Chip was born in Lexington, Kentucky in 1958. His family moved to Raleigh, North Carolina when he was seven and has been there ever since. He served as a missionary for his church in Italy for two years from 1977 to 1979 and learned to speak Italian fluently. He received a BS from Brigham Young University in 1982 and a Juris Doctorate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1985. Chip married his wife, Dawn, in 1981. They have been blessed with six children, four of whom are now married, and five grandchildren.
After passing the North Carolina Bar Exam in 1985, Chip served three years in the U.S. Marine Corps as a Judge Advocate trying scores of courts-martial. He left active duty in 1988 as a Captain and joined the law firm that later became known as Duffus, Younce, Melvin & Vtipil, founding its Raleigh office. In 2001 Chip and David Vtipil founded the Younce & Vtipil law firm.
Chip is a member of the North Carolina Advocates for Justice, the North Carolina Bar Association, and the Wake County Bar Association. He has been heavily involved in church and community service throughout his career, including five years as bishop of the Cary Second Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Scoutmaster, and District Committee Chair for the Crosswinds District of the Boy Scouts.
Chip concentrates his law practice in personal injury and workers’ compensation law. He has tried over 100 workers’ comp cases to Opinion and Award and about a dozen personal injury jury trials to verdict. He has been board-certified by the North Carolina State Bar as a specialist in workers’ compensation law since 2001.
