County Commissioner John Brooks said an attorney should be named as the county's Equal Employment Opportunity officer.
He said he does not plan to vote on Wednesday in favor of the appointee, Nicole Gaines.
Commissioner Brooks, in a letter to Jeannine Alday, chief of staff to County Mayor Claude Ramsey, said, "After reading the article where the city of Chattanooga has been hit for a verdict of $530,000 in an age discrimination case, it became clear to me that who we hire is very important.
"The fact that Ms. Gaines is not an attorney disturbs me."
He said, "Whatever training Ms. Gaines has, if you are the EEOC officer, you are going to have to give a legal opinion occasionally, and, as we well know, a non-attorney cannot give a legal opinion.
"I don't care what kind of training she received while working for Unum Provident, she had attorneys that must have overseen her and that will not be the case here.
"If I was the attorney suing Hamilton County, I would quickly point out that the person advising the county was giving them legal opinions in violation of the law, i.e. practicing law without a license.
"In my opinion, I think this would put us in a terrible position in any lawsuit, and I truly do believe that is it a mistake to hire someone for this position who is not an attorney."
County Mayor Ramsey earlier said Ms. Gaines was in the human resources department of Unum for a number of years and is active in the insurance business with her husband.
She is scheduled to take the place of attorney Wade Hinton, who formerly had the county contract.
Attorney Hinton has taken a position on the legal staff of Volkswagen.
The County Commission is due to vote on the issue on Wednesday morning.