Balch & Bingham Partners Named to Benchmark Litigation's 2021 40 & Under Hot List

Balch & Bingham is proud to announce that five litigators have been selected for inclusion in Benchmark Litigation’s 40 & Under Hot List for 2021.

Benchmark Litigation is the only attorney-ranking publication in the United States dedicated exclusively to litigation and dispute resolution. The annual 40 & Under Hot List recognizes the achievements of the nation’s most accomplished litigators under the age of 40. Honorees are selected through a multiphase process including in-depth research, client feedback and an assessment of recent casework.  

With more than 85 active litigators firm wide, Balch represents clients in state, federal and appellate courts across the country, including the U.S. Supreme Court. Chambers USA recently recognized Balch’s Litigation Practice as a top tier practice in Alabama and Mississippi and commented that the firm is “well regarded for its deft handling of disputes in highly regulated industries, including healthcare, energy and financial services, and represents commercial clients in the manufacturing industry.” 

The Balch attorneys recognized as 40 & Under Hot List honorees include:

Conrad Anderson IV, partner in the firm’s Birmingham office and member of the Litigation Practice, is a tech-minded trial attorney who litigates all manner of business disputes. Much of his time is spent defending class action lawsuits, often on behalf of banks and others in the financial industry. Most recently, he has represented lenders in a variety of nationwide class actions arising out of the PPP loan program. He also has significant experience and expertise assisting contractors and subcontractors in construction matters, including contract drafting and negotiation, payment disputes, bid protests, and insurance coverage issues.

Thomas DeBray, partner in the firm’s Birmingham office and member of the Litigation Practice, maintains a diverse civil litigation practice, providing counsel in cases concerning property damage or disputes, business disputes, and defending alleged violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Thomas recently obtained a defense ruling in a business dispute arbitration where the plaintiffs requested roughly $50 million in damages.

Adam Israel, partner in the firm’s Birmingham office and member of the Litigation Practice, focuses on complex business litigation, primarily in the areas of business torts and unfair competition and banking and financial services. A substantial portion of Adam’s practice is devoted to representing businesses and individuals in non-compete, non-solicitation, and theft of trade secrets cases in trial and appellate courts. Adam also regularly represents nuclear utilities in matters arising from the Department of Energy’s delay in disposing of the nation’s commercial spent nuclear fuel.

Joe Leavens, partner in the firm’s Birmingham office and member of the Litigation Practice focuses on two areas: construction law and joint use and emerging technologies for electric utilities. Joe’s construction practice includes representing owners, developers, architects, general contractors and subcontractors in contract negotiation and project development, as well as dispute resolution and construction claims. He is currently representing multiple clients in construction defect lawsuits over construction defects in multi-unit housing complexes in multiple states. In his electric utility practice Joe helps investor-owned utilities and electric cooperatives leverage vertical real estate on their pole networks and excess communications capacity on their fiber networks. Joe has assisted with legislative efforts at the federal, state and local levels, and also represented electric providers in administrative proceedings before the FCC and state commissions.

Jason Tompkins, partner in the firm’s Birmingham office and chair of the Issues & Appeals  Practice, has served as lead counsel on hundreds of individual cases and more than sixty class actions in numerous jurisdictions and at all levels of the federal court system. For example, in Midland Funding, LLC v. Johnson, Jason successfully represented one of the nation’s largest buyers of unpaid debt to advance an Eleventh Circuit class action to the U.S. Supreme Court, resulting in a key decision on the intersection of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and the Bankruptcy Code.