Suicide of Balch & Bingham?

How much has Balch lost now in the aggregate? $5 million? $9 million? $12 million? or even $20 million?

[This post originally was posted on January 16, 2020. Now with Balch & Bingham’s alleged racist misconduct and alleged tokenism in the spotlight, Juneteenth is the appropriate day to remind Balch clients to terminate the firm. Changes to the post are in purple.]

The news at Balch was an earthquake, a shock—equal to a die-hard Alabama fan dumping the Crimson Tide for Auburn after three decades.

Legacy partner Jesse S. Vogtle, Jr., after 31 years, and his money-making team have left the embattled firm.

Now observers are calling Balch & Bingham the next Haskell, Slaughter, Young—the once prestigious Birmingham law firm that collapsed and closed in 2014.

So we ask, would it not have been cheaper to simply resolve the Newsome Conspiracy Case for $3 million?

Add it up.

• The loss of numerous money-making veteran partners.
• The loss of dozens of prestigious and well-paying clients.
• Being left with only one  no major lobbying clients in Washington, D.C.
• The cherry-picking of partners by competitors throughout Balch’s footprint.
• The loss of credibility, prestige, and respect in the legal community.

Our analysis early last year showed that Balch & Bingham had lost almost $2 million in lobbying fees alone in 2018 to competitors.

How much has Balch lost now in the aggregate with the loss of top litigators, lobbyists, and clients? $5 million? $9 million? $12 million? or even $20 million?

If Balch & Bingham had simply reached out to us, the CDLU, and tried to resolve the Newsome Conspiracy Case in early 2017, this blog would not exist and our advocacy efforts at the CDLU would not be focused on educating the public, law enforcement, legislators, corporate leadership, and institutional investors on Wall Street about Balch & Bingham’s alleged unsavory if not criminal conduct.

Who is to blame at Balch for this sheer foolishness and irresponsible conduct?

Schuyler Allen Baker, Jr., the lead attorney on the Newsome Conspiracy Case and General Counsel at Balch who allegedly vowed to fight Burt Newsome to the death. Baker appears to have brought the doom and gloom to Balch because of his ego.

Baker should be fired, now, today, this very moment.

And there are more Balch administrators that need to be ousted. As we wrote in August of 2018:

To rid themselves of this culture of crossing the line, the partners at Balch must begin with leadership change.

Balch’s Managing Partner Stan Blanton should be replaced immediately, and Chief Operating Officer David Miceli, who testified in the [North Birmingham] corruption trial, should promptly step down.

Balch & Bingham is now called Balch, Bingham & Bribery in private circles….Balch’s reputation will never rehabilitate until there is change, real change ….

And what else does the future hold?

Newsome’s legal team is waiting for the Alabama Supreme Court to rule so that a civil RICO suit can be filed after all state remedies are exhausted. The civil RICO lawsuit will include Alabama Power, Mark A. Crosswhite, Willard L. Bowers, and other defendants tied closely to Balch & Bingham.

Maybe Balch’s new leadership team needs to put these matters FINALLY behind them.

When Newsome originally wanted to settle this matter, back in 2015, his legal team asked for three things:

1. An apology.
2. The end of the tracking of Newsome’s banking cases by Balch partners.
3. $150,000 for revenue lost from the alleged defamation.

Balch rejected the offer and now that decision has cost them millions and millions more to come.