Hon. Robert J. Conrad, Jr.

During the ongoing pandemic of 2020-2021 federal, state and local courts have struggled with the need to try jury cases. The Honorable Robert J. Conrad Jr., U.S. District Judge for the Western District of North Carolina, has been involved with a courtroom design innovation called the “Virginia Revival Model” and found it to be helpful in improving the safety of courtrooms during the age of the covid.

According to Judge Conrad, the Virginia Model’s “essential features are a center-based jury box underneath the judge, facing out; a witness box in the center of the well looking directly at the judge and jury; and counsel tables on each side. In the 18th century, the Commonwealth of Virginia county courts were intentionally designed this way to place the jury where it should be — at the center of a jury trial, as opposed to off to the side, symbolizing the jury’s shared authority with the judge.”

In an interesting article first appearing as Robert J. Conrad Jr., Jury Trials in a Pandemic Age, 104 JUDICATURE No. 3 (Fall/Winter 2020-2021), Judge Conrad describes the reconfiguration of a ceremonial courtroom to make a big jury box out of the spectator section of the court in order to continue to try jury trials during a pandemic. To date, 41 jury trials have been tried in this format. A new federal courthouse has been built in Charlotte and one of the district courtrooms has been designed on the Virginia Revival Model. The first criminal jury trial in that courtroom was successfully conducted in June.

Judge Conrad served as the United States Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina from 2001 to 2004. He spoke on the Berger case and in particular Justice Sutherland’s quote on the role of a U.S. Attorney to seek justice at NAFUSA’s 2016 conference in San Diego. Click here to read the full article:

Jury Trials in a Pandemic Age