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| Cyrus Chin, formerly of Balch & Bingham, now is at Bradley law firm. |
Birmingham's Balch & Bingham, a law firm with a history of dubious actions on matters of race (see here and here), apparently does not take issues of diversity and inclusion seriously, according to a report at Law.com.
K.B. Forbes, publisher of banbalch.com and CEO of the blog's parent organization -- the CDLU public charity and advocacy group -- has broken dozens of stories about scandals that have been swirling around Balch & Bingham for roughly 10 years. Forbes reports today on Law.com's findings under the headline "Bogus Balch! Scurrilous Southern Company! Racial Inclusion is a Grand Illusion." Forbes writes:
A report from Law.com appears to confirm what critics of the embattled law firm Balch & Bingham have repeatedly declared: The diversity and inclusion efforts at Balch look like nothing more than phony fluff and bogus spin.
Law.com reports:
Some southeastern law firms were first-time participants this year among the group of firms that were certified or recertified under the Mansfield Rule leadership diversity initiative.
Now in its sixth year, this year’s Mansfield certification asked law firms to consider lawyers from historically underrepresented groups for leadership roles, equity partner promotions, client pitch opportunities and more at a rate of at least 30% compared with the total number of candidates.
Some large Southeast-founded firms not participating in the program include …Balch & Bingham….
Minority lawyers who start climbing the career ladder at Balch & Bingham often exit the firm in relatively short order, writes Forbes:
Is anyone surprised? WIth only 2 percent of their partners being people of color, Balch has engaged in alleged tokenism.
Minorities are hired only to flee the alleged racist law firm months later.
Even one of Balch’s top minority partners, Cyrus Chin, who was heavily promoted as the poster child of Balch’s equality epiphany, dumped the firm this past summer. Chin now works at another Birmingham-based firm, Bradley (formerly Bradley Arant).
Even Balch’s sister-wife, Southern Company, is engaging in alleged tokenism, appointing its first African American CEO this year, Chris Womack.
Yet, Southern Company hypocritically has paid and allegedly continues to pay millions to the Oompa Loompa of Alabama politics, Joe Perkins, and his affiliated entities, that were given the green light by Southern Company to allegedly target and harass minorities and others in a campaign of fear and intimidation.
Southern Company's harsh treatment of minorities hits close to home for Forbes and prominent Birmingham-area lawyer Burt Newsome, proprietor of Newsome Law LLC. Balch is Southern Company's primary law firm, and Newsome has engaged in court battles with Balch and related entities on several occasions in recent years. From today's report at banbalch.com:
The Hispanic family of our Chief Executive Officer K.B. Forbes was forced to flee their home in the summer of 2020 because of Southern Company.
Burt Newsome's wife, an immigrant, was under surveillance, saw her car windows smashed, and was sent a threatening package in an alleged orchestrated effort by Southern Company operatives.
Southern Company, and its paid goons, allegedly have spent years scurrilously smearing and defaming Burt Newsome, the CDLU, and K.B. Forbes and infringing on their individual and civil rights.
Both Balch and Southern Company regurgitate the stock-in-trade lines about equality and diversity.
But as we have learned, vicious, criminal actions speak louder than feeble, fluffy words.
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