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Where Have We Been?
We missed you, dear readers. We have had an intense week: meeting in the halls of power on Capitol Hill, and with respected investigative reporters and criminal investigators. Regardless of what Balch & Bingham foolishly continues to do or say, the fact remains that the fat lady has not sung. The Washington Post article on Balch & Bingham was a lightening rod. Doors have swung open as people hear in disbelief the stories of Burt Newsome, a staged arrest, a corrupt Star Chamber, “fall guy” Dave Roberson, and the deceptive pleadings by Balch & Bingham that appear to show a…
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Balch’s Deception Allegedly Destroys Mountain Brook Family
Selling the family home. Contemplating bankruptcy. Attempting suicide twice. Destabilizing an autistic child. And the alleged cause of these troubles? Balch & Bingham’s deception. Dave Roberson, the ex-Drummond executive who was abruptly fired in February only months after Drummond Company publicly vowed to defend and support him, has mounted a $50 million civil lawsuit that has provoked a deep look at Balch & Bingham’s alleged misconduct. Ex-Balch & Bingham partner and convicted felon Joel I. Gilbert apologized to Dave Roberson during his criminal sentencing hearing. Why? Because Gilbert appears to have repeatedly lied to Roberson, and never had Balch’s ethics…
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Balch’s Gross Lack of Integrity Shines in Roberson Suit
With Balch & Bingham’s General Counsel Schuyler Allen Baker, Jr. seated anxiously in the front row of the public gallery, Balch & Bingham demonstrated a complete and gross lack of integrity last Wednesday before the court of Judge Tamara Johnson who is presiding over the $50 million lawsuit from ex-Drummond executive Dave Roberson. Balch stupidly filed a false pleading before the court arguing that as legal service providers Roberson had missed the statute of limitations under the Alabama Legal Services Liability Act and Balch’s Motion to Dismiss should be granted. Big problem is (and both Balch and Drummond Company have acknowledged)…
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Roberson’s Wife Attempted Suicide Twice
In a shocking revelation in open court today, ex-Drummond executive Dave Roberson’s wife Anna, who grew up in Jasper, Alabama attempted suicide twice because of her husband’s troubles allegedly caused by Balch and Bingham’s bad legal advice and Drummond Company’s alleged greed. The bad legal advice was central to the criminal case known as the North Birmingham Bribery Scandal in which ex-Balch & Bingham partner Joel I. Gilbert was sentenced to 5 years to federal prison while Dave Roberson was sentenced to 30 months to prison last year. Both men were found guilty on six federal charges including money laundering…
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Watch Out! $2,000 Bribe Lands Businessman 6 Months in Federal Prison
Breaking news tonight from AL.com: A California business executive was sentenced to six months in federal prison Tuesday for conspiring to bribe the former majority leader of the Alabama House of Representatives. G. Ford Gilbert, 71, paid former Alabama House Majority Leader Micky Hammon $2,000 to drum up support for a bill that would force Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama to cover diabetes treatment provided by his company, Trina Health. But the bill died in the 2016 legislative session after failing to advance out of committee. The judge overseeing the case ordered Gilbert to serve six months in federal…
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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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Southern Company and Balch’s Third-Party Risk
[This post was originally published last year on April 30, 2018. Today is the annual shareholders meeting of Southern Company. With a federal probe emanating from Mississippi, cost overruns at a nuclear power plant in Georgia, and Balch & Bingham’s alleged shenanigans in Alabama, Southern Company has many issues to confront; however, CEO Tom Fanning in the past year has quietly distanced the company from Balch, while hiring some of the best talent from the embattled law firm.] Institutional investors and Wall Street analysts are keenly aware of third-party risks and the ability of major corporations to manage them. Right…
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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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Rest in Peace Blanca Blancas Luna
Our main mission as a public charity is to help the sick and the dying. We have helped over 10,000 families since 2001. One extraordinary case was that of Blanca Blancas Luna, a wonderful mother from Mexico who desperately needed our help to obtain a ground-breaking stem-cell surgery in Chicago. Our original contact with Blanca’s family was near the time Balch & Bingham and their stooge Judge Carole Smitherman created the unconstitutional and corrupt Star Chamber in August of 2017. We traveled multiple times to Chicago and wrote about her original care on this blog titled, “Blanca versus the Brookies.”…
