What Should I Wear to Court?
ByDemonstrate Respect for the Judge and the Court.
Imagine that going before a judge is like going to a job interview for a position that you want very badly. Except that if this interview goes bad, it will have a profoundly damaging impact on your life. What you wear to court and how you compose yourself can be very important in determining the outcome of your trial.
Make the Best Effort You Can.
Dress nicely; make the effort to demonstrate that you respect the law, the court, and the Judge by considering what you wear to court and taking the time to clean up and look nice. You have only a limited time before the judge or jury to convince them that you are a good person who either is not guilty of the crime that you have been charged with or that you deserve a light sentence or second chance. It does not take much to demonstrate that you care.
Men, shave or trim your beard neatly, wear a tie, tucked in dress shirt, slacks with a belt, dress shoes and socks, and a suit jacket, if you have them. Women, think job interview, dress conservatively regarding the length of dress and wear a button up blouse. If you are going to dress casual make it “clean casual”; do not wear anything that could possibly insult someone. Do not wear anything with a spiteful message on it. On that note, do not wear anything that has any words on it. If you do not have anything to wear to court it would behoove you to go out and get something. If you can barely afford new clothes, you can find all of the aforementioned for very cheap at a Goodwill; there is one in Bexely, Gahanna, Upper Arlington, Hilliard, Reynoldsburg, and Northwest on Chambers. You do not have to follow these suggestions but if there are small things that you can do to help your chances of a not guilty outcome in court then why wouldn’t you want to do them.
No BLING!
Enough said. Keep your appearance toned down. You do not want to be before the judge looking like a mob boss or gang member.
No hats.
Do not expose or offend anyone in the court.
Do not wear overly tight apparel, have exposed cleavage or belly buttons, chest hair, sleeveless shirts, high skirts, do not do it! The chances that the judge will like that are slim, it is more likely that you will not be looked upon favorably in the eyes of the court and possibly you may even be asked to leave the courtroom.
Leave the Armani at home, but showing up in a Columbus Ohio courtroom in a tweed coat for a two million dollar fraud case is a paper thin ploy. Tone it down, but dress nice, conservative, and with respect to the authority of the court.
