Morgan Lewis & Bockius, once a graceful exemplar of Philadelphia aristocracy, has announced that its lawyers no longer need to wear suits while in the office. This policy is said to arise out of fashion changes at Morgan’s clients, where “dress down” days have become “casual” summers, which, in turn, have started to run all year. Because the clients dress casually, the new reasoning goes, their lawyers should dress casually, too. More formal dress tends to alienate the client, who is no longer used to it. To keep the client, one needs to become more like the client.
Other firms may be expected to follow suit — or perhaps we should say “unsuit” — and will no doubt advance identical reasoning (thereby saving them from having to reason on their own).
