Managing Partner Stan Blanton Discusses the Firm’s Growth and Future Plans with the Birmingham Business Journal

Balch & Bingham is focused on continuing to grow consistent with its clients’ needs, as Managing Partner Stan Blanton discussed with the Birmingham Business Journal (BBJ) in an interview published on December 29, 2022.

Stan explained plans to build upon the firm’s first 100 years of success, a milestone celebrated in 2022, through targeted growth and expansion opportunities, and through a continued commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. 

“Probably the most noteworthy expansion plans will continue to be in our newer offices that don’t quite have critical mass yet in Texas and Florida,” Stan told the BBJ. 

In 2022, the firm added five new attorneys in Texas which included adding additional depth to its Energy, Government Relations and Public Policy and Litigation teams. The firm’s Jacksonville, Florida office doubled in size in 2022, with the addition of four new attorneys bolstering the Financial Services, Real Estate and Litigation Practices. Former TIAA Bank In-house Counsel Dave Barrett joined the Jacksonville Office, adding robust experience navigating complex acquisitions and commercial transactions in the financial services sector.

In his interview, Stan also highlighted the firm’s focus on adding talent to its existing practices, including its globally-ranked Energy Practice and market-leading Environmental and Litigation Practices, as the technology evolution continues to impact those areas and others.

Stan discussed ongoing efforts to recruit and retain attorneys and professionals from all backgrounds and noted a continued focus on professional development as critical to ensuring teams have opportunities to develop leadership skills and continue to hone their technical abilities. As the firm continues to champion diversity and inclusion in 2023, it will continue to emphasize recruiting from a wide variety of law schools, supporting and growing important partnerships with organizations such as the Magic City Bar Association and the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity and dedicating additional resources to its affinity networks for underrepresented groups. 

Stan serves as the Chairman of the Firm’s Executive Committee and its Managing Partner. His practice concentrates on the regulatory, licensing, and commercial issues that arise in the development, operation, and sale of electric generating facilities, particularly nuclear power plants. He is widely-recognized as one of the nation’s leading lawyers in nuclear regulation and policy.

Balch & Bingham was founded in 1922 by Judge William Logan Martin to serve Alabama’s emerging electric industry. Balch been there for major milestones, and the quiet moments, that have shaped Alabama, the Southeast and the United States, successfully navigating legal challenges that changed the future of energy, finance, construction and so many other industries, economies and practice areas. 

From modest beginnings and the vision of Judge William Logan Martin, Jr., the firm grew to become what it is today: a nationally-recognized law firm with more than 200 lawyers in offices across five states and Washington D.C., boasting a globally-ranked nuclear energy practice, numerous market-leading practices and a steadfast commitment to serving its clients, its people, communities and the legal profession.