what color suit to get?

[LRgrader]

For women, wear a black dress suit.

[desmo]

Dark color w/ white shirt and conservative tie.  None of the shiny stuff you see on TV.  Remember, most firms are very conservative so for you guys, this also means no earrings.

[Janna116]

How often will I actually need to wear a suit while in law school?  I know for interviews obviously, but are there many other times?  I'm wondering just how nice of a suit I actually need.

Rather than guessing when you might need to wear a suit I'll give you a list of when I had to wear a suit over the last 2 years (I'm heading into my third year)

1. Interviews
2. Inn of Court
3. Trial Competition
4. Moot Court Competition
5. Trial Team Tryouts
6. Informational Job Fairs
7. Informational Interviews
8. The Two Times that a Supreme Court Justice Came to Visit
9. Oral Argument Presentations in Research and Writing Class
10. Trial (final "exam") for Trial Advocacy Class
11. "Picture" Day (for the Facebook) during 1L Orientation week
12. The day we had to swear an oath to uphold the constitution, etc...(also during Orientation week)

Hmmm, I'm sure there were more times I just can't remember.  So the real answer is that it depends on the person, the school and the professor.  Some people are more formal.  Some places are more formal.  And obviously everything I listed above is not a required part of law school so it really depends on what you plan on doing and the rules that go along with those activities.

Oh, for interviews: men were advised to wear dark navy or charcoal.  And women were advised to wear navy, charcoal or black.  Men were specifically advised not to wear black because it looks morbid (a la funeral).  I'm not sure why women can wear black but whatever.  And always wear a white shirt and red or yellow tie.  At least that's what the Jos. Banks guy said when he came.  The trick is to be conservative in interviews.  You can always relax and add a colored shirt but you can never go back and have a more conservative first impression for big firm.  For everything else I listed, such as class and competitions, I wouldn't go wild but obviously the rules can be more relaxed.  And if you can't live without wearing a brown suit then research the firms and don't pick an ulra conservative firm to interview with.

Jen

[violaterra]

11. "Picture" Day (for the Facebook) during 1L Orientation week

You had to wear a suit for picture day???  Really?  I've been spoiled by Seattle. 

Begining my first year, should I already have a suit?  I have plenty of business clothes but Seattle isn't big on the whole suit to work thing.

[Janna116]

I think your question falls under the places part of the "everyone is different, there are different people, places and schools."

If you plan on working in Seattle and the firms in Seattle are all very hip and unconserative (is that a word ) then pick a suit that would fit that lifestyle.  I am in the south east.  Down here big firms are conservative and you wear dark suits.  Casual fridays mean you can wear a brown, tan or light gray suit. 

And I bought a suit before law school but I was warned in my Orientation packet that we had to wear a suit for the picture and the oath. I also wore a suit for a trial competition my first semester and the Inn of Court. 

So whether you need to own a suit before school starts is a people, school issue.  What kind of person are you?  What activities do you want to participate in and what does your school or those activities require?  Obviously, unless your school is like mine, even if you want to particpate in suit requiring competitions you'll have fair warning after school starts.  So you probably don't need one before school starts.  Of course you'll have a lot of other things going on to worry about so if you think you're going to need a suit at all then you might want to go ahead and knock that out of the way so you won't have to fit in suit shopping between, classes, studying, presentations, clubs, and study groups.

Jen

[violaterra]

excellent answer.   thank you!

[inconclusive]

[karizma]

My mentor (Asst. DA) said that you want either charcoal or navy, but the suit is not as important as the shirt, tie, and shoes. 

With that being said, I went to Nordstrom and dropped almost 800 bucks on a charcoal suit.  I've been to Men's Wearhouse and though they were nice, they didn't seem as customer-service oriented as Nordstrom.  Nordstrom dude said that charcoal is a bit more versatile if you only have one suit.  You can get away with a charcoal suit at a wedding, parties, as well as interviews.

Not having a suit until the end of last year I ran into at least 3 or 4 situations where I wished I had one.  And I'm sure with Fall Recruiting and all the job fairs and conferences that there will be many more times this year (2L) where wearing a suit will be needed.

[klinex]

suck my male private part, karizma, suck my male private part, baby