Ripley Rand

Practice Areas

Government Enforcement And Investigations; Dispute Resolution And Litigation; IP, Technology And Data; Privacy And Cybersecurity; Anti-Bribery And Corruption; Data, Privacy And FOI; Regulatory; Appellate Litigation; Commercial Disputes; Internal Investigations; White-Collar Defense, Investigations, And Regulatory Enforcement

Career

Few people understand government and the courts the way Ripley Rand does. Prior to joining Womble Bond Dickinson, Ripley served for six years as one of the President’s United States Attorneys in North Carolina. In this role, Ripley supervised hundreds of investigations and prosecutions and coordinated with multiple law enforcement agencies on national and international matters, including terrorism cases, white collar criminal investigations, federal criminal defense, and violent crime intervention. Ripley also served for eight years as a state Superior Court Judge, presiding over thousands of criminal and civil cases throughout North Carolina. He was specially assigned to oversee complex civil cases by the Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court and handled hundreds of matters involving business disputes.

With more than twenty years of combined prosecutorial and judicial experience, Ripley has a deep background in handling investigative and enforcement matters, crisis management issues, and devising successful strategies in dealing with law enforcement agencies such as DOJ, FBI, SEC, EPA, and others.

Since joining Womble Bond Dickinson, Ripley has represented a broad array of companies and individuals in criminal, civil, and regulatory matters involving complex fraud, antitrust, trade practice, federal criminal defense, and consumer protection actions. As one of the few lawyers with combined United States Attorney and judicial experience, Ripley offers unique insights into the way government agencies approach investigations and regulatory issues. He helps clients design response strategies that put them in the best possible position to obtain favorable outcomes or avoid litigation altogether.

Professional Memberships

Member, National Association of Former United States Attorneys (NAFUSA)

Member, American Society of Legal Writers

Wake County Bar Association (Board of Directors: 2006-2007; Professionalism Committee: 2002-present)

Criminal Justice Section Council, North Carolina Bar Association

Industry Sector Expertise

Cannabis

Experience

Any result the lawyer or law firm may have achieved on behalf of clients in other matters does not necessarily indicate similar results can be obtained for other clients.

Managed multistate agency-specific response to federal and state investigations into national financial services business

Managed internal investigation and coordination with law enforcement on multimillion-dollar embezzlement from technology company

Represented national telecommunications company in contract dispute related to technical project services

Served as counsel to companies and individuals before a wide range of federal and state law enforcement agencies, including FBI, DOJ, SEC, DEA, EPA, and North Carolina SBI

As United States Attorney for the Middle District of North Carolina, personally prosecuted dozens of cases and was one of a handful of President Obama’s appointees to argue multiple cases in the federal courts of appeal

Presided over more than 150 criminal and civil jury trials in more than half of North Carolina’s 100 counties during his service as a judge, and tried hundreds of violent crime, fraud, and other cases as a North Carolina prosecutor.