Baptist Press
NASHVILLE — SBC Executive Committee President and CEO Ronnie Floyd responded on Monday afternoon to a letter he received from Convention attorneys Jim Guenther and Jaime Jordan, who announced they were withdrawing as the SBC’s legal counsel.
In the letter — which was addressed to Floyd, as well as EC trustees and Greg Addison, EC executive vice president — the two attorneys alerted Floyd that the law firm of Guenther, Jordan & Price has “no choice” but to “withdraw … from (its) role as general counsel to the Southern Baptist Convention and the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention.” See full story HERE.
In response, Floyd said, “Jim Guenther and Jaime Jordan have admirably served the legal needs of the Southern Baptist Convention and the SBC Executive Committee since 1966,” Floyd said. “Since their initial retainer by the SBC Executive Committee under the Porter Routh administration, they have grown to become the foremost legal experts on Southern Baptist polity and have been a pivotal guide through numerous changes in our culture, polity and Convention. The loss of their institutional knowledge will be irreplaceable.
“With deep regrets, we accept their decision and fully understand their reasoning behind it and their need to withdraw. We are extremely grateful for their 56 years of superior service to the Southern Baptist Convention and the Executive Committee.”
The announcement comes nearly a week after EC members voted to waive attorney-client privilege in the independent, third-party investigation into allegations of mishandling of sexual abuse claims. That decision, the letter stipulated, “fundamentally changed the understanding that has always existed regarding communications between our firm and the Executive Committee or the Convention.”
