Kicker - Zoom etiquette for lawyers

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Countless millions of workers are now working from home—including attorneys. Some are conducting hearings using online video conferencing. 

Now, working from home is less formal than showing up in a courtroom. It’s understandable if lawyers don’t shine their shoes or iron their skirts.

Still, a Florida judge has one simple request for attorneys showing up for video hearings. I can’t help but hear the fictional Judge Chamberlain Haller:

HALLER: Next time you come into my courtroom, you will look lawyerly. I mean you comb your hair. And wear a suit and tie. And that suit better be made out some kinda … cloth. Ya understand me?

In other words: Get out of bed and get dressed!

Judge Dennis Bailey wrote a letter to the local bar association. He complained about inappropriate dress by lawyers on camera. 

Listen to this: One male lawyer appeared shirtless and one female attorney appeared still in bed, under the covers. The judge admonished: just putting on a beach cover-up doesn’t conceal the fact that you are poolside in a bathing suit.

EICHER: You will look lawyerly.

REICHARD: It’s The World and Everything in It.

(Photo/iStock)

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