I was at the firm’s summer picnic yesterday – a reasonable justification for dressing down. It’s hot in the summer in my part of the country, but I had a board meeting at 8 a.m., clients coming to the office at 11 a.m., and a retirement party for a long-time Urban League employee at 4 p.m. A suit was appropriate for all of those meetings. So, getting dressed in the morning, I tried to figure out the best attire for varied commitments. I chose a seersucker suit, acceptable for summer board and client meetings, yet light enough to be tolerable at a picnic. On my way out the door, my wife suggested adding a straw hat. That seemed to be the perfect addition for a picnic, although walking up to the pavilion, I felt a little like Tom Wolfe, and one of my partners mentioned Jay Gatsby.
We all know lawyers’ attire has become increasingly more casual. Looking back, it was casual Fridays that started it all. That insidious misstep represents the proverbial camel’s nose under the tent, or as we used to call it in the Vietnam War era, “the domino effect”.
First casual Fridays, then it was casual Summers. Next came jeans on Friday, and at the picnic yesterday, my secretary, a/k/a legal administrative assistant (I dislike this term and only changed it under my name in e-mail transmissions when the office administrator kept badgering me to do so) told me the whole darn summer had been declared “jeans days.” What comes next? Tank top and tattoo Tuesdays?
We are lawyers. We don’t pave roads and we don’t put out fires. We are no better than the people who have those jobs, but they dress to fit their jobs, and we no longer do. When we dress like retail clerks, it can result in a diminution of respect, from our clients and others.
Bankers still wear suits. So, in general, do our elected leaders and most high level business people. I understand things don’t remain the same. I know an argument can be made that the Queen of England does not look so good in those stupid hats, and that Mark Zuckerburg’s blue jeans are the new cool. I understand the crew in Silicon Valley doesn’t groove on ties, but I just don’t care.
My stepson just finished his first year of law school. He wears long, pointed black shoes and I doubt I can ever get him into a pair of rounded wing tips. Of course, we can modernize our look, but that doesn’t mean it’s okay to dress like skateboarders! The decreasing standard of dress is symptomatic of the dumbing down of the profession. What lawyers do is not simply everyday business, although more and more, some of them seem to be taking that attitude.
Don’t get me wrong; I don’t want to go back to the days of wearing powdered wigs, although I wouldn’t mind seeing some of my opponents in them. I would, however, be okay with some of our female lawyers dressing in hooped skirts and tied down bustles, but I’m thinking that suggestion might irritate them.
When Jerry Spence started appearing in his buckskin jacket and cowboy hat, it seemed quaint, but after all, Jerry lived in Wyoming, and he ran into moose more often than people, so it didn’t really matter much. Today, with seemingly never-ending criticism of the profession – some very justified – we ought to be vigilant about putting our best foot forward. How we dress is much less critical than how we act, but perceptions are important, and we are officers of the courts and the American judicial system. That system deserves more respect than some of us offer.
©2012 Under Analysis LLC Mark Levison is a member of the law firm Lathrop & Gage LLP. You can reach Under Analysis LLP in care of this paper or by e-mail at comments@levisongroup.com.