President ' s Message
Y ou may be asking yourself why in the world is the Atlanta Bar magazine doing an article on fashion? While I cannot take credit for having the idea for this edition, I was absolutely ecstatic to discover that was this issue’ s theme. I love fashion. I love that I can play with different pieces and designers to tell a story, capture a moment, feel powerful, stand out, blend in, or pay tribute. It’ s also a huge and powerful industry for our economy. It’ s predicted to be worth $ 365 billion and employ over 1.8 million people in the US this year, so even those who say they don’ t care about fashion must acknowledge the importance it has in our everyday lives beyond merely meeting a basic need.
EMILY C. WARD Continuum Legal Group LLP eward @ continuumlg. com
Fashion helps answer the question,“ What does a lawyer, judge, or advocate look like?” Throughout the evolution of our country’ s legal and justice system, that answer has changed and fashion has
In the not-too-distant past, lawyers were only men who only wore dark suits, white shirts, and conservative ties. While that tends to still be the uniform for men in federal court, that uniform is not universally appropriate, especially in Georgia. Wearing a dark suit to a county court in middle Georgia could make an out-of-town lawyer undeniably stick out since the customary fashion in many southern parts of our state involves Blazers and seer-sucker suits given the heat and humidity Georgia is famous for.
As women were able to become lawyers, the fashion expectations changed, though they were anything but consistent, predictable, or sometimes reasonable. Often the advice has been for women to wear neutral suits, natural hair colors, and minimal makeup, but whether color, pattern, or even pants were permitted has been a moving target. As recently as 1999, I found a Texas court which explicitly required women to wear a skirt or dress and forbade pants and pant suits, supposedly due to the social customs of that area. I also recall being told in law school that women needed to wear heels for oral arguments because that was the expectation in federal court. I’ m grateful one of my law school classmates pointed out that that meant women were literally not on the same footing as men when making arguments. Given the intelligence of her argument, it should be unsurprising women were thereafter able to wear flats.
As an attorney and advocate for my clients, I never want my clothes, shoes, or hair to distract from my argument or reflect badly on my client. I usually focus on comfort and confidence, but I also try to use the certain power that can be found in fashion choices.
4 MARCH / APRIL 2025