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“Balch Owed No Duty” Goes to Court Tomorrow
Tomorrow marks the first hearing in which Balch & Bingham will have to defend itself against the $50 million lawsuit from ex-Drummond executive Dave Roberson who allegedly was repeatedly lied to by ex-Balch partner and Balch-made millionaire Joel I. Gilbert. Gilbert’s actions led to the indictment and conviction of Roberson, who is not a lawyer and relied on Balch & Bingham’s legal advice. The show starts at 10:00 a.m. CDT at the courtroom of the Honorable Tamara Johnson, Jefferson County Courthouse, Room 640, 716 Richard Arrington Jr. Blvd. N, Birmingham, Alabama. In their pleadings, Balch concluded “Balch owed no duty…
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Balch & Bingham’s “Owed No Duty” Goes Contrary to Southern Company’s Values
Southern Company has released its annual corporate responsibility report and they list their values including: Unquestionable Trust Honesty, respect, fairness and integrity drive our behavior. We keep our promises, and ethical behavior is our standard. As we approach more publicly-traded companies about the controversies surrounding Balch & Bingham, Balch’s alleged dishonesty, disrespect, unfairness, and lack of integrity are garnering attention, especially now that Balch has declared in court filings that Balch “owed no duty” to Dave Roberson, the ex-Drummond Company executive who was lied to repeatedly by Balch-made millionaire Joel I. Gilbert. Balch’s owing no duty exemplifies the arrogance of…
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Update: Two Balch & Bingham Women, Two Races, Two Outcomes
The two Balch & Bingham female attorneys assigned as lead attorneys to the Newsome Conspiracy Case that left in the last month appear to have had different outcomes. According to our sources at Alabama Power, Katie C. Hill has joined Southern Nuclear as the Director of Compliance and Concerns. She will work most likely under Millicent Ronnlund, General Counsel for Southern Nuclear and a former Balch & Bingham partner whose husband, Robert M. Ronnlund, is a key figure in the Newsome Conspiracy Case. Robert M. Ronnlund appears to have engaged in alleged criminal obstruction of justice and alleged altering of…
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Opposition to Balch & Bingham Builds Nationally
Does Balch & Bingham truly believe that hiring one white-male attorney in Augusta while letting go of the only black female attorney in Birmingham is a public relations coup? Last week, trying to deflect their troubles with blinders on, Balch & Bingham announced the opening of a one-attorney office in Augusta, Georgia and tried to spin the news as “an expansion” of their footprint. Augusta is the county seat of Richmond County which is 54 percent African-American. How well will the community in Richmond County react to a law firm that appears to have engaged in environmental racism and refuses…
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When the Good Go Bad
[This post originally was published on February 23, 2018 before the conviction of Balch-made millionaire Joel I. Gilbert. We think this post is a sobering story about when good people go astray.] Greed. Power. Selfish pride. They lead to the downfall and the crumbling of inherent goodness for many people and institutions. In January of 2006, we, the CDLU, jumped into action after Ruby Cintron, who was watching New Year’s Fireworks on her back porch was hit in the eye by a stray bullet while holding a young 7-month-old baby in her arms. Some idiot, a couple miles away somewhere…
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Third Party Risk and “Balch Owed No Duty”
In a week, one of Balch & Bingham’s top clients, Southern Company (parent of Alabama Power), will be hosting its annual shareholders meeting at Callaway Gardens in Georgia. Southern Company’s CEO Tom Fanning has quietly, but brilliantly, distanced the company from Balch & Bingham. Southern Company has not used Balch for lobbying efforts in Washington, D.C. since 2016, and allocated resources to other lobbying firms on Capitol Hill according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Balch & Bingham appears to have become a third-party risk. And now Balch & Bingham has bigger problems on the horizon as the $50 million…
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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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Balch & Bingham Shoots Itself in the Head
Balch and Bingham’s response to the $50 million lawsuit filed by ex-Drummond executive Dave Robinson is like a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The response appears to be a notice, a blaring notice to all General Counsels who utilize Balch and Bingham legal services: If any Balch and Bingham partner ever provides bad legal advice, lies to you, or is involved in a criminal scheme, it is YOUR fault. Although Balch’s response spends pages upon pages arguing and whining about “statute of limitations,” Balch acknowledges that Roberson’s claims indeed arose from the legal advice Balch provided to Drummond. Balch’s best line from…
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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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Sorry Balch & Bingham, Drummond: The Fat Lady Has Not Sung!
The bombshell from Kyle Whitmire’s column yesterday: The Justice Department could pursue its case further. So far, the US Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, Jay Town, has said only the men convicted already [ex Balch partner Joel I. Gilbert, ex State Rep. Oliver Robinson, and Drummond Executive Dave Roberson] were responsible. Does that change now that one of those men [Dave Roberson] is saying that’s not true? “DOJ and the EPA continue to discuss next steps as it concerns north Birmingham and Tarrant,” Town said when I asked him this week. Dave Roberson has opened a can of…
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Injustice Makes Even Stranger Bedfellows
The talk of Mountain Brook–the elite enclave in Birmingham– and on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC is not so much about Dave Roberson’s $50 Million lawsuit against Drummond and Balch & Bingham but who is representing Roberson. Burt Newsome. Yes, Burt Newsome the sole-practitioner attorney who allegedly was targeted, wrongly arrested and defamed by Balch & Bingham. Schuyler Allen Baker, Jr., one of Balch & Bingham dinosaur partners, who appears to have let the Newsome Conspiracy Case turn into a legal quagmire and shameful embarrassment, has now handed his self-created, artificial, superficial “nemesis” the case of a lifetime that could…
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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…
