According to Open Secrets, Balch appears to have garnered five newer, monthly paying lobbying clients: two utilities out of Texas, O’Neal Industries, Scatr LLC, and McWane, their highest paying client.
Currently, two former Balch attorneys are sitting in federal prison; one for bribery and money laundering, the other for possession of kiddie porn.
The criminal convictions appear to have hindered the development of clients and provoked the exodus of top money-making partners and attorneys.
Balch’s Houston office was gutted this summer when four Balch lawyers jumped ship.
Balch partner Joel I. Gilbert is serving a five year sentence for bribery while former Balch attorney Chase T. Espy (right) is serving over an eight year sentence for possession of kiddie porn.
The .22 caliber projectile hit the window and was believed to have been shot from the fence behind Forbes’ home. Four sheriff deputies came to Forbes’ home and federal investigators are being briefed.
The Forbes Family lives in a gated community so the shooting was not random nor accidental.
The area of the bedroom is a play area for his 6-year-old daughter. The path of the projectile was directed at the height of the child’s head.
“Deplorable! Southern Company resorted to hiring the dregs of humanity, and now these misfits allegedly have sent yet another violent message trying to silence our advocacy,” Forbes stated.
Inches from Roberson’s head
In 2021, David Roberson, the ex-Drummond executive, had his car window shot out on Highway 280 as he was delivering documents to his attorney, Burt Newsome.
In 2018, the car windows of Burt Newsome’s wife were smashed and shattered in a targeted burglary allegedly by Southern Company operatives. Caught on video surveillance cameras, law enforcement said the burglars were specifically looking for her vehicle.
Now Southern Company Executive Chairman Tom Fanning and CEO Chris Womack need to be held responsible for the criminal enterprise’s unhinged misconduct. No one at Southern Company can blame Crosswhite who resigned nearly a year ago. No one at Southern Company can blame Joe Perkins or his entities, when Southern Company allegedly still pays him millions of dollars every year to allegedly do what he infamously does.
According to a high-level source in Atlanta, Southern Company allegedly paid Matrix, LLC to spearhead a covert surveillance effort of U.S. Department of Justice officials and prosecutors in Birmingham.
The release of the photos was done intentionally to send a message to Town: Southern Company owns your ass.
Crosswhite allegedly ordered the surveillance program as a member of Southern Company’s Management Council.
Since Alabama Power was never prosecuted or ordered to testify in the North Birmingham Bribery Trial because of alleged corruption and a secret “unmentionable” deal, Southern Company allegedly wanted to keep Town from ever expanding the probe in the future.
Chugging fool!
The photos eventually led to the Town’s abrupt resignation, and his political career was left in shambles.
While Crosswhite was allegedly furious that we published the photos and ordered an all-out, unwarranted attack against us, the CDLU, the Newsome Family, and the Forbes Family, sources claim that Joe Perkins, the founder of Matrix, LLC, allegedly ordered the release to benefit and justify his annual multi-million-dollar secret contracts with Southern Company subsidiaries.
The photos eventually led to the disgraceful resignations of both Town and Crosswhite.
In June, Southern Company admitted to The Wall Street Journal of paying for and conducting surveillance efforts. Last year, numerous news reports outlined the surveillance of journalists in Florida allegedly conducted by Matrix goons.
But the latest surveillance allegations are beyond egregious. They are criminal, worse than blackmail.
Southern Company set up a meeting with Town, and then their paid stooges allegedly took compromising photos of Town drinking cocktails with Crosswhite.
The embattled law firm Balch & Bingham is in such a precarious situation, they had to move from their long-time office in Montgomery to another location less than a mile away.
In a press release last week , Balch foolishly claims the move “will provide for a more modern, efficient working space as the firm strengthens its commitment to providing exceptional legal services to clients throughout the state.”
Problem with this sugarcoated nonsense is the move began in June, not last week, not last month.
Insiders claim the move was an austerity decision to save resources.
The move in June coincides with the abrupt exit of four top partners and attorneys who left Balch, three of whom went to work with Bradley.
Rumors state that Bradley wants to buyout Balch.
Balch has moved onto the 8th floor of the RSA Dexter Avenue Building.
In May, Baker Donelson and American Family settled a $13.1 billion dollar lawsuit involving the surveillance of a family.
Southern Company and its hired stooges at Matrix, LLC engaged in illegal surveillance of the Newsome and Forbes familes.
But there is an enormous difference. The family spied on by AmFam and Baker Donelson were involved in a million-dollar but tangled personal injury lawsuit with AmFam and Baker Donelson.
Surveillance from a distance is allowed in personal injury lawsuits.
The Newsome and Forbes family were in no shape or form involved in any litigation involving Southern Company.
The Forbes and Newsome children were unfairly and egregiously targeted in a campaign of fear and intimidation by Southern Company stooges. The surveillance was unwarranted and served no corporate purpose whatsoever.
Derelict Board?
And now members of Southern Company’s Board of Directors are under fire for allegedly allowing these surveillance efforts to continue unchecked and out of control.
Was the Board derelict in their duty to protect shareholders and hold management to the utmost standards?
Southern Company’s BOD allowed top management to waste millions on a ridiculous internal probe that admitted to surveillance efforts, but concluded the company did not know who authorized the surveillance or for what purpose. An absolute farce!
The Two Marks
The BOD also is aware that the fraudulent internal probe was conducted in part by a top advisor to disgraced ex-CEO of Alabama Power, Mark A. Crosswhite, the illustrious Mark White, a white-collar criminal attorney at White, Arnold & Dowd.
Southern Company’s Board of Directors has the fudiciary duty to independently look into these matters: the millions spent on Joe Perkins/Matrix LLC in secret contracts, the enormous resources wasted on embattled law firm Balch & Bingham, retainers paid to Crosswhite’s make-believe consigliere Mark White, and most importantly, the expensive campaign of fear and intimidation, including surveillance, of the Newsome and Forbes families.
A Moniz Moment
WIll Board members like Ernest J. Moniz finally wake up and smell the brewing coffee?
Moniz, a nuclear physicist, has a distinguished career, having served as the U.S. Secretary of Energy in the Obama Administration. On Southern Company’s BOD, he serves on the Board’s Governance and Corporate Responsibility committee.
Will Moniz take a moment to look at Southern Company’s corporate irresponsibility? Will he ask, why in heaven’s name did Southern Company spend at least $318,000 to terrorize and defame the Forbes and Newsome families?
Will Moniz scratch his head when he sees that two years after his appointment to the BOD, Southern Company was conducting illegal and unwarranted surveillance of the Forbes family in 2020, and invaded their privacy including finding out covertly that the family had exported a princess bed to Mexico for their then-three-year-old daughter?
Will Smith audit the surveillance expenditures?
Then there is long time Board member William G. Smith, Jr. who joined Southern Company’s BOD in 2006. He is Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer of Capital City Bank Group, Inc., one of the largest financial institutions in the State of Florida. He currently serves as the Chair of Southern Company’s Audit Committee.
Will Smith audit the numerous “special work orders” issued by Southern Company and its subsidiaries to Sloppy Joe Perkins and his affiliated entities?
Will Smith get a breakdown of how much was not spent on “transportation management” services and instead used to engage in covert operations including terrorizing the Newsome family in 2018 with a farwell set of travel bags and outfits?
Smith is a seasoned expert on risk management and he should see the third-party risk caused by Southern Company agents, stooges, and high-paid vendors.
Smith and Moniz, along with the other 13 members of Southern Company Board of Directors, appear to have been asleep at the wheel.
The BOD appears to be more like the cast of Muppets from Sesame Street than leaders of industry.
The BOD at Southern Company must investigate these matters independently.
Southern’s manure pile
Anyone looking into this pile of cow manure will conclude that the alleged agents of doom, Matrix and Balch, and the make-believe consigliere, Mark White, should all be fired and terminated immediately.
Southern Company told The Wall Street Journal in June that they had “moved on” from the surveillance scandal, but they haven’t.
The website smearing and slandering Newsome falsely as a rapist and Forbes as a rapist defender is still up today.
None of the 15 Board members at Southern Company can stick their head in the sand as if this never happened or is not happening.
The federal regulators and investigators, and class action lawyers, are looking into these matters and will hold the absent-minded board members accountable, including Bill and Ernie.
While documents, expenditures, and insiders close to Southern Company’s executive leadership have verifiedand confirmed that the criminal enterprise engaged in surveillance, targeted, harassed, and spearheaded a campaign of fear and intimidation against the Newsome family, the Forbes family, and the CDLU, the key question brought up by federal investigators, regulators, and others is:
Why?
We have learned that Mark A. Crosswhite, the disgraced ex-CEO and Chairman of Alabama Power, was allegedly furious in January of 2020 when we published jaw-dropping photos of him slamming back cocktails with then-U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town.
Chugging buddies who were both ousted in disgrace.
Town, being investigated by the Office of Professional Responsibility of the U.S. Department of Justice because of the photos, allegedly told Crosswhite of the investigation in April of 2020, and allegedly announced that he would probably resign to prevent a career-ending probe.
Unhinged with the news, Crosswhite allegely spoke to his most-trusted advisors, white-collar criminal attorney Mark White and the Oompa Loompa of Alabama politics, “Sloppy Joe” Perkins, about the tremendous setback.
Perkins, seeing a way to justify his multi-million-dollar secret contracts with Alabama Power, allegedly began to investigate the CDLU.
The year before, in 2019, a payroll company failed to pay the State of Alabama payroll taxes due from the CDLU because of an internal error.
Although a final assessment was placed against the CDLU, the payroll company eventually paid the payroll taxes and assessments on November 1, 2019.
Perkins used this information to allegedly tell Crosswhite falsely that the CDLU had been given enormous amounts of money compared to previous years to attack Jay E. Town, Balch & Bingham, Alabama Power, and Southern Company.
Crosswhite allegedly speculated that George Soros was funding the CDLU.
Perkins allegedly held up CDLU’s tax assessment and waved it in Crosswhite’s face, stirring up the Godfather and the imaginary Don Corleone of Alabama.
Crosswhite swallowed the bait, hook, line, and sinker.
The Godfather allegedly and foolishly gave Perkins the green light, and Zeke Smith of Alabama Power authorized expenditures of over $300,000 against the CDLU, Forbes, and Newsome on the eve of Jay E. Town’s resignation.
Disgraced, Town fled in the middle of the night on July 15, 2020.
According to internal spreadsheets, Southern Company paid accounting firm Carr, Riggs, and Ingram.
That same July, the accountants allegedly estimated how much CDLU staff were compensated, in order to pay Alabama state payroll taxes of $9,487.50.
The discredited envelope journalists at Alabama Political Reporter (APR) allegedly used the estimate, stating individuals were paid at least $186,000 and maybe as much as $580,000.
The reality is that individuals at the CDLU were paid in 2019 for up to four years of back pay, but the idiots at APR never asked.
APR: tricks for hire.
APR, like the whores of Bangkok, were hired by Southern Company to perform tricks and smear us for $120,000 according to internal spreadsheets and documents.
Three smear pieces appeared in APR that July of 2020, followed by the creation of a vicious website in August of 2020, falsely calling Newsome a rapist.
So why did Southern Company terrorize Newsome’s and Forbes’ young children? Why did Southern Company target, harass, and put these familes under surveillance? Why did they smear them?
Because Crosswhite drank the Kool-aid, thinking George Soros or an environmental group was funding us, the CDLU, to attack Town, Balch & Bingham, Alabama Power and Southern Company.
All of it a lie. All of it bullshit.
And Southern Company still has Sloppy Joe on contract.
A headline story in Law.com rocked the legal community in 2021. A respected law firm came under fire for conducting illegal surveillance and video recording of a woman and her family. Law.com reported:
The long-lived, knotty personal injury case that … ultimately settled for $11 million has spun off yet more litigation, with a new complaint accusing Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, American Family Insurance and a local private investigation company of illegally surveilling and video-recording the plaintiff and her family.
Fittingly, the new complaint seeks big money: more than $13.1 billion and change in punitive damages. Plus attorney fees.
The allegations in the Baker lawsuit are minimal compared to the illegal surveillance, alleged criminal acts, and campaign of fear and intimidation orchestrated by Southern Company and their paid stooges against us, the CDLU, the Newsome Family, and the Forbes Family.
In June, Southern Company admitted that they paid for and conducted a surveillance effort against their Chairman Tom Fanning and his then-girlfriend in 2017.
The company foolishly told The Wall Street Journal that they did not know who authorized the surveillance effort or for what purpose.
Like AmFam, Southern Company apparently targeted young children.
Southern Company engaged in surveillance of the Newsome twins.
Southern Company paid a vendor to target and harass the Newsome Family, including Newsome’s four young children.
Jeff Peoples, Chief Executive Officer at Alabama Power, signed off on an “extra work authorization” in 2018 paying obscure political consultant “Sloppy” Joe Perkins an additional $39,300 on top of the secret multi-million-dollar annual contracts his firms received.
And what was the $39,300 allegedly for? For “transportation organization management” according to the document, but a blatant lie, Southern Company insiders confirmed.
Newsome’s two boys were followed around by Southern Company goons.
Besides sending a threatening package of travel bags and outfits, Southern Company stooges conducted a surveillance effort against Newsome, his wife, and children.
The Newsomes were followed, spied on, and trailed throughout Birmingham, including to a point where Newsome’s wife saw her car broken into and windows smashed, in a targeted smash-and-run.
A Southern Company goon verbally abused Newsome’s wife at one point.
A stolen credit card obtained from the break in of Newsome’s wife car was used in the purchase of the travel bags and outfits.
Zeke Smith, Alabama Power Executive Vice President for External Affairs, authorized over $318,000 in expenditures during a seven-week period in the summer of 2020 in a campaign of fear and intimidation against the Newsome and the Forbes families, according to anonymously received documents.
Southern Company made Forbes’ girls flee Alabama.
K.B. Forbes, CDLU’s Chief Executive Officer, and his wife and two young daughters were targeted.
The campaign included surveillance and harassment efforts of the Forbes Family.
The terror and harassment included multiple phone calls to Forbes’ wife, one demanding to know her location, another asking if she was at home, and a third offering to “drop off a package.”
Moon and his colleagues at Alabama Political Reporter were paid $120,000 by Southern Company, that was authorized by Zeke Smith, to viciously attack and harass us, the CDLU, the Newsome family, and the Forbes family.
Moon?
Moon apparently was surveilling our headquarters and allegedly drove in front of the Forbes household, where a pick-up truck matching his truck’s description was captured on security cameras.
A judge refused to dismiss the case against Baker Donelson in April of 2022 and it was resolved and settled in May of this year.
In the pleadings against Baker Donelson and AmFam, the complaint states:
[The] Baker Donelson Defendants and the AmFam Defendants hired, retained, paid, directed, instructed, and supervised the Martinelli Investigations Defendants in an unlawful investigation and unlawful surveillance of Plaintiff and subsequently ratified the criminal and tortious conduct….
One thing Southern Company unequivocally knows is that their executives (Crosswhite, Peoples, Smith, etc.) hired, retained, paid, directed, instructed, and supervised Matrix, Balch & Bingham, Joe Perkins, Mark White, and others to allegedly investigate, harass, intimidate, and engage in surveillance of Newsome, Forbes, and the CDLU.
Sources claim Newsome’s legal team is putting the final touches on a somewhat similar pleading, preparing to move ahead with a massive lawsuit against Southern Company, Matrix, LLC, and their other stooges, asking for similar damages.
When The Washington Post wrote an indepth article on the Balch & Bingham’s rental assistance debacle in Mississippi in September of 2021, we accurately called the embattled firm “government-made millionaires” that survived on contractual cronyism.
Balch & Bingham reaped millions while renters, many of whom were People of Color, received nothing, according to The Washinghon Post.
Now the Piglets of Pork look like they continue to survive on government contracts.
1819 reports:
Alabama’s Contract Review Committee held a meeting Thursday during which it approved a $600,000 increase in a legal contract for Balch & Bingham law firm to represent the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) in a Baldwin County bridge dispute.
Per the contract, which ends November 2024, Balch and Bingham will “provide [ALDOT with] representation and advice regarding possible and actual litigation in a dispute by the Baldwin County Bridge Company (BCBC) regarding the bridge and road project in Baldwin County.”
The new legal contract total is $1.4 million.
“This one is just the gift that keeps on giving. We’re now a new total of $1.4 million in legal on that one. It’s just frustrating,” State Sen. Chris Elliott (R-Josephine) said at the committee meeting on Thursday.
Since 2018, Balch has lost in the aggregate as much as $100 million in revenue as clients and top money-making partners and attorneys have dumped and fled the embatted firm.
To survive, Balch appears to have become dependent on government contracts.
From the Pimps of Mississippi to the Welfare Queens of Alabama, Balch’s footprint appears to have become certified, premium piglets of pork.
But the news on Balch’s government dependency is not glamorous at all.
In Mississippi, Balch, has obtained 76 government contracts worth over $43 million since 2014, according to a state transparency website.
However those financial numbers have plummeted, too.
In 2020, Balch obtained over $12.2 million in Mississippi state contracts that included $2.1 million in consulting fees related to the rental assistance debacle.
In 2021, Balch was given $5.7 million in state government contracts in Mississippi when The Washington Post investigative report was published, rocking the Magnolia State.
Last year, in 2022, their reputation damaged while in the spotlight, Balch was only able to obtain a mere $1.6 million in Mississippi state contracts.
That equals less that a third of what they earned the year before and a mere13 percent of their 2020 contract numbers.
Contractual cronyism appears to be coming to a chilling close.
With its reputation in tatters, Balch & Bingham appears to be imploding from all directions and “the gift that keeps on giving” may come to an end as frustrated lawmakers see the light or hear the wrath, and toss Balch over the side of the toll bridge in Baldwin County.
Now, today, Balch has been decimated and only three lawyers remain in Houston, with one of them actually based in Birmingham.
From seven to three.
Balch’s total number of attorneys in the Lone Star State is in the single digits, nowhere near 25 or 30.
What a humiliating debacle!
Cherry-picking the best of the best, Balch’s competitors appear to have ravaged the once prestigious law firm.
As we reported last week, Bradley picked up three of them: Balch’s Houston Office Managing Partner and two top minority attorneys who fled Balch’s Houston office earlier this summer.
Holland
Now we’ve learned that the fourth attorney to dump Balch in Houston was partner J. Eric Holland, who escaped to Duane Morris.
Duane Morris stated in a news release, “Our practice group continues to advance and prosper,” said Brian P. Kerwin, chair of Duane Morris’ Corporate Practice Group. “Eric’s background continues to bolster our fund formation capabilities, which is a powerhouse offering to our clients.”
Competitors appear to be advancing and prospering in Texas, while Balch is not.
Who else at Balch & Bingham is dusting off their resume? What carrots are being offered to other lawyers at Balch’s satellite offices?
The undisputed fact is that the North Birmingham Bribery Trial, the Newsome Conspiracy Case, the Elderly Exploitation Scandal, the Matrix Meltdown, and Southern Company’s “fear and intimidation” campaigns appear to have taken their toll and permanentlydamaged Balch & Bingham’s reputation.
They say everything is bigger in Texas, and indeed, Balch appears to be the biggestlosers.
Balch’s alleged womb to tomb misconduct appears to have devastated the once prestigious, silk-stocking law firm.
None of the hottest stars of the legal profession appear to want to be associated with the embattled law firm Balch & Bingham.
Two former Balch attorneys are sitting in federal prison.
One is serving 5 years for money laundering and bribery and the other is serving more than 8 years for possession of kiddie porn.
Balch was forced to pull former partner Clark Watson out of retirement after Balch’s banking and financial services practice suffered several crippling blows, culminating with the recent exit of 17-year Balch legacy partner W. Brad Neighbors.
Watson back in his earlier Balch days
Watson was a Balch partner until 2015, when he went to work for Samford University, eventually serving as General Counsel. He retired at the end of February.
Coming out of retirement, Watson was hired as “counsel” and takes a leadership role in Balch’s crumbling banking and financial services practice.
Hiring an old, retired white guy also doesn’t help Balch’s “diversity and inclusion” fluff.
Maybe Balch’s Managing Partner Stan Blanton will pay an advertising publication ? to create and help him collect a make-believe award for assisting senior citizens.
From kiddie porn to elderly exploitation, Balch’s alleged womb to tomb misconduct appears to have devastated the once prestigious, silk-stocking law firm.
In Washington, D.C.. seasoned Balch lobbyist Margaret Caravelli, who worked for the firm for eight years, has left.
Balch continues to struggle compared to their competitors.
According to Open Secrets, Balch made a tad over $700,000 in 2022 in federal lobbying fees while competitors like Bradley pulled in over $2 million and Maynard Nexsen collected almost $1.7 million in D.C. lobbying fees.
The numbers speak for themselves.
Balch has lost numerous federal lobbying clients including Southern Company.
McWane is Balch’s biggest federal lobbying client and is paying Balch $30,000 a month or $360,000 a year. McWane spends about $800,000 a year on lobbyists. They should shift the $360,000 to one of their other firms or find another well-qualified firm without the womb to tomb baggage.
After nearly two decades as a top partner at Balch’s Atlanta office, Christopher S. Anulewicz has dumped the embattled law firm. He has joined the law firm Bradley.
We applaud Chris and Teri for making the intelligent decision.
In November of 2017, we wrote about two honorable and respected Balch & Bingham partners who were fighting corruption in Georgia, Anulewicz and Mike Bowers, both based in Atlanta.
Mike Bowers
We asked at the time, “Will the Good Guys Bail on Balch?”
A West Point graduate, Mike Bowers, a former Attorney General for Georgia, as we predicted, dumped Balch in 2020 and left the embattled firm. Bowers moved over toJohnson Marlowe, a respected boutique law firm.
Anulewicz took three years longer but was finally lured away and picked off by Bradley, one of the fastest growing law firms in the Southeast. Bradley has attracted and hired many top-notch Balch partners, including some of their money-making attorneys from the banking and financial services practice.
Rumors are that Bradley wants to buyout Balch, and is in the midst of trying to bring over top partners in Balch’s energy and environmental law practices.
With the rebirth of the North Birmingham Bribery Trial, a highly-anticipated civil RICO action, and the fallout over the Matrix Meltdown and Southern Company’s million-dollar fear and intimidation campaigns, what sound seasoned lawyer would want to be associated with the embattled law firm?
As we prophetically wrote in January of 2020:
Like vultures, the competitors of Balch & Bingham are eyeing specific practice groups and talent at the embattled firm, ready to scoop up veteran partners and money-makers.
Hiring the best and brightest, competitors may begin to target Balch’s satellite offices in other states and pick up some terrific talent….
The hot ? rumor on the street is that the ever growing Bradley law firm may buyout embattled law firm Balch & Bingham.
Bradley swallowed up the majority of Balch’s Houston team this summer, including the Managing Partner of the Houston office, and picked off 17 year-legacy partner W. Brad Neighbors.
Neighbors
In a news article today posted on the Birmingham Business Journal, Bradley welcomed Neighbors to the firm to “enhance our robust banking and financial services offerings to our clients.”
Robust indeed.
Vogtle
The stunning move comes after 31-year Balch legacy partner Jesse S. Vogtle, Randolph H. Lanier, Eric T. Ray, and Paul H. Greenwood, all in the banking and financial services practice, left Balch in 2020.
Decker
In 2021, another Balch legacy partner Jennifer Powell Deckerdumped Balch after 15 years. She was involved in commercial lending and one of the most senior female partners at Balch.
Over the last three years, Balch’s banking practice has imploded.
The irony is that Clark A. Cooper, a Balch partner who was the alleged mastermind of the Newsome Conspiracy Case, was allegedly trying to steal Newsome’s banking and financial services practicein 2013.
Now a decade later Balch appears to be at the verge of collapse in the banking sector, imploding.
When the illustrious Schuyler Allen Baker, Jr., General Counsel of Balch & Bingham, vowed in 2017 that he would “fight to the death” before resolving the Newsome Conspiracy Case, he was affirming what Claiborne Seier (above, left) allegedly vowed to Burt Newsome in 2012: Newsome would be destroyed for pursuing a criminal case against Seier’s brother Alfred Seier, who pulled a gun on Newsome.
Top money-making attorneys and legacy partners have left Balch these past 5 years, apparently destroying specific practice groups.
Yet, Balch stupidly appears to slap itself on the back for “beating” Newsome in an unconstitutional and secretive Star Chamber.
Mark A. Crosswhite, the disgraced ex-CEO of Alabama Power, foolishly bit the forbidden fruit when the Oompa Loompa of Alabama politics, Joe Perkins allegedly told him falsely that we, the CDLU, had received enormous amounts of resources to attack Southern Company and its subsidiaries.
The $2 million grant the CDLU received in 2019 (which had nothing to do with Balch & Bingham, Alabama Power, Matrix or their competitors) caused them to defecate rainbows. ?
The grant was related to our two decades of healthcare and consumer protection advocacy.
But the smear artists, hired whores, and envelope journalists did not care.
The lie worked and Southern Company foolishly spent millions in surveillance efforts, fear and intimidation tactics, and a smear campaign against us, the CDLU, and Newsome.
Some of these acts included criminal misconduct and felonies.
Crosswhite, the “most powerful man in Alabama, ” was ousted in November.
And now another alleged conspirator has died.
Another carcass joins the disgraced pile of stooges, cronies, consultants, and fools who drank the Kool-aid or bit the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Balch-landia.
Also fleeing Balch is attorney Rodrigo Martinez Cabello, one of Balch’s few Hispanic attorneys.
Also joining Chin and Martinez is Philip A. Dunlap, Balch’s Houston Managing Partner.
All three are based in Houston. All three jumped ship to Bradley this summer, an incredible blow as Balch’s Houston Office appears to have crumbled overnight.
Bradley promoted the trio in a news release:
Dunlap
“We are thrilled to be joining Bradley’s team and to be a part of the firm’s tremendous growth in Texas and nationally,” said Mr. Dunlap. “It is an exciting time to be at Bradley, particularly given its significant growth in Texas over the last few years. We look forward to the expanded opportunities that being at Bradley will present for us and our clients.”
With the arrival of Mr. Chin, Mr. Dunlap and Mr. Martinez, Bradley’s Houston office has added more than 15 attorneys in the past 12 months.
W. Brad Neighbors, a 17-year legacy partner at Balch recently left the firm for Bradley as well.
Neighbors
Neighbors was a member of the Financial Services and Transactions section at Balch. His practice focused on representation of financial institutions ranging from community banks to large regional institutions. Neighbors regularly provided counsel on compliance with federal and state banking, and consumer finance statutes and regulations.
The firm has been seen a mass exodus of experienced and money-making partners in the last several years, and Neighbors is just another example.
As we foreshadowed, the death spiral caused by less revenue and more inexperience appears to help Balch & Bingham’s competitors, competitors like Bradley.
Embattled law firm Balch & Bingham finally made one of their most infamous African American attorneys partner.
Irving Jones, Jr., who worked with disgraced Balch-made millionaire and now federal prisoner Joel I. Gilbert, was a star witness in the North Birmingham Bribery Trial in 2018.
Jones ghost-wrote “dumbed-down” letters to be signed by African American community residents in the AstroTurf campaign to block EPA testing in North Birmingham, according to court testimony.
Living with polluted air and soil.
The effort was a success and kids in North Birmingham continue, to this day, to be poisoned by toxic soil and polluted air.
According to court proceedings and news reports at the time, Jones also infiltrated environmental group GASP’s meetings and monitored the environmental group’s social media feeds.
Maxwell and Irving: spy masters
Jones loves to boast that he is a former counterintelligence officer, and we are sure infiltrating GASP was probably one of the most high-risk operations Irving has ever done in his incredible spy life.
We wrote about his court testimony as reported by Pulitzer prize-winning journalist John Archibald, who wrote, “Gilbert also asked Jones to draft a confidentiality agreement relating to [then-State Representative] Oliver Robinson. Four days before Oliver Robinson was to speak to the Alabama Environmental Management Commission, Gilbert got Robinson to sign a confidentiality agreement.”
Jones was working for Christian & Small during the criminal trial. He was rehired by Balch in November of 2018.
Now that he is partner, Irving Jones, Jr. declares to Law.com, “Strive to make yourself irreplaceable. By that, I mean commit yourself to producing your best product every time for your partners and senior associates, and take ownership over the cases to which you are assigned such that you become an integral part of case’s progression.”
So was “Irreplaceable Irving” producing the best ghost letters for Gilbert?
Was “Irreplaceable Irving” an integral part of the North Birmingham Bribery Scheme born at the offices of Balch & Bingham?
How is “Irreplaceable Irving” feeling after he appears to have sold-out the African American community of North Birmingham and is now a full-fledged partner of an alleged racist law firm whose partners are 98 percent white?
“Irreplaceable Irving” standing next to Balch Managing Partner Stan Blanton holding Make Believe Award for Diversity and Inclusion.
Per the contract, which ends November 2024, Balch and Bingham will “provide [ALDOT with] representation and advice regarding possible and actual litigation in a dispute by the Baldwin County Bridge Company (BCBC) regarding the bridge and road project in Baldwin County.”
