Why are you running? 

Hi! I am Jean Marie Christy, your Buncombe County Clerk of Superior Court. I was appointed by the Chief Superior Court Judge of Buncombe County to fill the position of Clerk of Court on April 1, 2023. I am running to keep this position because I love the job!

I grew up in the Buncombe County Courthouse. My dad, Bob Christy, was the Clerk of Superior Court from 1990 to 2008. What I saw then and continue to see now is that the Clerk’s Office has the greatest impact on courthouse culture.  What I mean by culture is the Clerk’s office and our staff of 60+ people are the frontline ambassadors of the courthouse. We help individuals access records, proceedings, and justice in their most stressful time. If we are helpful, courteous, professional and compassionate to all who come in the courthouse, then we set the tone and can make the often overwhelming legal processes and experiences more approachable, understable and positive.  

Additionally, I am running at this critical juncture where our entire state North Carolina Administrative Office of Courts (AOC) is transitioning to an electronic based filing system (“e-Courts”) and getting rid of our current paper filing system. This change has been rolled out over the past year and will be implemented in Buncombe County in the summer. I am a millennial and while the term can be perceived in different ways, true to my generation, I have a strong  affinity for technology and the ways in which it can enhance our lives for the better. (And not just amazingly curated TikTok videos, which I love!) I know I am the right candidate to implement the biggest change our court system has seen in 40 years (that was when we transitioned from our court indexes being recorded in hand written books to a digital indexing system). 

How will you make the court more efficient? 

As I mentioned, North Carolina’s AOC court system s transitioning from a paper-based system to an electronic-based system, and will go live in Buncombe County in July 2024 This transition will have some growing pains but ultimately aims to make the court more efficient and accessible by making files accessible to employees, attorneys and public users 24/7, reduce paper forms, and provide greater case management ability. This means people will no longer have to come to court to access files, rather they will be able to submit new filings and review publicly available information when they want from where they want. Of course there will be some restrictions regarding privacy laws, but the vast majority of files will be fully viewable online. 

To prepare for this exciting transition, I have accessed trainings to e-Courts online and in-person in Raleigh at the AOC office, I have workshopped challenges with counties where E-Courts have already gone live, and have prepared our staff as best as possible for this change. Additionally I serve on the Technology Committee for the Conference of Clerks, which meets regularly to discuss updates with e-Courts. This transition will require energy, tenacity, and positivity, and my staff and I are excited for this challenge.

Additionally, since starting the job in April 2023,  I have done one-on-one meetings with all 65 employees in the Clerk’s office. And I have spent time in all departments in the office to ensure I have a working understanding of every part of the Clerk’s office. I believe it’s critical that I know my people and that I know all the facets of the office to be a good leader. And, I think this has established a relationship of trust and understanding between my staff and me and throughout the office as a whole. A good working environment means the Clerk’s office is efficient and best able to serve the public. 

What in your background makes you well qualified for this position? 

I was born and raised here in Buncombe County. I went to Reynolds Middle and High School. Go Rockets! This is my community and my home. And, from watching my dad as the Clerk of Court, I learned that treating people kindly and hearing their problems, even if you don’t have the ability to solve them, is one of the most effective ways to serve the public. Making sure everyone you interact with feels heard and seen is what guides the way I interact with the public every day. 

After high school, I went to UNC Chapel Hill. I then took a few off to work at a social media start up and finally landed at Washington & Lee University School of Law. In law school I was very interested in international law: I was the executive editor of the German Law Journal (looking at EU law and international law) and I won an international lawyering award.  This exposure to different legal systems gave me a broader sense of what justice can mean to different people, but I always knew I would be heading home to serve my people of Western North Carolina.After graduation and before becoming Clerk of Court I was an Assistant Public Defender, first in Robeson County, NC and then here in Buncombe County.  I loved being a public defender: the hustle, the fight, the negotiating but mostly serving people in their time of great need. Being a Public Defender offered an unparalleled education in understanding the courthouse, the legal system, and how to work within the a larger framework while addressing  individual needs.

How will you balance being an independent judge and elected official in a partisan race? 

The Clerk’s job is to serve all citizens of Buncombe County and anyone who has business in the Buncombe County Courthouse. We are dedicated to maintaining an office that focuses on access to justice. 

While I am not allowed to say how I would rule on a particular issue or question presented before me, nor would I want to, I can tell you a little bit about how I generally approach cases. It’s critical and required to follow the rules of evidence, and  I think it’s also important to allow people to tell as much of  their story as they can. Only then can you get a picture of what is really going on in the case, in order to make the most equitable and fair decision possible. Cases can be straightforward or nuanced depending on the facts, but in each case people deserve to be heard.