County hires new attorney

Paul Allen has been chosen to represent Sampson County as the new county attorney.

Jean Ko, the community and special projects administrator/PIO for Sampson County, said the Sampson County Board of Commissioners hired Allen on Aug. 19.

“He previously served as assistant city attorney for Fayetteville since November 2020,” Ko stated.

Allen has his Juris Doctorate from North Carolina Central University School of Law. He will be replace attorney Joel Starling, who has been the county attorney since 2018.

“Our old attorney decided he wanted to get back into his private law practice, and with that he found us applicants. And of course, we researched that and came up with Paul Allen and we made an offer he accepted,” Sampson County Board of Commissioners Chairman Jerol Kivett said.

Kivett said the board believes Allen will do a good job for Sampson County with his background of working with government bodies.

Allen will be officially sworn in at the Board of Commissioners meeting on Monday, Sept. 9. His yearly salary with be $122,340.