Do You Dress Like A Lawyer?

Here’s an interesting article from The Remsen Group, “Enough is Enough: Lawyers Should Look Like Lawyers!” It’s exactly what it sounds like, by the way – an exhortation for all of us to dress up, because you can never get a second chance to make a first impression. (Pardon the use of tired cliches.)

If I sound a little skeptical, it’s because I am. I confess – while it certainly wasn’t the reason I “went solo,” the ability to wear what I want to the “office” is one of the great perks working from home. When I’m in my home office, plugging away on whatever – be it a bankruptcy case, employment discrimination complaint, discovery plan, whatever – I don’t need to make myself feel like a lawyer to be a good one. (Of course, if I’m going out to meet a client, sure I’ll dress appropriately.) And more to the point, I don’t think this society needs another exhortation to judge each other by our appearance.

But – I’m not that skeptical. There is an element to appearance for home office lawyers that isn’t mentioned in this article. It caught me by surprise, to tell the truth, but I discovered it quite by accident. When I first set out on this path, I confess I adopted a quite casual dress code. I’m a pretty active person so it made me comfortable to dress in clothes that allowed for that activity – yoga pants and tee-shirts. But then one day – and I don’t even remember why, but I think it was a client meeting that got cancelled at the last minute – I was dressed a little more formally. Still what I’d call “business casual” but several steps up from the yoga pants – business slacks, a cotton dress blouse, flats (hey, shoes at all were a step up, I confess).

And there was a difference – not in whether I “felt like a lawyer” but in my general attitude and even energy level. I felt somewhat “perkier” than usual. And let me tell you, an organic shot of energy is way better than anything from Starbucks – and I say that as a solid fan of Starbucks.

So, while I can’t support any movement to place more stock in appearance, or judging people by how they look, I do know for a fact that sometimes we need to treat ourselves more seriously. So by all means dress for the home office as if you were going to work. (Just don’t look down on opposing counsel if her suit comes from the Banana Republic outlet as opposed to tailor-made from Brooks Brothers.)

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http://www.calblogofappeal.com Greg May

I spent my first six years as a lawyer in “Big Law.” The combined size of my first two firms was close to 2000 lawyers, and one was nearly a century old. So they weren’t exactly untraditional.

The first one had a traditional suit-and-tie dress code, but once or twice a year would have “casual day,” on which I would find it almost impossible to work. Same 46th floor office in a downtown highrise as I always sat in, but that fact that I was wearing khakis and a polo shirt made it next to impossible to get anything done.

I was only able to work in casual clothes once I got to my second firm, which had “casual Fridays.” Dressing down every week got me used to it, and I found it easier to work hard in casual clothes.

Now I’m a solo, but my office is in an office building, and “business casual” is the norm. But I’m thinking of going back to suits.

By the way, I always heard that it was the dot com boom that triggered casual dress, in order for the lawyers to match the culture of the clients.