In an apparent effort to survive, Balch & Bingham becomes the "Piglets of Pork," but that trough seems to be drying up in the wake of Baldwin Co. bridge project

 

Birmingham's beleaguered Balch & Bingham law firm, which once enjoyed a stellar reputation, now appears to have resorted to government-contract work in an effort to survive, according to a report at the banbalch.com blog. K.B. Forbes, blog publisher and CEO of its parent organization -- the CDLU public charity and advocacy group -- writes under the headline "Piglets of Pork: Balch & Bingham Sucks on Million-Dollar Government Nipple for Apparent Survival":

When The Washington Post wrote an in-depth article on Balch & Bingham’s rental-assistance debacle in Mississippi in September of 2021, we accurately called the embattled firm “government-made millionaires” that survived on contractual cronyism.

Balch & Bingham reaped millions while renters, many of whom were People of Color, received nothing, according to The Washinghon Post.

Now the Piglets of Pork look like they continue to survive on government contracts.

1819 News reports:

Alabama’s Contract Review Committee held a meeting Thursday during which it approved a $600,000 increase in a legal contract for Balch & Bingham law firm to represent the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) in a Baldwin County bridge dispute.

Per the contract, which ends November 2024, Balch and Bingham will “provide [ALDOT with] representation and advice regarding possible and actual litigation in a dispute by the Baldwin County Bridge Company (BCBC) regarding the bridge and road project in Baldwin County.”

The new legal contract total is $1.4 million.

“This one is just the gift that keeps on giving. We’re now a new total of $1.4 million in legal on that one. It’s just frustrating,” State Sen. Chris Elliott (R-Josephine) said at the committee meeting on Thursday.

Is Balch & Bingham in desperate shape? Relevant numbers suggest the answer might be yes, Forbes reports:

Since 2018, Balch has lost in the aggregate as much as $100 million in revenue as clients and top money-making partners and attorneys have dumped and fled the embattled firm.

To survive, Balch appears to have become dependent on government contracts.

From the Pimps of Mississippi to the Welfare Queens of Alabama, Balch’s footprint appears to have become certified, premium piglets of pork.

But the news on Balch’s government dependency is not glamorous at all.

In Mississippi, Balch, has obtained 76 government contracts worth more than $43 million since 2014, according to a state transparency website.

However those financial numbers have plummeted, too.

In 2020, Balch obtained more thN $12.2 million in Mississippi state contracts that included $2.1 million in consulting fees related to the rental-assistance debacle.

In 2021, Balch was given $5.7 million in state-government contracts in Mississippi when The Washington Post investigative report was published, rocking the Magnolia State.

Last year, in 2022, the firm's reputation damaged while in the spotlight, Balch was only able to obtain a mere $1.6 million in Mississippi state contracts.

That equals less that a third of what the firm earned the year before and a mere 13 percent of its 2020 contract numbers.

Contractual cronyism appears to be coming to a chilling close.

With its reputation in tatters, Balch & Bingham appears to be imploding from all directions and “the gift that keeps on giving” may come to an end as frustrated lawmakers see the light or hear the wrath, and toss Balch over the side of the toll bridge in Baldwin County.