What will they do?

Yesterday’s testimony from two Balch & Bingham  attorneys, one who no longer works for the firm, has caused an enormous stink at Balch, our sources allege.

Is the oligarch leadership at Balch in Birmingham out of touch with their colleagues in other states? Are egos overshadowing common sense and the survival of the firm?

Both junior attorneys from the Birmingham office testified that even though they were intricately involved in the North Birmingham effort to fight the EPA, including one of them writing a resolution for the Alabama state legislature, both of them were kept in the dark about the hiring of bought-and-paid-for State Represenative Oliver Robinson.

The uproar we are told is that Joel Gilbert who had prepared Robinson for a hearing at the AEMC with talking points (and greased with alleged bribes), dispatched one of the junior attorneys to the AEMC hearing.

Gilbert allegedly had the arrogant audacity to ask how the meeting went, yet never, ever had the integrity to discuss Robinson’s “community outreach” on behalf of Balch.

Gilbert and McKinney may have put the entire firm at risk because of the culture of elites versus peons at the firm.

And the peons label appears to extend to Balch’s external offices in Atlanta, Jacksonville, and elsewhere.

Balch attorneys and staff outside Birmingham are upset and disillusioned, our sources allege.

Talmadge Simpson, an ex-Balch attorney who testified yesterday, has moved on to a successful legal career elsewhere.

Will others join him and the ten money-making partners who left Balch in January? What will they do?