Lawyers in Polo Shirts and Jeans?

Friday 03rd of June 2011 03:25:33 AM

Lawyers in Polo Shirts and Jeans?

Is it true? Jeans and polo shirts are showing up as office wear in the legal profession? Everyone knows that solicitors always dress formally in business suits and ties. They don’t show up at their law firms wearing polo shirts because what would the clients think?

Most law office staff around the world do dress up for work, but one firm in New York City has decided to go casual. This is not polo shirt and khaki casual. This is shorts and flip-flop casual we are talking about.

Sloppy looking? Yes, a bit! But the attorneys in the office wanted to give the casual style a chance to see if it encouraged creativity. The founding partner of the firm is William Urquhart. He was quoted as saying, “We take casual dress to a whole new level. The only dress code we have is that you to have something between your feet and the carpet - and that's because our insurance company requires it!" He went on to say, "What we do is an exercise in creativity. You have a set of facts and the law - and you have to be creative with the two. Dressing casually improves our creativity.

Other reasons the partner gave for wearing jeans and white t-shirts or polo shirts is that this clothing style puts all the lawyers on an equal basis. This makes young attorneys who are not firm partners feel more equal with older established lawyers. The hope is that the young attorneys will feel more comfortable speaking up with new ideas.

The attorneys in the firm love the casual wear and happily put on jeans and their favorite worn t-shirts. Not all clients likes this fashion style for the office though because the idea of talking to an attorney who is dressed down in a polo shirt is beyond their imagination. It will be interesting to see if this fashion style endures in the law office or spreads beyond the New York office.