If all goes to plan, jurors in Philadelphia are set to begin receiving summonses in less than a month, but some attorneys in the city are still unsettled by the idea of jury trials while the COVID-19 pandemic continues to roil the nation.

For more than five months, courts in Philadelphia have been closed to the public and the normal busy lists of motions, hearings and trials have been almost entirely suspended. In recent weeks, the courts have begun opening up somewhat and are now handling preliminary hearings through remote videoconferencing technology, and in-person bench trials have also gotten underway.