Just four months after Guilford County hired a new county attorney, the Guilford County Board of Commissioners approved spending $222,250 for an outside law firm providing interim county attorney services – while the county simultaneously seeks approval to hire four more attorneys and expand its legal department budget by more than $1 million.
The Board of Commissioners approved the contract amendment at its Thursday evening, June 4 meeting.
The amendment increased a contract with Teague Campbell Dennis & Gorham LLP from $185,250 to an amount up to $222,250. County documents state that the firm has been providing legal services to Guilford County, including interim county attorney services.
The Rhino Times asked the county why the department was contracting out for interim county attorney services after the county hired Carolyn Thompson as county attorney.
In October 2025, former County Attorney Andrea Leslie-Fite left Guilford County to become the city attorney for Charlotte. Former Interim County Attorney Matt Mason returned to help lead the office during the transition.
At the start of February, Thompson officially took over as county attorney.
According to Guilford County Communications and PR Director Linda McElroy, the outside legal work is part of wrapping up that transition.
“During the transition, the County contracted an interim attorney, who has served in that role until the County’s new hire on February 1, 2026,” McElroy said in an email. “The interim attorney remains staffed on a part-time basis to represent the County’s interests and to close out pending matters during the transition. The work is anticipated to end in July 2026.”
While that transition work is continuing, Guilford County Manager Victor Isler is asking the board for a significant expansion of the County Attorney’s Office.
According to Isler’s proposed fiscal year 2026-2027 budget, the legal department’s total budget would increase from $5.24 million in the current adopted budget to $6.32 million for the fiscal year that starts on July 1. County-funded spending would increase from $5.22 million to $6.29 million.
The proposal would add four new deputy county attorney positions at a cost of $585,872 a year.
If the commissioners approve the expansion, the county’s attorney’s office would grow from 32 full-time positions to 36. Budget documents show that the department currently includes 24 attorney positions, six legal support positions and six Recovery Court positions. The addition would effectively increase the county’s attorney ranks from 24 to 28 lawyers.
So, the obvious question is: Why does the county suddenly need four more attorneys?
County officials say the answer is the amount of money the county is having to spend on outside legal services.
According to McElroy, Guilford County spent $652,640 on outside legal work during fiscal year 2025. Through part of fiscal year 2026, spending had already reached $866,515 so far this fiscal year.
Those numbers include legal work performed for various county departments, not just the County Attorney’s Office.
McElroy added that tax foreclosure expenses make up the largest category of outside legal spending.
Guilford County officials say the new attorneys would allow more legal work to be handled in-house.
“The four new recommended positions will cover matters typically handled by outside counsel such as workers’ compensation litigation, federal civil litigation, employment litigation, state appellate court litigation, and planning and development matters,” McElroy said.
The manager’s budget proposal makes a similar argument, stating that the county currently relies on third-party legal providers to manage part of its workload and that the new attorneys should eventually reduce operating expenses. The budget proposal states that the new positions will primarily focus on contract review, planning and development matters, real estate issues including title examinations, tax matters and employment law.
County leaders contend that spending more now on in-house attorneys will save money later by reducing the need for outside counsel.
