Balch & Bingham

Balch & Bingham LLP is a United States law firm based in Birmingham, Alabama. The firm has additional offices in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Texas, and Washington, D.C. and employs over 200 lawyers.[1][2]

Balch & Bingham
HeadquartersBirmingham, Alabama
No. of offices10
No. of attorneys200+
Major practice areasGeneral practice, Energy, Financial Services
Date founded1922
FounderWilliam Logan Martin Jr.
Company typeLimited liability partnership
Websitewww.balch.com

History

The firm was founded in 1922 by William Logan Martin Jr, who served as Alabama's Attorney General between 1915-1917 and as attorney for Alabama Power Company.[3][4] Martin's private practice in Birmingham was joined by Judge Fritz Thompson and Perry Turner to form Martin, Thompson & Turner in 1922.[5] In 1983, then known as Balch, Bingham, Baker, Hawthorne, Williams & Ward, the firm merged with Montgomery partnership Smith, Bowman, Thagard, Crook & Culpeper, expanding the firm's presence in Montgomery.[6] In 1985, the firm's name was changed to Balch & Bingham in recognition of partners Eason Balch and John Bingham.[5] In 2001, the firm merged with Eaton & Cottrell in Mississippi, followed in 2003 by a merger with Meadows, Ichter and Bowers in Atlanta.[7][8] In April 2012, Balch & Bingham acquired Birmingham-based Presley Burton & Collier, along with Jacksonville-based Stoneburner, Berry, Gocker, Purcell & Greenhut PA later that year.[9][10]

In 2014, the firm's billing was central to litigation in which the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality responded to a public records request by producing heavily redacted versions of invoices from the firm amounting to $4.88 million from 2010 to 2014. The department insisted that the firm was working on litigation related to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, a litigation matter protected by attorney–client privilege, though the department's contract with the firm contained no reference to the matter. The firm also asserted through one of its attorneys that it was working on that matter.[11] In 2015, the firm was criticized for charging nearly $900,000 to investigate alleged government corruption in DeKalb County, Georgia, with thousands of dollars being billed in some instances for time spent researching and then interviewing a public official, or attempting unsuccessfully to interview a county vendor.[12]

Offices

As of February 2020, Balch & Bingham was the fourth largest law firm in Birmingham, Alabama. The firm has additional offices in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Texas, and Washington, D.C..[13]

Notable attorneys and alumni
  • Mike Bowers – Attorney General of Georgia (1981-1997)
  • Clifford Durr – American lawyer who defended activists, including Rosa Parks, during the New Deal and McCarthy eras
  • Barbara Olson – American lawyer and conservative television commentator
  • Edwina Rogers – Conservative lobbyist, Executive Director of the Patient Centered Primary Care Collaborative (2006-2011) and National Economic Council Associate Director (2001-2002)
  • William Sellers – American lawyer and judge, associate justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama
  • Alvin Vogtle – American lawyer, business executive and World War II fighter pilot

References
  1. Rumore, Pat Boyd (2000). Lawyers in a New South City: A History of the Legal Profession in Birmingham. Association Publishing Company. ISBN 0966838017.
  2. "Balch & Bingham Offices". Balch & Bingham. 19 November 2020.
  3. "Balch & Bingham founder selected for Alabama Lawyers' Hall of Fame". The Birmingham News. 31 October 2012.
  4. "Hall of Fame Class – 2012". Alabama State Bar. 1 December 2012.
  5. "Birmingham's big 5". Birmingham Business Journal. 24 March 2002.
  6. "H. Harold Williams". Legacy.com. 20 November 2020.
  7. "Balch & Bingham Reels In Ala. Public Financing Firm". Law360. 9 April 2012.
  8. "Former Attorney General Mike Bowers Leaves Balch & Bingham for Athens Firm". Law.com. 25 September 2020.
  9. "After Partner Departures, Balch & Bingham Takes Over Birmingham Firm". The AM Law Daily. 10 April 2012.
  10. "Alabama law firm expands to Jacksonville with Stoneburner merger". Jacksonville Business Journal. 26 September 2012.
  11. Emily Le Coz, "Agency defends redacting invoices", The Clarion-Ledger (May 2, 2014), p. A1-A4.
  12. Alan Judd, "Running up $900,000 tab easier than you would think", The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (October 4, 2015), p. A1, A8.
  13. "Balch & Bingham expands footprint to Texas, longtime Bham attorney joins firm's new Houston office". Birmingham Business Journal. 6 February 2012.


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