Chief Justice Paul Newby continued a 100 county courthouse tour today during which he will visit Harnett, Johnston, and Lee counties. This is the second segment of the courthouse tour which started in Western North Carolina in May 2021. When completed, Chief Justice Newby will be the first chief justice to visit all of North Carolina's courthouses from Murphy to Manteo. During this segment of the courthouse tour, Chief Justice Newby will greet judges and courthouse personnel to thank them for their work and congratulate them on being selected as pilot counties for the Judicial Branch's eCourts initiative.

"Our local judges and courthouse personnel are essential to our judicial system," Chief Justice Newby said. "Without their work, we could not meet our constitutional mandate of open courts and providing justice. I'm looking forward to meeting them personally and extending my thanks for their hard work in keeping our courts open in these challenging times."

After this phase of the tour, Chief Justice Newby will soon visit courthouses in Alamance, Carteret, Chatham, Craven, Cumberland, Duplin, Durham, Jones, Onslow, Orange, Pamlico, and Sampson. The tour is planned to be completed within the next two years. The timeline and details of each visit will be announced as they become available.