[1] He served in the United States Army during World War II and worked as a lawyer in Atlanta after completing his military service, opening a law office in 1947.

[2] As White House counsel, Lipshutz advised the president to commute the sentence of G. Gordon Liddy, convicted as part of the Watergate scandal, an act that was described as being "in the interest of equity and fairness".

Lipshutz drafted a revised policy regarding affirmative action that was ultimately accepted by the Supreme Court of the United States in its decision in the case Regents of the University of California v. Bakke regarding a race-based admission policy at the UC Davis School of Medicine that the plaintiff claimed cost him a spot at the school in which the court ruled that racial quotas were unacceptable, but that affirmative action was allowed.

[2] During the negotiations between Egyptian Anwar El Sadat and of Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin at Camp David, Lipshutz provided input from leaders of major Jewish organizations regarding the peace process.

In a statement issued by the former president, Carter said that Lipshutz's "insights played a key role in many White House initiatives and decisions" at Camp David and at other points during his presidency, including his part in the drafting of the presidential order that led to the creation of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.[2] After leaving the White House in October 1979, he was replaced by Lloyd Cutler.