teaches trial advocacy at the National Advocacy Center in Columbia, SC. Conrad has expressed a particular interest in jury trials. He has authored several articles including "The Vanishing Criminal Jury Trial: From Trial Judges to Sentencing Judges," "Jury Trials in a Pandemic Age," and "Judging a Book: Conrad Reviews 'The Jury Crisis.'" Virginia Revival Model Courtroom Conrad is the foremost proponent of a courtroom design concept known as the Virginia Revival Model or VRM. The principal features of this courtroom design, adopted from the customary eighteenth century Commonwealth of Virginia county courthouse, is a center-based (rather than a side-based) jury box, with jurors positioned underneath the judge looking out toward the witness and gallery, the witness box placed in the center of the well directly facing the jury and judge, and with counsel tables on each side of the witness box. Conrad has argued that this design puts the jury in the center of the trial and allows them to better see the witness’ face, enhancing the jury’s ability to gauge the witness’ credibility and assisting the jury’s role as fact-finders. In 2021, the newly constructed wing of the Charles R. Jonas Courthouse in Charlotte, NC features a Virginia Revival Model courtroom, marking the first time such a courtroom has been constructed outside the Commonwealth of Virginia. Community Involvement Judge Conrad has served for years as a volunteer youth basketball coach for both boys and girls. Conrad is known to invest in young people, including former gang members he once prosecuted. Brian Mack, a former member of a violent gang, testified at Judge Conrad’s judicial investiture: “from the day I was released from prison, he contacted me to make sure that I stayed in the right path. He's been more than a mentor to me. He's been a friend.” Conrad also serves on the Board of Trustees of Belmont Abbey College where he is a member of the Executive Committee and Chair of the Student Experience Committee. Personal life Conrad is Catholic. He and his wife Ann have five children and the grandparents of ten grandchildren. Book In 2021, Conrad published John Fisher and Thomas More: Keeping Their Souls While Losing Their Heads (2021), recounting the stories of Bishop John Fisher and Thomas More, who were executed by King Henry VIII. In Conrad's account, “[More and Fisher] were not adamantine followers of self-will but servants of the one true God