Flint legal division plans to add more ‘in-house’ attorneys next year

FLINT, Mich. — By adding more attorneys to the city’s payroll over the next year, officials are hoping to make Flint’s legal operations cheaper and less reliant on outside resources.

City Attorney Joanne Gurley said the Flint Legal Department aims to hire at least three additional attorneys over the next fiscal year. Speaking to members of the City Council on May 4, Gurley said if 2025 was a year of “right-sizing” the legal side of city administration, the coming year will see the department’s focus shifting to consolidating and bringing legal resources “in-house.”

“We’re just trying to figure out how to make the department run smoothly,” Gurley said. “We still have some ways to go, but we’re still looking to hire for vacant positions. We also were looking at different types of software to make the department more efficient, and I think that we’ve pretty much done that.” 

Current plans would see the legal department boosting its in-house counsel roster from five to eight attorneys. Hiring more attorneys would also serve to reduce the workload overseen by the city’s current legal staff.

In addition to unifying Flint’s legal workforce, Gurley said hiring more internal law staff could save the city around $100,000 a year. 

“We had some very costly cases [in 2025] that really drove up outside legal expenses,” Gurley said. “With the onset of having additional attorneys, we hope to have that number reduced. But there will always be a need for outside counsel — it’s just the nature of law departments.”

Gurley’s May 4 presentation marked the final night of a series of weekly budget discussions aimed at giving City Council members more insight into how city funds might be spent in the near future. 

Flint Mayor Sheldon Neeley submitted his budget to the council on March 2.