The Pink Ghetto: Women Lawyers Will Be Harassed No Matter What They Wear

What should you do when a partner tells you to wear a miniskirt, a low-cut blouse, and a push-up bra?

Check out her 'sexy' outfit.

Check out her ‘sexy’ outfit.

Welcome back to The Pink Ghetto, a series where we take a look at some of the most appalling stories from one of the most sexist industries in the world: the legal profession. Today, we’ll take a look at the way that women are criticized, critiqued, and harassed over how they look and what they wear to work. These are real emails we’ve received from real readers.

When you see things like this happening, say something. Together, we can inspire the change necessary to stop this disturbing behavior from being so prevalent in the law.

When I was in law school, I scored a 1L paid summer associate position at a small IP boutique in Connecticut. The partner who hired me was an alum of my law school and was my father’s age. I was thrilled about this paid job and the interest he seemed to take in my career. Working there was fine, even though there was only one other female attorney. One day, the partner who hired me invited me to go to NYC to attend a settlement conference so I could see what that was like, and then invited me to lunch with him and his wife at a fancy restaurant afterwards. While at lunch, he started talking about how the paralegal at the office was a “10” and how she always wore black thongs with white slacks. I got very uncomfortable and, in a lame attempt to change the subject, asked him about my upcoming 2L summer interviews and how I should handle them. The topic of appropriate dress came up, and he told me I should wear a miniskirt, low-cut blouse, and push-up bra. He said this in front of his wife, who just laughed and said, “Oh honey, I think she’s asking a serious question.” I was mortified and felt dirty for the rest of the internship.

I had just taken a job in-house at a mid-size company and traveled to the annual industry legal conference those in my sub-field all attend. One of the usual suspect law firms in the field had in attendance a mid-level female associate with whom I am good friends and an older (50s) male partner who had advised a few lawyers at my new company over the years. My friend set up a dinner for the three of us during the conference, presumably so their firm could maintain a foothold with my company, and although I have close ties to another law firm in the industry and would prefer to give any business I can to them, I felt it would be rude to decline, and innocent enough to network, especially with my friend.

On multiple occasions before, as we were leaving the hotel for, and at the dinner, the partner made comments about how he wasn’t sure he wanted to intrude on our “girls’ night,” showing that he considered the outing less serious than a business dinner with the firm’s client. Otherwise, dinner was fine enough and the partner actually talked about how empowered his pre-teen daughter is as a young woman with a strong voice (though in hindsight, it seems like he felt more hen-pecked than supportive).

The next day, I saw the partner as we both got on the elevator at the conference hotel. I was wearing high heels as opposed to the flats I had worn to dinner the previous night. In front of an elevator full of our industry peers, he asked me if I was wearing my “big girl shoes today.” Shocked, but not knowing what to do, I faked a laugh.

I am now a small-town lawyer at a small firm, but before law school I was a paralegal at one of the bigger firms in Washington, D.C. I was assigned to an insurance dispute that culminated in a multiple week trial. In the last couple of weeks, I was in court periodically. At the end of my last day in court, one of the partners and I were cleaning up the trial table and collecting things to bring back to the office.

The judge suddenly reappeared in the courtroom and started chatting with us. He was very friendly and took particular interest in me and my career plans. I said I was a recent college graduate intending to go to law school, but had only just begun my search. He replied, without taking a breath, “Blonde women, especially those who wear red, will never be taken seriously in the legal profession, especially not the courtroom. You should really think about his.” I froze, looked down at my red blouse under my very conservative black pantsuit, looked back up, and thanked him for his advice.

The judge went back to chambers. The partner and I collected the rest of our things. Not a word was ever spoken of it again

Do you have a law school or law firm story you’d like to see appear in The Pink Ghetto? Please email me with “The Pink Ghetto” in the subject line (or find me on Twitter: @StaciZaretsky). You will be kept anonymous. Submissions are always welcome!

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