Today’s reader mail comes from a reader who will be second-chairing a federal trial that is expected to last for more than a month…
First, do you think I should wear skirt suits every day or can I wear pant suits and save the skirt suits for days that I may actually get to examine a witness?
Second, how many suits do you think I need to keep on hand so that it doesn’t look like I am wearing the same suits over and over again? Any suggestions for making the same suit look different other than wearing different accessories?
And finally, any suggestions on where to find nice looking suits in petite sizes without spending an arm and a leg since I will not need that many suits after the trial is finished.
A good friend of ours did mock trial in law school (and did very well), and passed along her (esteemed) coach’s advice: wear skirt suits and be sure to cross/uncross your legs often if the other side is making a good point, and wear a lot of perfume. See? Golden advice. Whoever says sexism is alive and well is just crazy.
In all seriousness, though, wardrobe during trial is one of those times where the guys really do have it easier, because we guarantee you that they’ll wear, at max, three suits and five ties throughout the entire trial and not give a second thought to it. For you, though, we recommend sticking to dark suits, which, practically speaking, means we’d limit ourselves to three or four suits. One black, one navy, and maybe one in brown or gray. (If you’re prickly about your accessories matching, go with all black accessories and choose the gray suit.) Where possible, we’d get both the skirt and the pants to the set — J.Crew, Banana, Ann Taylor, or Theory all make separates (and, we think, petites). (For the petites question, we’ll be lazy here and link to our old post on professional dressing for petites for reference, as well as the blogs Petite Asian Girl ExtraPetite and Alterations Needed, both of which we have recently discovered and been meaning to point readers towards.)
In order to change up the looks, we’d recommend switching up the layers beneath the suit. For example: one day wear a collared shirt beneath the jacket; another day wear a jewel-necked silk t-shirt with a strand of pearls; another day wear a turtleneck with a brooch or a longer necklace (or, if you can pull it off, a silk scarf). Your goal in dressing should be vanilla – you don’t want the jury to notice your clothes in either a good or bad way. Absolutely avoid logo bags, as well as anything with sparkles. (This includes jewelry — if you wear diamonds you may want to skip cleaning them; if your engagement ring is particularly large and blingy, you may even want to remove it.) We’d even advise to avoid noticeable accessories, such as red-soled shoes like Laboutins.
As for skirts versus pants — we absolutely recommend wearing a skirt the first few days, if only until you get a feel for the judge and the lay of the land. After that, go with your gut. (We’re guessing pants will be acceptable, but take your cue from other, more senior women on your team or your opponents’ side.)
Finally, a note on undergarments (because, really, who else is going to say this to you?) — make sure your bras are not distracting. I.e., avoid the quad-boob look, avoid lacy bras beneath silk blouses, etc. Stock up on simple camisoles (we like Old Navy’s, honestly), as you’re less likely to wear them twice without washing them, and you’ll probably be too busy for laundry. Along those lines, know that men can get away with dry-cleaning their suits only once a season because they wear boxers — if you can, wear boy shorts beneath your pants suits rather than thongs.
Before we turn it over to our readers, we also asked a friend who worked on a nine-month (plus?) bench trial, 3000 miles from home — she stressed comfort. Her full response, below:
During trial, I had 2 black pant suits, a navy pant suit, a khaki-color pant suit, a dark green pant suit, a grey pinstripe pant suit, and 1 black pinstripe skirt suit. I rarely broke out the skirt suit though — with the long court days, followed by the long nights prepping for the next day, I much preferred the relative comfort of a pantsuit. And as the weeks wore on, I actually took the khaki, navy, and dark green pant suits out of the rotation because it took too much energy figuring out what shirt and shoes to wear with them. (Admittedly, 99% of my work wardrobe is black, white or grey, so it takes a considerable amount of time for me to coordinate with any other color.) To that end, I would suggest sticking with colors and pieces you already feel comfortable with, rather than getting things that are different just for the sake of diversifying the trial wardrobe. Otherwise, on top of all of the trial stress, you’ll find yourself wondering if your outfit looks weird.
She also asked her colleague to weigh in:
I think I just had a black, gray, and beige pants suit, and a black skirt suit, but agree it was never as appealing to wear the skirt suit. I think part of that is that we were working in a borrowed office in a different city and so we were hopping into cabs, and then not getting home to change at all– just returning to the office to work all night in whatever we wore to court that day.
Ah, the glamorous life of a lawyer. Readers, any other advice on how to dress for a month+ in court?
Pictured: The Good Wife, which we’ve been hearing amazing things about but have not yet watched.
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Having done this repeatedly, I would say the first consideration is where in the country the trial is. If it is in the deep south, I would not wear pants. I would also do some research into the preferences of a trial judge. They can be sticky on this issue and give you trouble if they think you are offending their “standards.”
That said, I keep a couple of different black suits on hand, maybe one with a slight texture to the fabric. I have a dark blue pinstripe and a dark gray. I also keep one very pretty, lighter colored suit in the mix — currently it’s a Lafayette suit in a medium blue.
Although I might break out a button down for voir dire, opening and closing, i keep a stock of softly colored or white cotton or silk knit underpinings on hand.
And, as long as we’re on underwear, I find that bralleilujah (sp?) bras are surprisingly comfortable and don’t show through.
The most important thing is for the jury to never notice what you wear. You want them focused on what you say and do. So, no over the top hair, make up, jewelry, etc.
I spent a month in New Orleans at a bench trial last summer and two months in S. Florida this past summer for a jury trial. For both, I brought five suits and rotated the shirts underneath. I wore pants, not skirts, which didn’t bother the judge or jury. The type of suit depends on the time of year – you don’t want to me wearing heavy wool in the summer.
I was told to avoid black in front of the jury – but browns and navys were acceptable and preferred as they are more comforting.
Good shoes, no matter the price, are needed. I didn’t follow that advice in NOLA and my feet were in pretty sad shape when I came home. My local counsel wore a pair of Cole Haan (Nike Air) every day (different colors) in Florida – they aren’t showy or anything, but ridiculously comfortable.
I am in shock at the number of people who are saying skirts are more comfortable — are you wearing them without hose? Because that’s impossible in court, and for me at least, there is no way in h*ll that hose will ever more comfortable than trousers that fit properly.
(Also , not trying to be obnoxious here, and there’s no way I’m dropping that kind of money on shoes, so I don’t own any — but they’re Louboutins.)
Am I the only one who can’t tell real from fake pearls, and $12 payless leather pumps from $400 leather pumps at a distance? I’m convinced that people who say they can are making it up.
You’re not the only one, but you’re sadly mistaken if you think everyone lacks that ability. Granted, I have an unfair advantage from being born in the rag trade, but I can also analyze the fiber content of your suit, and fit of your underwear, from across the street. If you’re observant enough and have some practice in seeing good quality, there’s no reason you couldn’t recognize it. And do consider that most men, because they’re so limited in larger options, get very good at sniffing out good leather, wool and such.
The skirt suits give you more visual authority, so it is a good choice to wear those for cross-examining witnesses, as you suggested. A pant suit is still very authoritative.
As far as mixing things up, if you have a pant suit, you can have several different tops to wear underneath — a button down shirt, silk blouse, turtleneck, shell, etc. If your suit has a light pinstripe, you’ll find that if you wear a pale blue top, it makes the pinstripe appear to be the same color. And if you change tops, the strip seems to follow. Use that to your advantage!
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I have tried almost ten jury trials in state court in Northern California. I find that both skirt suits and pant suits are acceptable. I think that sometimes the testmony is somewhat boring and so the jury looks around for entertainment – and what you are wearing is something they look at. I don’t mean give them something to look at but be sure you shoes are polished and don’t need to be resoled or reheeled; no stray threads on your skirt or jacket; a professional looking purse. But I am in favor of colored scarves and will wear a teal suit in addition to black, navy, grey and dark brown. Also, consider knit suits like St. John. They are like fancy sweats! Comfortable, hold their shape packing, look polished.