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What Should I Wear?

By Brian Harris

"What should I wear?" I have been asked this question more than a few times in my career. The last time was by a witness who brought no less than three suits, five shirts and four ties to the war room to have me pick out his outfit. 

I know that some jury consultants deal heavily with the fashion aspect of image; I think most of them reside in Los Angeles.  I, on the other hand, am no TLC reality fashion show host. 
That said, I do have some basic thoughts on the idea of image in the courtroom. These thoughts apply to anyone in the courtroom ? attorneys, clients and witnesses alike. 

1) Whether you are litigant or lawyer, show respect for the courtroom with what you wear. The courtroom is a professional setting and should be treated as such. I once worked on a case in which one of the litigants showed up to court in jeans. I am proud to say I was on the other side.

2) Ladies, please wear stockings. The no-stockings thing is big with me. Yes, even in the summer when you are tan.  We are not at the beach. Personally, stockings and I do not get along, so you will not find a skirt suit in my closet. I wear pants. No stockings needed.
Some female attorneys believe that it is important to wear skirt suits. I say go for it, but wear stockings. At a trial I attended, a young, attractive, female lawyer on the other side went sans stockings with a relatively, but not ridiculously, short skirt. I saw one of the jurors blatantly try to look up her skirt.  I doubt he was taking her seriously at that trial.

3) A big question from men is  ?To beard or not to beard?? When all else is told, it is best for men to be clean-shaven. A lot of people don?t like beards because it hides your face and makes it harder for folks to read you. My only exception is for those men who have had a beard for so long that not having it is a distraction (one client told me a story of shaving his beard for a trial and, when his young child saw him, she cried because she didn?t recognize him). If it truly is so uncomfortable to lose the beard that you are distracted from your job at hand, trim it close and move on. Otherwise, shave it off. 

4) For either gender, if you can see the sparkle from 10 feet away, take it off. Big watches, flashy jewelry, etc. serve as distractions to jurors and separate you from them. Jewelry is fine as long as it is not too large or too flashy. 

5) Beware of clothing that makes you stand out too much. The courtroom is an understated, professional fashion setting. I attended a trial in which one of the corporate representatives was a woman who wore brightly colored, patterned jackets with coordinating bags (again, she was on the other side of the courtroom). While there was nothing wrong with the clothing per se, she stood out like a sore thumb in the sea of gray and brown suits. A bright color is fine, but save it for the shirt underneath, not the suit itself. The last thing anyone wants is for jurors to be paying more attention to the outfit of the day instead of the case messages. The same can apply to men with overly slick suits or outlandish ties. Be aware of drawing too much attention to yourself as opposed to your case.

6) Finally, my most important rule of thumb is that you have to be as comfortable as possible within reason (remember the jeans ? that was too comfortable). It you are distracted by your clothing because it is ?not you,? you are paying attention to the clothes and not the case. I have to admit, though, I have made clients buy suits despite the fact that they have lived their lives in t-shirts. Those folks just had to deal with it.

Melissa M. Gomez, Ph.D., is a jury consultant and owner of MMG Jury Consulting LLC. She holds a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. Her experience includes work on close to 200 jury trials in Philadelphia and across the country, with a focus on the psychology of juror learning, behavior and decision-making. She has more than a decade of expertise in research design and methodology, as well as in behavioral and communication skills training. 

This posting is for general informational purposes only and should not be construed or interpreted as advice specific to any matter. Each case is different and no strategy applies uniformly to all. 

If you have any questions regarding jury psychology that you would like to see addressed in this blog, please contact Dr. Gomez at melissa@mmgjury.com or call 215-292-7956.

Melissa M. Gomez
MMG Jury Consulting LLC
www.mmgjury.com

Full post as published by The Legal Intelligencer Blog on September 24, 2010 (boomark / email).