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82 A.B.A. J. 78 (1996)
Dressing Like a Lawyer

handle is hein.journals/abaj82 and id is 282 raw text is: CULTURE a Whether in a 9,law office or courtroom, what you wear may be almost as important as what you say BY PAUL R E I D I N G E R ais mainly a profession of ideas-words express- cg abstractions-but it is more than that. It is the- uer, too-a drama in which appearances count, sub- inally and otherwise. Litigators in particular w n s if on stage, before an audience of judges, juries and (these days) media, and the costumes they wear-their business clothes-register with that audience, for better or worse. Lawyer fashion might be an amusing oxy- moron, but the fact is that clothes, to some extent, make, or unmake, the professional. A lawyer's attire can convey many messages: authority, confidence, affluence, conformity or individuality Of all those values, blending in seems most im- portant to lawyers, say fashion experts. Lawyers of both sexes are very conservative in the work clothes they buy, according to spokeswoman Jen- nifer Drebner of Nordstrom, the upmarket, Seattle- based department store. Lawyers who use the store's personal touch shopping service favor navy blue, black or pinstripe-whether suits for men or skirts (not pants) for women. They're not trendy at all, Drebner says of her lawyer customers. They buy all across the price board, but they buy to fit in. And, while lawyers as a group are not clothes- horses, some lack even basic know-how. They don't necessarily even know how to dress, exclaims Donna Marie Forsyth, program director at the Fash- ion Institute in San Francisco. They often want to know simply what to wear, what goes with what. That should not be surprising. Law, after all, is Paul Reidinger, a lawyer and former editor of the ABA Journal, is a novelist in San Francisco. 78 ABA JOURNAL / MARCH 1996 PHOTOS BY WAYNE SLEZAK AND OUTLHNE/GE:ORGE LANGE

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