Balch & Bingham Celebrates 2024 Pro Bono Week

At Balch & Bingham, we are deeply committed to expanding access to justice and equality within the legal system to the most vulnerable members of our communities. We foster an ongoing commitment to serving our communities, both individually and collectively. This value is deeply engrained in our culture and passionately guides many of our firm-wide efforts.

“Pro bono service is essential to increasing fairness and equity in our legal system,” said Stan Blanton, Managing Partner. “It’s a responsibility we take seriously, and it continues to be an integral part of our efforts firm-wide. I’m proud of the meaningful impact our attorneys are making across the communities we serve.”

Through community partnerships, we have supported veterans, children in need, first responders, the elderly, survivors of domestic violence, minority- and women-owned businesses, nonprofits, low income clients seeking housing, youth recreational organizations, and others seeking legal help.

In addition to that work, our attorneys have supported more than 110 businesses over the past year through Balch Business Boost, the firm’s own program to support small and disadvantaged businesses and start-ups by providing free or low-cost legal services.

As part of the American Bar Association’s 2024 National Celebration of Pro Bono, we are honored to share a glimpse into the important work our team has supported this year.

• Increasing Access to Justice: Balch has long been a dedicated partner of Volunteer Lawyers Birmingham (VLB), with our attorneys consistently offering pro bono legal services to individuals in need throughout the Birmingham area. Through the VLB help desks, including the Bankruptcy Help Desk and Civil Help Desk, Balch attorneys provide direct assistance to clients facing a wide range of legal challenges. Many of these clients are dealing with complex issues such as landlord-tenant disputes, evictions, and bankruptcy, where access to legal representation can be life-changing. Balch’s Scott Grover also serves as treasurer for the Volunteer Lawyers Birmingham Board of Directors.
  
  Examples of work through VLB include Russ Campbell and Marcus Chatterton’s work with the help desk. Over the past year, they have each helped numerous families through landlord-tenant disputes. Their work has helped both families and individuals, often without the resources to advocate for themselves, have access to justice and housing stability. 

• Wills for Heroes: Gulfport attorneys, including Leo Manuel , Madi Seymour, and Stephen Broadus supported first responders through the "Wills for Heroes" program, in collaboration with the Mississippi Volunteer Lawyers Project and Harrison County Bar Association. Our attorneys prepared wills, powers of attorney, and advance healthcare directives for Sheriff’s Office employees. Wills for Heroes is a national program, started shortly after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, designed to assist emergency personnel in preparing estate planning documents to protect themselves and their families. We are honored to support this meaningful effort.

• Supporting Racial, Economic & Social Justice: Balch & Bingham attorneys actively serve the Mississippi Center for Justice (MCJ), a non-profit dedicated to racial, economic, and social justice. MCJ seeks systemic solutions that promote educational opportunity, protect the rights of consumers, secure access to healthcare, ensure equity in disaster recovery and put affordable housing within the reach of all Mississippians. Our own Walter Boone serves as Chair of the MCJ Board of Directors, supporting efforts including oversight, administration and strategic vision. Balch’s Armin Moeller, Ashley Cannady and Alan Windham have all dedicated time to assisting MCJ’s meaningful work.

• Advocating for the Elderly: In Augusta, Jena Lombard provided pro bono legal assistance to elderly clients through Georgia Legal Services, drafting wills, powers of attorney, and advanced healthcare directives. Her work helps ensure elderly individuals have proper legal protections in place for their futures.

• Temporary Child Custody Clinics: Attorneys in Balch's Gulfport office provide leadership and support for regular pro bono temporary child custody clinics, hosted in partnership with the 8th Chancery Court District Judges, Mississippi Volunteer Lawyers Project, Mississippi Access to Justice Commission, and Catholic Charities Kinship Navigator Program. Recognizing the great need for this initiative in their community, a dozen attorneys from the firm’s Gulfport office dedicate time to serving at the clinics, with Balch’s Susan Stutts and Rodger Wilder serving as coordinators for the program, which provides assistance to families in need who are seeking temporary custody of a child. Volunteer lawyers help clients pro se from start to finish, including petition drafting, giving testimony before the court, and getting temporary custody orders signed and filed with the clerk’s office. Their efforts have helped hundreds of children have the security of safe, stable, and loving homes. 

• Supporting Black Owned Businesses: Tashwanda Pinchback Dixon serves as general counsel to the board of the Atlanta Business League, which focuses on fostering the growth and success of African American-owned businesses in Atlanta. Her pro bono work for the organization is essential in supporting the organization’s mission of promoting economic development in the community.

• Support for Juvenile Sentencing Reform: Balch attorneys, including Jackson Partner Walter Boone and Attorney Christina Nunez, are seeking sentencing reviews for pro bono clients who received life without the possibility of parole (LWOP) as juveniles, supporting criminal justice reform efforts following the Supreme Court’s decision in Miller v. Alabama, which found that the imposition of an LWOP sentence to juveniles was presumptively unconstitutional, and required that the courts considered certain factors before imposing such a sentence. 

• Nonprofit Employer Guidance: Attorneys in the firm’s Atlanta office continue to support nonprofits with legal guidance. Josh Archer and Katherine Carey partnered with Pro Bono Partnership of Atlanta and 3Keys, Inc. to present a webinar aimed at offering guidance to nonprofit organizations providing housing assistance, striving to create stable and supportive living environments for their participants.

This highlights just a portion of the incredible pro bono work Balch attorneys do to support our communities. Our team remains dedicated to providing legal services to those in need and expanding access to justice.