Boston Legal and Dress Codes: Does Dressing Business…Trendy Hinder Your Law Career?

Boston Legal premiered on ABC this past fall and has quickly become my favorite show. main character Alan Shore (James Spader) is an unscrupulous, womanizing lawyer for the successful Boston firm, Crane, Poole & Schmidt. William Shatner plays the legendary Denny Crane, who’s score is approximately 6,000 - 0 in terms of trials won/lost. recently, Candice Bergen joined the cast as senior partner Shirley Schmidt.

two episodes ago (“Schmidt Happens”), Shirley returns to the Boston office because the junior and senior partners are concerned about Denny’s state of mind–they suspect he’s in the early stages of Alzheimer’s–and to “clean house.” upon meeting Sally Heep (Lake Bell), one of the younger lawyers, Shirley asks her if she’s an attorney. when Sally says yes, Shirley says something like, “Then, dress like one.”

in Sunday’s episode, “From Whence We Came,” Sally is fired because as a lawyer, she sucks (and in more ways than one). she’s been to trial on her own once–and she nearly screws it up. the last straw is when she fails to file a motion for negligence for one of her cases and is unable to file an appeal because the deadline passed.

aside from being unable to cut it at CP&S, Sally wears tight, low-cut outfits or trendy tops, the sleeves of which are too long. interestingly, Tara Wilson (Rhona Mitra), another young attorney and Alan’s current lover, also dresses this way. however, Tara has at least proven herself a competent lawyer.

why are Sally and Tara, who are more than minor characters–attorneys at a highly esteemed firm–dressed inappropriately? Lori Colson (Monica Potter) dresses professionally. so does Shirley. of course, the latter 2 are partners. more notably, the men dress professionally.

is this a ploy to sell the show based on sex? it isn’t necessary because the writing is that good. although sex is a theme in the program, instead of relying on physical scenes, it’s played out in the dialogue–as in the conversations between Shirley and Alan about his plumbing after she walks in on him in the men’s room. the sexual tension in their scenes is effective, even without the use of visual stimulation.

however, a larger issue is the way young female lawyers are portrayed. Sunday’s episode speaks clearly to women: if you want to be an attorney at a top firm, you better dress like one. if Sally was a man, would she still have been fired?