Balch & Bingham Celebrates 2025 Pro Bono Week

At Balch & Bingham, we are committed to expanding equal access 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. 

"Pro bono work is central to the values we hold as a firm,” said Managing Partner Stan Blanton. “Our attorneys step up to help individuals, families and organizations overcome barriers, create opportunity, and improve lives. Their dedication reflects our commitment to our communities, to expanding access to justice, and to the belief that serving others strengthens both the people we help and our firm as a whole."

Through community partnerships, we have supported children and families in need; nonprofits facing hurdles as they work to serve their neighbors; tenants facing unsafe living conditions; individuals navigating insurance or consumer disputes; youth recreational organizations; and others seeking legal guidance to overcome barriers and improve their lives.

Additionally, our attorneys have supported 85 businesses over the past year through Balch Business Boost, the program Balch created to help emerging and small disadvantaged businesses by providing free or low-cost legal services.

As part of the American Bar Association’s 2025 National Celebration of Pro Bono, we are honored to share a glimpse into the important work our team has supported this year.

• Supporting Pathways to Opportunity: Balch attorneys actively serve the Mississippi Center for Justice (MCJ), a non-profit dedicated to advancing racial and economic justice. Over the past year, our team has supported MCJ on a range of legal matters, including employment and policy-related issues, while also representing MCJ in an insurance matter arising from storm-related property damage. Through this ongoing partnership, Balch remains committed to helping MCJ further its mission of creating better futures for low-income Mississippians and communities of color.
  
  Our own Walter Boone serves as Chair of the MCJ Board of Directors, supporting efforts including oversight, administration and strategic vision. Balch’s Alan Windham, Armin Moeller, Ashley Cannady, Luke Smith, Tara Ellis, and Arreyah Whitlock have all dedicated time to assisting MCJ’s meaningful work.
  
  
  
• Preserving Resources for Georgians in need: Through the Pro Bono Partnership of Atlanta, Balch attorney Patrick Silloway provided counsel to St. Vincent de Paul of Georgia (SVDP) to help the organization continue its vital work addressing hunger, housing, and health needs. Patrick represented SVDP in appealing a significant increase to its property tax assessment that threatened its annual budget, leading to a nearly $1 million reduction in property valuation, saving SVDP thousands of dollars that can now be directed to programs aiming to remove barriers to stability and to create paths to self-sufficiency.
  
  
  
• Advocating for Safe & Stable Housing: Balch attorneys continue to support families and individuals facing unsafe or unstable housing through pro bono work with organizations including Gulf Coast Community Foundation and Volunteer Lawyers Birmingham (VLB). For example, Melanie Mitchell successfully represented a mother in a bench trial, securing the return of their security deposit after proving their landlord unlawfully withheld it despite the home being infested with rats. Nick Brown assisted tenants navigating uninhabitable conditions, including mold, electrical hazards, and pest infestations, helping one client file an answer in an eviction action, and another client with a Notice to Cure letter.
  
  
  
• Advocating for Individuals with Insurance Disputes and Consumer Recovery: Balch attorneys, including Alyssa Cook, Joe McCorkle, Anne Kaufold-Wiggins, Brant Pettis and Chuck Burkhart, have provided critical assistance to low-income individuals navigating insurance, consumer, and civil claims. Their pro bono work has helped clients recover funds for failed vehicles, storm-damaged homes, personal losses following accidents, and legal defense in civil disputes. For example, Chuck defended a young Mennonite farmer/rancher from Geiger, Alabama in a lawsuit following an accident on his tractor involving an 18 wheeler. Chuck helped secure a resolution at no out-of-pocket cost to the client or his family. Another example is in Anne Kaufold-Wiggins’s work helping a homeowner appeal FEMA’s denial of disaster relief after Hurricane Helene, securing more than $11,000 in reimbursement for storm-related damages.
  
  
  
• Temporary Child Custody Clinics: Attorneys in Balch's Gulfport office provide leadership and support for regular pro bono temporary child custody clinics, providing help to families in need who are seeking temporary custody of a child. The clinics are 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 Rodger Wilder serving as coordinator for the program. 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 Nuñez, 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. 

• Bridging the Gap Between Legal Needs and Resources: Balch’s Jackson office regularly staffs the free legal clinic at Stewpot Community Services, a nonprofit that provides food, shelter, and other vital services at no cost to local residents.  Balch attorneys Ben Bryant, Christy Crockett White and Matt Warren met with clinic participants to discuss their potential legal needs and connect them with the appropriate organizations or agencies for assistance. Through this ongoing commitment, Balch attorneys help remove barriers to stability and support the community’s most vulnerable neighbors.

• Supporting Youth Development and Education: Balch attorneys provide ongoing pro bono counsel to youth and education focused organizations, including the Boy Scouts of America and national accrediting bodies. For example, Marcus Chatterton has supported the Boy Scouts by helping strengthen policies, mitigate risks, and ensure effective operations, while Clark Watson serves as a hearing officer for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), a higher education institutional accreditor.