The novel coronavirus pandemic has put Passaic County Superior Court Judge Sohail Mohammed in the catbird seat. Unintentionally, the current crisis has become his moment to shine—his very own "trip to Mars," as he puts it.

Since New Jersey's courtrooms largely shuttered under a series of directives by Chief Justice Stuart Rabner, Mohammed's technical skills—a New Jersey Institute of Technology graduate, he was working full time as an electrical engineer while attending law school at night at Seton Hall University—are in high demand. He's clearly in his element teaching the ins and outs of remote courtroom proceedings.

"Our world has changed and the world we had prior to the pandemic," Mohammed said in a phone interview from his home. "It will not be the same world. It's a new world and I think when we go back to physical courtrooms, people will be demanding advanced technology."

"Over 90% of judiciary staff is working remotely and every other employee arm of the justice system—that is remarkable," Mohammed added. That means during a crisis of this proportion, 95% of your staff is keeping the courthouse doors open so that people have access to the courts—that is pretty remarkable."

Mohammed has worked as a judge from his basement in Clifton since March 21, clearing on average nearly two dozen cases every Monday, he said. The iPhone photos of bookshelves, the American flag leaning against a wall, among others, that he shot inside his physical courtroom in Paterson just before the lockdown serve as the backdrop for his virtual courtroom.

He is relishing his role of training attorneys, judges and municipal court staff on the new technology.

"I continue to be thrilled and amazed how seamless this entire virtual courtroom session has gone," Mohammed said. "It is remarkable how the participants have embraced this new technology and the new norm."

"In times like this, the judiciary and justice system have never been more important," Mohammed said. "We have to be accessible, and the access also means we have to provide a means for attorneys and litigants to be able to be comfortable in the proceedings, and we have to have the ability and the means by which to come in. Technology now is the key to the physically closed courthouse."

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy declared both a safety and a public health emergency for the state in early March, and moved to shut most businesses and offices through various executive orders. A week later, Mohammed was teaching 300 judges, law clerks and judiciary staff on navigating a virtual courtroom on March 16. He would continue his tutelage with the Passaic County Bar Association on March 23 (with 434 attendees) and March 26 (100 attendees); the State Bar Association on March 26 (attended by 400); the Bergen County Bar Association on April 2 (attended by 100); the affinity bars (New Jersey Muslim Lawyers Association, Asian Pacific American Lawyers Association of New Jersey, South Asian Bar Association of New Jersey and the Garden State Bar Association) on April 7 (attended by 100); and the Middlesex County Bar Association on April 15 (attended by 100).

On Thursday, Mohammed is training Passaic County's municipal judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys and municipal court staff, because all municipal courts are going virtual by May 11. In early May, it's the Bergen, Essex and Hudson County bar associations.

"Judge Mohammed is definitely the right person at the right time when it comes to assisting the judicial system in adapting to the current state of affairs," said defense attorney Gregory Aprile, a solo in Wayne.

Aprile is among those that Mohammed has taught, and who knew him before his becoming a judge.

Mohammed's experience as a juror on a criminal trial is what motivated him to go to law school and ultimately change professions, according to Mohammed.

Aprile was the defense attorney during that trial, and years later would appear before Mohammed at Mohammed's first criminal jury trial as a judge in Passaic's Criminal Part.

"From the outset, he began transforming his courtroom by making certain enhancements such as installing speakers for better audio transmissions, then started incorporating more computer features and devices for utilizing the computer," Aprile said. "He erected first one, then two and now three large screens for the edification of the jurors, the attorneys and the members of the public in the gallery."

Aprile said Mohammed also made his calendar electronically accessible in different formats.

Mohammed gleefully shared each new device or format to a not-so-tech savvy Aprile.

"His proficiency with understanding a computer's capacity and how to use it is extraordinary," Aprile said. "What adds to it is the delight he seems to get with every one of his innovations. It is that combination of knowledge and enthusiasm that has placed him in the forefront of the technology now being employed to conduct court proceedings."

Criminal trial attorney Laura Sutnick of Sutnick & Sutnick in Hackensack also knows well Mohammed's zeal for innovation. Sutnick recalled that in 2018, when she was on trial in State v. Muir, the judge had a device on the witness stand which allowed jurors to see the documents that a witness was describing from a giant high-definition screen that he had installed on the courtroom wall.

"I appear regularly in front of the judge, and every time I go to court, he is working on something new to make the courtroom more efficient or more technologically advanced," Sutnick said in an email to the Law Journal.

"And I mean every single time. One day it's a new sentencing calculation computer program. Another day, it's a new speedy trial app. He is constantly investing in gadgets and devices to make the courtroom work better," Sutnick said.

Mohammed, 56, conducted a full four-hour virtual courtroom session Monday that he reported to Passaic Assignment Judge Ernest Caposela. Mohammed handled 23 different matters involving 17 defendants and four additional defendants who appeared from county jail. Proceedings included an arraignment, pleas, violation of probation hearings, violation of monitoring hearings, and case disposition conferences. Two of the cases involved language interpreters.

Before the start of his virtual courtroom at 9 a.m., on Monday, Mohammed set up six separate "breakout rooms," including what he named the Chambers, Prosecutor Room and Public Defender Room. He assisted the parties in the technical aspect of joining and leaving the breakout rooms before starting the remote court session.

Charles Festa III, a criminal defense attorney based in Little Falls, attended the two-hour training seminar for the Passaic County Bar Association on March 23 and participated in Monday's virtual courtroom with the judge, entering his first video plea in a client's drug possession case. (Festa's client pleaded guilty and was among the four defendants appearing remotely from county jail.)

"He moderated the whole thing, and it was really well done," Festa said of the March 23 seminar. "He gave not just a speech to us, but allowed Q&A, and randomly asked people if they had a question. He broke it down and explained it in a manner that was very easy to comprehend."

Festa said it was Mohammed who taught him all about Zoom, and he's since done nearly a dozen Zoom appearances in the past month, including for detention hearings, sentencings, and a restraining order application.

Mohammed, an appointee of former Gov. Chris Christie (who defended him vigorously during his state Senate confirmation process, during which Mohammed's Muslim heritage was brought up by critics), said he's just seizing the moment and living the dream.

In his former life, he handled classified military documents for projects for the Department of Defense and the NASA space shuttle program as an engineer.

"Imagine, if you said to someone, a physicist or mathematician, about a trip to Mars and they've been doing all these tests, then NASA calls them up and invites them to the next flight to Mars. That's how I feel right now. I've just been given a trip to Mars," Mohammed said of his current responsibilities.

"This is a marriage that you cannot refuse. This is awesome. It's almost like a dream. I've asked myself, 'Am I dreaming about the technology now in effect with judges?' Seasoned attorneys are all participating effectively and efficiently. It's amazing. It's thrilling to see how legal minds can adapt to change and do their jobs.

"Why bring a witness all the way from Florida when I can bring them in from Zoom?" he continued. "Our world has become so small now. It's virtual now and there are not physical restraints … in a virtual environment. There is no excuse for anyone to say, 'I got stuck on Route 80 or coffee spilled on me at Dunkin' Donuts and that's why I'm late for court.' There's no excuses."

The father of three boys who are being homeschooled, Mohammed has just one limitation while working from his basement: Showers can only be taken before 8:30 a.m., before his virtual sessions, or between 12:30 p.m. and 1 p.m., during his lunch break, or after 4:30 p.m., when the sessions end.

"Otherwise, you can hear the pipes in the background," Mohammed said with a chuckle.

Mohammed, the son of a retired school police superintendent father and accountant mother from South India, said his father taught him that knowledge is to be shared and not kept in the dark.

"New Jersey is going to be a model for other states," Mohammed said. "Other states are going to look at us. That is a phenomenal number—80,000 people—are remotely served [as of last week, according to New Jersey courts]. That is justice."