Lawyer Bio : Nellie K. Shipley

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Nellie K. Shipley

Raleigh

Nellie represents parties in the acquisition, financing, entitlement, development, re-development, operation, and disposition of real property, including those involving corporate expansions, corporate relocations, mixed-use developments and multi-family developments/apartments. She represents developers, investors, corporations, lenders and governmental entities with commercial real estate interests in the Southeastern United States. Nellie has earned LEED Professional Accreditation, the leading professional accreditation in the green, or sustainable, construction and development industry. She was one of the earliest attorneys in North Carolina to earn the accreditation, and she did so because she enjoys helping clients make innovative uses of their land. 
 
Nellie’s typical projects include the negotiation and documentation of acquisitions and development, through various forms of financing, including seller financing, economic incentives, and public-private partnerships; handling land use issues including entitlements, governmental approvals, vested rights and development agreements; and assisting clients with the management and disposition of real property, including the preparation of purchase and sale agreements, easement agreements (including conservation easements), leases and subleases, re-finances, loan modifications and work-outs (including dispositions through foreclosure or bankruptcy proceedings), declarations, restrictive covenants, property owner association and condominium documentation. In addition, she helps clients maximize the benefits of their real estate holdings through corporate real estate asset planning and strategizing.
 
Representative projects include:
 
  • Multi-family (including apartments) project development, acquisition and disposition.
  • Laboratory properties
  • Corporate acquisitions involving significant real estate assets
  • Corporate expansions and asset dispositions (including owned and leased properties)
  • Mixed-use and infill developments, including condominium projects, apartments and other multi-family development
  • Large community developments, including active adult communities. Her experience includes development finish-outs.
  • Economic development projects, such as corporate expansions and corporate relocations.
  • Golf course developments (with and without on-site living components)
  • Retail/shopping center projects
  • Office and industrial parks
  • Mitigation banks, including those for stream restoration, water quality, and wetlands
  • Hospitality projects
  • Re-use projects
  • Loan portfolio modifications, extensions and restructurings
  • Bank disposition (through auction) of property subject to bankruptcy proceedings
Current project locations in North Carolina range from the beach to the mountains and include various urban locations in between.
 
Nellie’s practice is relationship-driven and is characterized by its collaborative, innovative and strategic approach to helping clients solve problems and take advantage of opportunities. She helps owners and potential owners (including developers and lenders in today’s market) evaluate options and negotiate and effectuate deals. Nellie’s clients will tell you that she helps them reach for the stars while keeping their feet on the ground, without dragging the deal under.
 
Nellie is a member of Womble Carlyle’s Firm Management Committee, the firm’s Board of Directors. She was a founding member of the Triangle District Council of the Urban Land Institute.  She has also been very involved with the Cary Chamber of Commerce and Triangle Commercial Real Estate Women, serving as their Chair and President, respectively. She is also member of the Triangle Chapter of the US Green Building Council. Nellie is active in her community (Cary/Wake County), as a professional and as a parent volunteering in her daughter’s school. She serves as General Counsel to North Carolina Habitat for Humanity. She also serves on citizens advisory committees from time to time, including most recently serving as Chair of the Cary Economic Development Commission and as a member of the Wake County Sustainability Task Force. Nellie considers civic participation to be an important part of her professional life.
 
Nellie earned her undergraduate degree in Computer Science at Yale and was associated for a number of years thereafter with an international consulting firm that focused on pharmaceutical and health products companies.  Her work there included creating and utilizing software to aid in the firm’s consulting projects.

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Professional Activities

Urban Land Institute (Founding Member, Triangle District Council: 2005; Vice Chair, Programs, Triangle District Council: 2005-2007; Vice Chair for Communication/PR, Triangle District Council: 2007–2009; Member: 2002-present); Cary Chamber of Commerce (Chair: 2003-2004, Board Member 1999-2005); Triangle Commercial Real Estate Women (President: 2001-2002; Board member: 1999-2003; Member: 1997-present); Commercial Real Estate Women Network (Delegate: 1999-2001; Member: 1997-present); U.S. Green Building Council—North Carolina Triangle Chapter (2007-present) Cary Economic Development Commission (Chair: 2006-2011; Member, 2005-2011); Cary Downtown Technical Advisory Team (Chair: 2007-2008); North Carolina Downtown Development Association (Member: 2003-present); Tenth Judicial District Bar Association; Wake County Bar Association; North Carolina Bar Association, Real Property Section and Land Use Section; North Carolina Bar Association, Chair: Young Lawyer’s Division, Lawyer Effectiveness Committee (Member: 1996; Chair: 1997); American Bar Association, Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section; ABA Women in the Profession Committee (Planning Board: 1996-1999).
 
Admitted to bar 1994, North Carolina. Admitted to practice before all North Carolina courts, 1994 and the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, 1994.
 
AV rating, Martindale-Hubbell.

Education

B.S., Computer Science, 1987, Yale College, cum laude; J.D., 1994, University of Texas, with honors.

Prior Legal Experience

Summer Associate, City of Austin Legal Department, Austin, Texas, May 1992-August 1992; Summer Associate, Baker & Botts, Austin, Texas, June 1993-July 1993; Summer Associate, Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, Raleigh, NC, July 1993-August 1993.

Publications

Recent Articles and Publications
 
“Mitigating Circumstances You Can Bank On,” Triangle Business Journal, October 30, 2009 (with Anna Pond McLamb).
 
“When It Comes to Zoning, Cary Puts It Online,” Triangle Business Journal, February 1, 2008 (with Anna Pond McLamb)
 
“Adult living brings new dimension to economy,” Triangle Business Journal, July 27, 2007 (with Anna Pond McLamb).
 
“Freeze! Moratoriums are Popular, But are They Proper?” Triangle Business Journal, December 8, 2006 (with Anna Pond McLamb).
 
“Inconvenient or Not, Truth is Green has Made Inroads,” Triangle Business Journal, Space quarterly insert, July 28, 2006 (with Anna Pond McLamb).

Additional Information

Awards and Recognition
 
Women of Western Wake Award, Cary Magazine, 2008.
 
Women in Business Award Recipient, Triangle Business Journal, 2006.
 
“Woman of the Year,” Triangle Commercial Real Estate Women (TCREW), 2002.

 
Listed in The Best Lawyers in America, 2011.
 
AV rating, Martindale-Hubbell.
 
Other Experience
 
Technical Consultant, ZS Associates, Evanston, IL, 1987-1991.