Bob E. Lype was born on May 19, 1958, and he grew up in the small town of Rogersville (Hawkins County) in Northeast Tennessee.  After graduating from East Tennessee State University (magna cum laude)  in 1980, he taught American History, Sociology and Contemporary Issues to eleventh and twelfth graders, and he also coached the boys' and girls' tennis teams, at Volunteer High School in Church Hill, Tennessee from 1980-87. 

Bob then attended the University of Tennessee College of Law, where he graduated with high honors in 1990.  He has practiced law in Chattanooga, Tennessee since 1990, except for a brief period in 1995-96 when he practiced law in Morristown, Tennessee.  He has practiced law with large and mid-sized law firms, and he began his solo practice in Chattanooga in November, 2003.