Was Southern Company Duped, Too?
[This post was originally published on April 20, 2018. As the link between Alabama Power and the Newsome Conspiracy Case solidifies with additional evidence, Balch & Bingham appears to have abused their close relationship with Southern Company’s subsidiary Alabama Power. Southern Company CEO Tom Fanning (pictured left) and Alabama Power CEO Mark Crosswhite (pictured right) must hold Balch accountable including partner Schuyler Allen Baker, Jr. (pictured center).]
When a Drummond Coal company’s executive was indicted along with two Balch & Bingham partners for suppressing poor African-Americans from having their toxic property tested by the EPA in a $360,000 bribery scheme, the company unequivocally defended their executive and boldly insinuated that Balch had provided bad legal advice.
Drummond wrote at the time, “The law firm engaged the Oliver Robinson Foundation to perform community outreach in connection with the matter, and Drummond understood this process was lawful and proper.”
Has Southern Company (and its CEO Tom Fanning) been duped by some of Balch’s alleged unethical, unscrupulous lawyers, too? Is Balch giving their top client, alter-ego, and sister-wife a mountain of manure justifying and rationalizing their alleged unconscionable and racist conduct as “lawful and proper?”
The once prestigious silk-stocking law firm came to our attention about 18 months ago because of the alleged horrendous conduct in the Burt Newsome conspiracy case. A father of four young children, Newsome, a sole-practitioner attorney, was wrongly targeted, falsely arrested, and defamed.
Sadly and pathetically, a Balch partner appears to have wanted to allegedly steal Newsome’s business of providing legal services to banks.
Esteemed University of Notre Dame law professor Veronica Root provided a 10-page affidavit on the alleged unprofessional conduct by Balch & Bingham in the Newsome matter.
She opined that Balch partner Clark A. Cooper had violated professional conduct for soliciting Newsome’s clients where Newsome was the attorney of record, and for sending emails that questioned if Newsome would possibly lose his law license. (Her complete affidavit including exhibits can be read here.)
Ms. Root’s affidavit was written before we exposed what looks like criminal obstruction of justice and tampering of evidence in the Newsome case allegedly done by the spouse of a former Balch partner.
Fanning and his team have a fiduciary obligation to read the affidavit for the benefit of the company and its institutional shareholders, and to prevent further risks and liabilities.
After reading the affidavit, Fanning’s first question to Balch should be (and maybe slightly more vulgar):
Why in the heck did you not settle the Newsome matter when you fired the alleged mastermind, Balch partner Clark A. Cooper, a year ago on March 3, 2017?
Fanning knows his company would not be in the middle of this escalating embarrassment if Balch had simply settled the case, conducted a top-to-bottom review of the entire firm, and re-trained all lawyers about professional conduct.
Cooper is now selling mattresses.
