Supervisors on Thursday heard from attorneys from Lauderdale County Youth Court about potentially increasing attorney compensation to reflect the workload.

Currently, attorneys working in youth court are paid $39,378.28 per year, or 33% less than public defenders working in circuit court, said Youth Court Attorney Stella Hurt. Youth court attorneys, however, work 52 weeks out of the year, she said, compared to 22 weeks for circuit court.

Recent legislation, which went into effect July 1, has added even more to youth court attorneys’ already heavy workload, Hurtt said, and the attorneys working for Lauderdale County want their pay to match the effort they put in.

Youth Court Judge Lisa Howell said the court is required to do a case review every 60 days for cases involving children under 3, which adds a lot to the court docket. On top of that, a child of any age can get their own attorney if they disagree with their guardian ad litem, which is an attorney appointed to represent their interests.

“If they disagree with what that attorney says, they get their own attorneys,” she said. “So you have the possibility of several kids having their own attorneys.”

A new rule now requires that noncustodial parents have an attorney when facing termination of parental rights, Howell said, even if that parent is in jail, has a severe mental illness or faces another issue that makes them unable to care for a child.

The high workload and low pay for attorneys makes finding and retaining good workers difficult. The court currently has positions for three attorneys and one prosecutor, with one of those positions open, she said. In the past, it has taken about six months to find a good candidate, and Howell said she isn’t seeing indications the current search will go quicker.

“Right now we’re not having anybody that’s interested because they can go to circuit courts and be a public defender part time and do other work,” she said.

A shortage of attorneys throughout the state and changes to legislation that require courts to have additional attorneys add to the problem, Howell said, as other courts, law firms and organizations attempt to poach those she currently has. Oftentimes, she said, those organizations can offer an attorney much more than what they are making in youth court.

“They’re scalping my employees, and I’m going to lose them, and then I’m really not going to be able to function because I won’t be able to do anything if I don’t have any attorneys,” she said.

Youth court has very strict laws that dictate when defendants need to have an attorney, Howell said, and failure to meet those requirements will have consequences. Coming before the Board of Supervisors is intended to be a red flag that something will need to be done to address the situation, she said.

“It’s a situation that could get us in a worse situation,” she said.

County Administrator Chris Lafferty said the county did receive a budget request from the youth court for an additional $40,000 for salaries. After requests for further information went unanswered, he said, the request was dropped from the 2025 budget.