tipps attended law school at UT College of Law in Knoxville, graduating magna cum laude in 1985. He was named to the Order of the Coif and was an editor of the Tennessee Law Review.
In 1985, Mr. Tipps joined Bass, Berry & Sims in Nashville, practicing in the firm’s trial section. He focused on corporate and commercial litigation. He became a partner in 1991 and served as the firm’s hiring partner.
In December 1994, Mr. Tipps became Chief of Staff to then-newly elected Senator Bill Frist in Washington, D.C. and served in that capacity for two years. In January 1997, Mr. Tipps became Deputy Chief Counsel to U.S. Senator Fred Thompson in the Senate’s special investigation of foreign fundraising in the 1996 presidential election (a/k/a Chinagate). Mr. Tipps supervised a staff of 56 attorneys and FBI agents. The Thompson Committee’s investigation included 33 days of televised hearings.
In January 1999, Mr. Tipps was named national campaign manager for Senator Lamar Alexander’s 2000 presidential campaign. Following Senator Alexander’s withdrawal from the presidential race in late 1999, Mr. Tipps became a founding partner in the Nashville law firm of Walker, Bryant & Tipps, which became Walker, Tipps & Malone. Mr. Tipps spent 15 years with Walker, Tipps & Malone serving as the firm’s managing partner in its early years and focusing on corporate/commercial litigation and federal government relations. In 2015 the firm merged with Butler/Snow, where Mr. Tipps became a partner and is still Of Counsel.
During his career, Mr. Tipps was involved in several high profile cases including defense of Murray Ohio Manufacturing Company in a hostile takeover by AB Electrolux; defense of Pfizer, Inc., in connection with the silicone gel breast implant litigation; representation of the special litigation committee of the Board of Directors of Saks Inc. in connection with a derivative action; defense of the Nashville Predators NHL hockey team in a suit brought by Gaylord Entertainment concerning naming rights to the Nashville arena; and defense of The Finish Line, Inc., in a suit brought by Genesco, Inc. for specific performance of a $1.billion merger agreement.
From 1998 until 2005, Mr. Tipps was a regular panelist on the political TV/radio talk show, Teddy Bart’s Roundtable. He has been involved in a number of charities including the Oasis Center and United Way. He served six years on the Board of Trustees of The Harpeth Hall School. He has coached youth baseball since 1989. He and his wife, Joi, have three children: Annie, Grace, and John.
