Earrings for Male Lawyers May Be ‘Fraught With Peril,’ Career Adviser Says (Poll)

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Earrings for Male Lawyers May Be ‘Fraught With Peril,’ Career Adviser Says (Poll)

Posted Jul 17, 2008, 01:02 pm CDT
By Debra Cassens Weiss

Should male lawyers and law students in courthouses refrain from wearing earrings? A career adviser from the University of Minnesota Law School is advising caution.

“In the same way that women still must be careful about very short skirts, and in some courts they may still find that pants are frowned on by senior judges, guys and their earrings may still be fraught with peril,” writes Susan Gainen, director of the law school’s career and professional development center. She wrote on the Career and Professional Development Blog in response to a judicial extern who said a male clerk had assured him that earrings were acceptable.

“Your judge may not mind,” says Gainen, “but your peril may lie with clients and juries, two groups whose opinions you value but cannot survey in advance.”

There is no word from Gainen on nose rings or tattoos.

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Posted by Native American Lawyer - 1 month, 2 weeks, 5 days, 7 hours, 30 minutes ago

I’m and attorney who has four earrings since high school. It’s cultural. What I wear or look like has nothing to do with my legal mind. Would you discriminate against someone for a physical defect? Because you don’t like the color fo their shirt? Their choice of tie?

Ridiculous, we’re supposedly more civilized than concern over anothers appearance.
Posted by Ellen Barshevsky - 1 month, 2 weeks, 5 days, 58 minutes ago

This is kind of silly. I think people should wear what they want as long as they don’t offend people. In a law firm setting, you must worrry about what the client thinks. Hence, it would be dumb for a man to wear earings if the client would frown on it. After all, they pay the bills. On the other hand, where there is no paying client, such as in the case of working for the City (or other civil service jobs), men should be free to wear what they want, even if it is not universally acceptable. i can recall when I was growing up that no men other than gays wore earings, and it was in the left ear. Now, famous people of all sexual persuasions and races wear earings. By the same token, women should be able to wear flats to work, or not wear stockings if they don’t want to, even if the men object, because it’s the woman who has to be comfortable. It is of little relevance what the so-called “beholder” thinks. I think its comfort and style, in the eyes of the wearer of the item of clotihing or jewelery. People shouldn’t worry too much about what others think unless their paycheck depends on those people. With earings, the men should wear them. Personally, I think small diamond studs on a man looks good, and hoop earings look dumb, but that’s just one girl’s opinion. .
Posted by Hadley V. Baxendale - 1 month, 2 weeks, 4 days, 15 hours ago

NAL, with all due respect, you will never succeed in this business if you act based on how people should think instead of how they do. Reality, right or wrong. Now, as Ellen points out, if you are in a situation where another’s opinion about your appearance ahs no effect, fine. But they are few and far between.
Posted by NAL - 1 month, 2 weeks, 4 days, 12 hours, 57 minutes ago

HVB, we make our own realties, but I understand your point. Yeah I don’t work for Biglaw, but Biglaw doesn’t hire many Natives. I’ve worked on diversity issues for years but have yet to see Biglaw (or the federal courts for that matter) take much of an interest in native attorneys.

If a client or an employer is hiring based on looks (and law school) rather than ability, they deserve what they get.
Posted by HVB - 1 month, 2 weeks, 4 days, 12 hours, 24 minutes ago

Sometimes “an ounce of image is worth a pound of production.” I’ll hire on “looks” and ability, but not one without the other.
("Looks" being professional appearance and attractive personality, good manners and speech, etc. for the job, not bar-room hotness)
Posted by tory - 1 month, 2 weeks, 3 days, 20 hours, 49 minutes ago

How does one successfully obtain an undergraduate degree and a graduate law degree without being able to use proper grammar? Earrings are probably the least of your worries if your written communications and briefs include such serious errors as “I’m and attorney” together with a constant flow of fragment sentences....
Posted by i hung a shingle - 1 month, 2 weeks, 1 day, 10 hours, 13 minutes ago

in the field, the slaves developed peculiar customs - ways of speech, dress, and mannerisms that almost seemed celebrate the fact that they were not the master. of course, these customs that had to be broken if there were to be any hope for them serve in the house.

it used to be that lawyers largely had a pedigree. many still do, and it certainlyhelps, but each year more and more of the vulgar classes enter the profession. thier influence can be seen in the way they dress and speak - and of course, in the positions they argue. unspoken rules are being cast asside every day. earings on a lawyer! the nerve!

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