Balch’s Half-Baked Deposition Talk of Legal Circles; Town Forever Tarred
While embattled law firm Balch & Bingham was foolishly boasting of increasing their Houston “office” from a footprint of one-and-a-half lawyers to a whopping two-and-a-half lawyers, legal circles were abuzz about the half-baked deposition used in an attempt to screw over Burt Newsome in the Newsome Conspiracy Case.
The well-read blog Legal Schnauzer writes about the farce of a deposition and Verizon’s alleged expert:
At the beginning of the deposition, [alleged Verizon employee Jason] Forman had no attorney present to represent him and object, if necessary to certain question. The normal process … is to have an attorney present, who can object to questions and then usually instruct the deponent to answer the question, even if it is found later to be inadmissible at trial. If the dispute is particularly serious, the deposition can be interrupted, with the issue taken to a judge for resolution.
That’s why deponents generally answer questions, over their own attorney’s objections, with admissibility and other issues to be resolved later. In this instance, with no attorney present for Verizon at the beginning, “Jason Forman” (a non-lawyer) essentially made his own objections and steadfastly refused to answer certain questions, especially if they could lead to personal identifiers.
The chattering class also thinks that U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town has been forever tarred with his alleged links to the half-baked depo and the compromising photos of him chugging cocktails with former Balch partner and Alabama Power CEO Mark A. Crosswhite.
Just as silly as Balch’s attempt to boast about their 2 1/2 person Houston ” office, ” the fools at Balch have put blinders on as the once-prestigious firm appears to be imploding.
Even Town has seen the toxic risk of associating with Balch and their apologists.
Meanwhile, Burt Newsome continues to work diligently, honorably, and with the utmost integrity; and the same legal circles are applauding his efforts to challenge Balch and their bullies.
About time some say. About time.
