Michael D. Goldhaber’s article “Wingtips take wing/ Casual Friday is old hat/ Coming next: 7-day casual” (The National Law Journal, May 24, 1999) reports what is probably a beneficial trend in office attire. But unmentioned in the article is the reality that some lawyers (apparently, if the article is any indication, a diminishing fraction of them) do what lawyers were originally intended to do, which is to represent clients in court. In one’s law practice one must always be prepared for the occasional need to appear in court on only a few minutes’ notice. The lawyer who enters a courtroom wearing casual attire risks being immediately ordered back out of the courtroom.
At a minimum, the prudent lawyer will keep a fresh and pressed change of non-casual clothing in the office at all times for that unexpected trip to the courthouse.
