Judge tells women lawyers not to dress like ignorant sluts

[mercuryblues]

Federal Judge Tells Women Lawyers Not To Dress Like ‘An Ignorant Slut’

Judge Richard Kopf, a George H.W. Bush appointee to a federal court in Nebraska, offered some strange advice to women litigators in a piece posted to his personal blog on Tuesday: don’t wear clothing that would cause “the female law clerks” to call you “an ignorant slut behind your back.”

Kopf’s comments were a reaction to a Slate piece by Amanda Hess entitled “Female Lawyers Who Dress Too ‘Sexy’ Are Apparently a ‘Huge Problem’ in the Courtroom.” Judge Kopf’s piece has the more provocative title “On being a dirty old man and how young women lawyers dress.”

more at:

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/03/27/3419556/federal-judge-tells-women-attorneys-not-to-dress-like-an-ignorant-slut/

His blog post:

http://herculesandtheumpire.com/2014/03/25/on-being-a-dirty-old-man-and-how-young-women-lawyers-dress/

True story. Around these parts there is a wonderfully talented and very pretty female lawyer who is in her late twenties. She is brilliant, she writes well, she speaks eloquently, she is zealous but not overly so, she is always prepared, she treats others, including her opponents, with civility and respect, she wears very short skirts and shows lots of her ample chest. I especially appreciate the last two attributes.

<snip>
Think about the female law clerks. If they are likely to label you, like Jane Curtin, an ignorant slut behind your back, tone it down.

Except in the comment section, he says it is not a true story:

By the way, using my literary license, the example I gave in the post was an amalgam of more than one person and more than one event and did not necessarily relate to the same place. That said, the essence of the example was accurate.
All the best.

RGK

Also in the comment section several clerks have no clue who he is talking about. She doesn't exist, his example never happened.


Onto his apology:

If, on balance, you think the post was harmful to the image of the federal judiciary and truly treated women as objects, I am very, very, very sorry for that, but I would ask you to pause and reread it. I hope you will find upon objective reflection that the mockery I make of myself and the hyperbole and somewhat mordant tone I employed, made a point worth considering.

Ah, if you were offended, you just weren't smart enough to "get it"

[unblock]

1. interesting that he alludes to jane curtin, who did not dress provocatively.

oart of the snl joke in dan akyroyd's catchphrase "jane, you ignorant slut" was that it was always made after jane made an excellent, logical, and intelligently articulated point. of course, it also poked fun at the right-wing's reliance on schoolyard insults instead of logical arguments.

in any event, a smart, courteous, and well-prepared lawyers should be treated like a smart, courteous, and well-prepared lawyer.

[pipi_k]

2. He didn't

specifically say "don't dress like ignorant sluts".


What he did say was don't dress in a manner that would get them called ignorant sluts behind their backs.



And really, who cares about the clerks anyway?


But, IMO, I always want people doing a serious job to look the part. Looks serious. Look professional.

Dress how they want to on their own time. But in court, there's a certain level of respect lawyers should show to themselves, the court/judge, the jurors, and yes, even the defendants and plaintiffs.

[msongs]

3. peculiar how male lawyers do not dress to feature their breasts nt

[Comrade Grumpy]

4. That is something to be happy about. n/t

[Nye Bevan]

6. A well-cut suit works wonders in terms of hiding a beer belly and man-boobs (nt)

[pipi_k]

8. Those bastards!!!

Who wouldn't want to see something like this in the middle of a high profile financial scandal trial?


?itok=g5gtvWSR

[malthaussen]

9. I, for one, would pay to see that trial.

But that's a point of personal preference.

-- Mal

[malthaussen]

5. Eh, Isaac Asimov wrote a book called "The Sensuous Dirty Old Man."

Looks like the judge is just following in Ikey's footsteps.

The question is, how do you make the point he wants to make without being attacked for admitting you're a sexist old goat? I'm willing to bet that there are a lot of people, on the bench and in the juries, who will judge a female lawyer by the way she dresses. Or a male one, if it comes to it. How much success do you think a male lawyer would have arguing in jeans and a t-shirt?

-- Mal

[COLGATE4]

7. I'm not sure it's a question of the judge being

a sexist old goat. Most courts, especially Federal courts are extremely protective of the dignity of the court, especially lawyers' dress. And, unfortunately female lawyers are more often apt to dress outside the very conservative norms considered appropriate for attorneys.

[Whiskeytide]

10. One of my law professors...

... told me that he tried a civil case to a hung jury in the mid-70s, and spoke to a juror afterwards who told him that an elderly lady on the jury had refused to vote for his client because his - the lawyer's - sideburns were too long. Initially he was outraged. His sideburns were very long - but that was his business, and the little old lady had no right to let it influence her decision. But he later came to believe that, as a lawyer, he had an obligation to his client to not provoke that - or any other - potential bias if it was within his control. He told us the story to make that point.

That's really why lawyers all look very similar - dressed conservatively with conservative haircuts. Not many brightly colored, high fashion suits, puffy shirts, ponytails or even beards on lawyers - at least not on litigators. If you dress not to make a statement, then you don't run the risk of making the wrong statement to the wrong person and unintentionally compromising your client's case.

Women lawyers have it worse because of the attitude of our society in general toward the way women dress, added to the issues any lawyer faces about how they should dress or groom for court. The judge proves both of those realities with his asinine comment. But, the fact that he's wrong doesn't mean a lawyer - especially a woman lawyer - should feel free to do their own thing concerning what they wear or how they appear in court. Dressing professionally and conservatively is safe. Dressing any other way is risky. And no one wants to be the client who loses a case because his or her lawyer wore his "Obama/Biden" pin during trial. Or wore sneakers with his suit. Or wore his "Roll Tide" souvenir tie when an Auburn fan was the jury fore-person.

.... Or wore a dress too short or heels too high. Sucks. But its the reality.

[mercuryblues]

11. I get that

However, this judge's "true story" was about combination of several different women over several years. So one woman may have worn a skirt he considered too short, another may have heels that he thought were too high, but for the purpose of this article they are all the same women. Then he goes on to say that the clerks will label the fictional woman a slut.

So far this week a middle school is limiting what girls can wear, because apparently boys get too distracted. Another middle school kicked out a girl because she looked too much like a boy. Now this.