A panel of US judges has criticised some female lawyers for wearing sexy and revealing clothing in the courtroom on the grounds that it distracts everyone from the quality of the lawyers’ arguments. Obviously, this is less of a problem in UK, where male and female lawyers alike are expected to wear gowns at most levels of court.  However, at lower court levels and at most tribunals, lawyers are allowed to wear ‘business casual’ clothing so the arguments that surfaced in a recent meeting of US judges may have some merit…

During the meeting in Indianapolis it was reported that, federal judge, Joan H. Lefkow of the Northern District of Illinois, said some women should dress more appropriately in court as the panel discussed good and bad trends in courtroom practice. To elaborate a little further, there were accounts of one lawyer who had shown up for a jury trial in a velour outfit that looked for all the world as if she was “on her way home from the gym.”

The comments flowed as the judges warmed to the subject – another participant, Judge Michael P. McCuskey, chief judge of the Federal District Court for the Central District of Illinois and a member of the panel, said that at moot court competitions in law schools, he had seen participants wearing “skirts so short that there’s no way they can sit down, and blouses so short there’s no way the judges wouldn’t look.” And to top it all, Judge Benjamin Goldgar apparently concurred by sharing his wish that he could tell certain female lawyers: “I’d really like to pay attention to your argument” (but your breasts are getting in the way). Source

Judge Virginia M. Kendall of the Northern District of Illinois managed to get a supportive laugh from the audience for suggesting that giving clothing advice to young women in a law firm might not be as big an issue if the firms had more women as partners in the first place.

Once details of the meeting made their way onto the internet the comments rolled in.