The coronavirus pandemic has undoubtedly presented challenges to the way we operate in both our personal and professional lives. In the legal setting, perhaps the most challenging is how we conduct jury trials during this time. With that in mind, what issues should you and your clients consider as courts begin to re-open and cases are tried amid a pandemic?

In November 2020, the district court in St. Paul, Minnesota, held its first civil jury trial since the pandemic began. The case was a complex personal injury lawsuit, and it was slated for a five-day trial. My colleague and I represented the defendant. The parties had stipulated in advance of trial that the jury would consist of six jurors with one alternate.

 

Read the rest of the article, which appeared in the January 2021 newsletter of Minnesota Lawyers Mutual, “The View.”