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Newsome Conspiracy Case, North Birmingham Bribery Case, Southern Company, Spotlight on Balch & Bingham
Do Black Women Need Not Apply at Balch & Bingham?
Of the 203 attorneys, staff, and partners we counted on Balch & Bingham’s webpage, only three are African-American women. Scattered each in a different regional office, none are located in Balch’s principal office in Birmingham. Kimberly Bell appears to have been the only African-American female attorney in Balch’s central office in Birmingham. No more we learned on Friday. This afternoon, we wrote to Southern Company CEO Tom Fanning thanking him for quietly distancing the utility from the embattled law firm and observing: We are sure the layoff or firing of the only African-American female attorney at Balch’s offices in Birmingham,…
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Two Attorneys at Balch & Bingham Out; Both Women Worked on Newsome Conspiracy Case
[New update on bottom]. Our sources at Alabama Power gave us a tip that Balch & Bingham Attorney Katie C. Hill has left Balch & Bingham, and we also learned separately that another top attorney at Balch, Kimberly Bell, has also left the embattled firm. Both women worked as lead attorneys on the controversial Newsome Conspiracy Case under Balch & Bingham’s dinosaur partner Schuyler Allen Baker, Jr. (pictured left), who foolishly appears to have let the case turn into a national embarrassment for the once prestigious firm. The Newsome Conspiracy Case, which should have been settled when Balch fired partner Clark…
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Newsome Conspiracy Case, North Birmingham Bribery Case, Southern Company, Spotlight on Balch & Bingham
Saving Balch & Bingham
When we, the CDLU, started our outreach to Balch & Bingham in January of 2017, never would we have thought that we would end up with one of the most widely read blogs in Alabama or that our posts would have been read by over 1.5 million users on Facebook Trying to serve as a bridge between Burt Newsome and Balch & Bingham, we respected Balch & Bingham as a law firm and thought we could resolve the matter amiably by March or April of 2017. Instead, Balch & Bingham’s leadership foolishly turned this into a scorched-earth fight at the…
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Southern Company Under DOJ Investigation in Mississippi
Breaking News from the Atlanta Journal Constitution: Atlanta-based Southern Company disclosed it is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice over a power plant that already has caused the company years of heartburn and billions of dollars. Southern said it learned of the probe by the DOJ’s Civil Division on Monday and that it involved the Kemper County plant owned by the utility’s Mississippi Power subsidiary. Southern, which is also the parent of Georgia Power, reported in a quarterly filing that it could not determine the outcome of the investigation but that it ultimately might prove significant enough to…
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Off With Their Heads!
Like the last days of the Soviet Union, the satellite offices of Balch & Bingham appear to be worried about their future and thinking of independence as The Washington Post exposé has tarnished the brand, the name, the legacy nationally. Jokingly called Balch, Bingham & Bribery in some circles, Balch was at the pinnacle of power two years ago. Now they are a laughing stock. With more national investigative journalists taking a look at Balch, will Balch satellite offices break away? Last year, Steven Greenhut, a former Managing Partner at Balch’s Jacksonville Office left the firm Balch’s offices in Atlanta,…
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Anti-Muslim Post Stings Alabama Power
Tens of thousands of social media readers in the past 48 hours have read about the cop son of a now retired Alabama Power executive and the cop’s Anti-Muslim post. The cop, Jeffrey Bowers of the Columbiana, Alabama Police Department, allegedly was involved in a “staged arrest” of Burt Newsome, who was allegedly targeted by Alabama Power’s sister-wife, the embattled law firm Balch and Bingham. Causing outrage is Bowers’ vulgar social media post suggesting Muslims are goat fornicators. The Culture of Hate linked to Alabama Power is stinging the utility and especially Alabama Power CEO Mark A. Crosswhite, a former Balch partner. And…
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Could a “Staged Arrest” Kill Alabama Power’s White Elephant?
Alabama Power and the embattled law firm Balch & Bingham are called “sister-wives.” Almost a century ago, the brother of Alabama Power’s president started the firm. Mark A. Crosswhite, a former Balch & Bingham partner, is the CEO of Alabama Power, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Southern Company, and considered one of the most powerful executives in Alabama. The long-time incestuous, revolving-door relationship may answer the question: How did the son of a long-time Alabama Power executive (now retired) get involved in an alleged “staged arrest” of one of Balch & Bingham’s most-successful competitors? With a civil RICO lawsuit to be…
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More Clients Flee Balch & Bingham; JeffCo Sheriff’s Office Terminates Balch
According to Politico.com, Balch & Bingham has been terminated by two lobbying clients in D.C. this past week. H.H. Technologies out of Cullman County dumped the firm Tuesday, according to Politico. A smaller client, H.H. paid Balch $50,000 in 2012 and 2013 according to the Center for Responsive Politics. But more damaging, the Jefferson County, Alabama Sheriff’s Office gave Balch the boot, too, after paying the firm over $1 million since 2005. Balch & Bingham had a close relationship with Sheriff Mike Hale who lost in the election last November. Hale was funded by Balch affiliated entities and clients. As…
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Is Alabama Power Ready to Cut the Ropes with Balch?
[This post originally appeared on November 13, 2017. Today, almost a year and a half later, it is more truthful than ever: Mark Crosswhite, Alexia Borden, and Houston Smith need to make their future brighter and end the relationship, no matter how wonderful it was in the past, with Balch & Bingham. Balch & Bingham used to be respected and feared. No more. Even insiders were overheard laughing about Balch and Crosswhite’s troubles at Topgolf recently. ] Demonstrating how toxic Balch & Bingham ‘s reputation has become, the Board of Directors of Alabama Power promoted two former Balch & Bingham…
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Alabama Power Overheats on Ronnlund Connection
Our sources at Southern Company’s wholly-owned subsidiary Alabama Power tell us that Robert Ronnlund, the attorney accused of engaging in alleged obstruction of justice and the alteration of evidence in the Newsome Conspiracy Case, caused a flurry of activity at the utility yesterday afternoon. Ronnlund’s wife, Millicent, serves as General Counsel of Southern Nuclear, another wholly-owned subsidiary of Southern Company. Before joining Southern Nuclear in late 2017, Millicent Ronnlund was a partner at Balch & Bingham. When our sources told us Ronnlund was of gravest concern, we were scratching our heads, asking, “Why?” The answer, unknown to us at first,…
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Crosswhite and the Culture of Hate
With Alabama Power’s Chief Executive Officer Mark Crosswhite under fire for his steadfast support of his former employer, the embattled law firm Balch & Bingham, the Culture of Hate surrounding Alabama Power is indeed raising distress and concern inside the utility, according to our sources. Southern Company, Alabama Power’s parent company, has been under intense scrutiny for the billion-dollar cost overruns at the Vogtle Nuclear Plant in Georgia and the Kemper Natural Gas Plant debacle in Mississippi. Now comes Alabama Power and the Culture of Hate: The “staged arrest” of a Balch competitor was done by a cop who is…
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Who will Go: Balch or Crosswhite?
What kind of utility company allows a vendor to violate a structured code of conduct and abuse their inter-connected relationships by allegedly engaging in a “staged arrest?” With Wall Street analysts and institutional investors being briefed this week, the aftermath of the link of Alabama Power to the Newsome Conspiracy Case and a coming civil RICO lawsuit, the question everyone is asking is who will go: Balch & Bingham or Mark Crosswhite? Crosswhite, who serves as CEO of Alabama Power and one of the most powerful business players in Alabama, (and who has shown brilliant leadership in the past) may…
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AG Barr Shows Balch Crony the Door; Southern Company to the Rescue
Ex-Balch & Bingham partner Jeffrey H. Wood, one of President Donald J. Trump’s first nominees to the U.S. Department of Justice after he was inaugurated as President, appears to have been shown the door by U.S. Attorney General William P. Barr, according to our sources. Only days after the North Birmingham Bribery Scandal broke headlines, we, the CDLU, successfully blocked Wood’s nomination in May of 2017 by reaching out to the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary. We wrote to the committee at the time: Anyone involved in an alleged conspiracy to suppress African-Americans is unfit to serve in the…
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Shock: Newsome Conspiracy Cop is Son of Respected Alabama Power Executive
A Columbiana, Alabama police officer who pulled Burt Newsome over in May of 2013 in an alleged “staged arrest” was none other than Jeffrey Bowers, the son of Willard L. Bowers, the retired, long-time executive at Alabama Power (pictured left) who last served as Vice President of Environmental Affairs for the utility. Was this “staged arrest” done for the benefit of embattled law firm Balch & Bingham? Alabama Power and Balch & Bingham are called “sister-wives.” Almost a century ago, the brother of Alabama Power’s president started the firm. Mark A. Crosswhite, a former Balch & Bingham partner, is currently…
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Smitherman’s Spring Break Fever
Balch & Bingham stooge Judge Carole Smitherman may take a few days off for Spring Break reflecting on the worst week she has had in her career. What kind of idiot signs her name to an order that simply adds explosive fuel to a civil RICO lawsuit? Previously, we had shown over $30,000 in questionable contributions to Smitherman and her husband State Senator Rodger Smitherman that appear to have been possibly used to influence the horrendous decisions made in the Newsome Conspiracy Case. The over $30,000 came from entities or individuals affiliated with the alleged co-conspirators or Balch, including $2,000…
