What should You wear to court?

August 23, 2017

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The short answer:

What I tell my clients is that you should wear what you would wear to a church service on Sunday or to a friend’s wedding.

The more detailed answer:

For men, it’s usually a good idea to at least wear a collar. It’s hard to overdress for court, but do not walk into court wearing a tuxedo. If you’ve got a shirt on, tuck it in. Do not wear shorts. Do not wear a tank top.

For women, dress conservatively do not wear anything that can be deemed provocative or disrespectful. Wear something that covers your knees (i.e. pants, long-medium length skirt or dress). Do not wear short shorts, spaghetti straps, or midriff tops.

Click here to see examples of what to wear: https://media.licdn.com/mpr/mpr/p/3/005/078/0b9/22ea358.jpg

The point is not to make yourself look better than everybody else. Looking nice in court is about showing respect to the judge. Judges spend their entire day looking out at a crowd of people who fall asleep, aren’t paying attention, playing on their phone, or basically dressed very carelessly. If you show up to court dressed appropriately, then the judge will more likely identify you as somebody who is taking their situation seriously. In the end, the way you dress may not determine the way your case is handled, but it sets the tone. It may be the first thing the Judge notice. Sometimes when you’re dealing with a criminal charge the smallest of factors can contribute to moving the needle on to what kind of deal you may or may not get. So, give yourself every advantage that you can.

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