Fashion faux pas

• Author: Suzan Charlton
• Pages: 6-6

FASHION FAUX PAS

Was that really the best photo you could have chosen

to introduce the otherw ise progressive article “What Suit s

You?” February, page 50? The picture of three men standing

or sitting professionally while su rrounded by women seated

atop and leaning suggest ively over the back of the sofa made

me cringe. Wearing dull or bright colors, in pant yhose or

bare legs, women lawyers don’t sit like this.

Suzan Charlton

Washington, D.C.

I dress very conser vatively for court in dark solid colors,

pants in the winter a nd skirts in the summer. As a middle-

aged woman of color, to deviate even a litt le from this is to

risk being mista ken for the litigant, the court reporter, the

social worker or any other actor in t he dramatis personae

of American cour ts. My suits are my uniform; my briefcase/

bag my weapons. With them, I am rea dy to make my argu-

ment, take testimony, bargai n in the hallways with oppos-

ing counsel, and infu se my client with confidence. If I stray

away from the strictes t of dress rules in court (comfier flats,

brighter colors, sweater sets i n family court, prints), I am

automatically pegge d as a nonlawyer and I first have to fight

to establish who I am before I c an get down to the business

of lawyering. I stay conser vative because if I do not, I can-

not practice my profession eectively.

Rosemarie A. Ba rnett

Freeport, New York

I was deeply disappointed by this article about

alleged evolution in lawyer fashion. Little, if any, of the

article reflected actual changes in personal presenta-

tion beyond the elimination of hosiery and addition of

spike heels. Instead, the same “traditional” tropes were

described and embraced by male and female lawyers.

As a femme gay man who daily works with queer,

transgender and gender nonconforming colleagues

and clients, I felt the article completely failed to

address the truly novel, forward-leaning and beautiful

realm of queer professional and personal gender and

style presentation. The challenges of finding “male”

suiting to flatter “female” bodies, the struggle for a

male-presenting lawyer to find a court-appropriate

shade of nail polish or the profound sacrificing of

personal identity (via fashion style) for the benefit

of a client’s case or career advancement represent a

true evolution in both fashion and the legal profession.

Failing to recognize these colleagues is exactly the

subtle oppression that continues to keep minority

communities feeling unwelcome and underrepre-

sented in the legal profession.

Nicholas J. Hite

New Orleans

ON EXPANDING A RIGHT TO COUNSEL

Regarding “Justice for All,” February, page 9:

I thought the source of America ns’ rights is the U.S.

Constitution and its ante cedent sources—including,

of course, those of all men that , as Jeerson so

eloquently stated, are “endowed by their creator.”

Apparently, all one needs to do to manufa cture new

rights (out of thin air) is to simply “promote” them.

Whether providing great er legal representation in

civil case s to the less fortunate serves a soci al good

and, if so, how best to alloc ate scarce resources to

accomplish that goal is cer tainly worthy of debate for

a democratic society to under take via the legislative

process. Such benefits ca n and should be eligible for

expansion and contrac tion. However, to attempt to

manufacture some k ind of “right” to taxpayer-funded

civil legal repres entation only leads us to an ever-

expanding government that w ill curtail all ou r

liberty and proper ty rights, including those that

actually a re enshrined in the Constitution.

Karl Burgunder

Oviedo, Florid a

A NAMING ISSUE

Those who revile the attit udes and conduct of

their 19th-centur y benefactors (“What’s in a Name,”

February, page 16), such as Boalt and Hastings,

often seem happy enough to complacently ac cept

the benefits. At the very lea st, there should also be

constant and conscious a cknowledgment of our own

irreparable debt to those who were deprive d of their

native lands and lives so th at our modern American

lifestyles ca n even have a place to be.

John A. Humbach

White Plains, New York

Letters

6 || ABA JOURNAL APRIL 2018