Fashion Is Fun

Career Alternatives for Attorneys: Fart Fighting?

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No, that’s not a typo; we’re not talking about firefighting. We’re talking about fart fighting. From our sister site, the fabulous Fashionista:

There’s no graceful way to introduce this product, so we’ll just cut to the chase: “Subtle Butt” is a disposable patch of fabric with an “activated carbon layer… to which stench adheres and gets neutralized.” Except there’s nothing subtle about farting.

In short, Subtle Butt is a small square of fabric you stick to your underwear just in case you lay a real stinky egg. If it’s loud, you’re on your own. Subtle Butt does nothing to muffle sound. Gross.

This product sounds like a gas — and very useful for lawyers. Imagine you’re in a marathon negotiation session for a billion-dollar merger, or deposing the opposing party’s CEO, and that Mexican food you ordered from Seamless Web has given you flatulence.

Do you really want to waste precious (billable) time by stopping the proceedings and stepping out of the conference room, just to toot your own kazoo? If Subtle Butt has you covered, just let it rip — and cough really loudly or drop binders on the floor, to cover up the noise.

In light of Subtle Butt’s utility for attorneys, it shouldn’t be a surprise that the inventor is a lawyer….

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Summer Fashion Tips

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Image from The Ladders' Summer Fashion article

This month’s heat wave forced professional types to start desperately thinking about whether spaghetti straps and speedos are appropriate attire for the office. (Hint: they’re not.)

Many offices do go casual over the summer, though. At Weil Gotshal, for example, you can buy your way into a pair of jeans on Friday. Says a tipster (with some high-rise excitement):

did you hear that weil is starting jeans fridays for july and august as a test run and potentially forever! in order to participate, we must pay $5 to go to a designated charity each month. we have had these $5 jeans fridays in the past maybe every other month… but now it’s every friday!

The downside: Those who don’t turn up in jeans on Fridays are revealed as either ridiculously stuffy or too cheap to give to charity.

Need help with clothing choices this summer? A recent career newsletter from The Ladders had a useful feature on summer fashion, including dos and don’ts. The photo at right is among those featured. Is it a fashion do or a don’t?

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Elena Kagan v. Sonia Sotomayor: Who Wore It Better?

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As I noted in my liveblogging of Elena Kagan’s confirmation hearings, Solicitor General Kagan decided to wear the same outfit that then-Judge Sonia Sotomayor wore to day one of her confirmation hearings: an electric blue blazer over a black blouse.

A reader who was also struck by this sartorial similarity sent us a photographic comparison. Check it out, and vote in our reader poll….

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What You Can Wear At Weil

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Surprise: At Weil, you can't wear this.

It’s hot. It’s sticky. It’s summer time.

That means it’s time for law firm HR departments to send out their annual summer fashion memos. Otherwise, associates might start showing up to work in bikinis and speedos. Because after a long winter spent hibernating under fluorescent lights, packing on the cold-month pounds, that’s exactly what law firm associates want to do…

Weil Gotshal & Manges sent around a flyer to its associates today, with the subject, “Reminder: New York Office Guidelines on Business Casual Attire.” It lays out Fashion Dos & Don’ts for its associates. Happily, the bulletpoint list of “Unacceptable” attire is actually longer for men than it is for women.

The list doesn’t seem to be season-specific, as both genders are forbidden from wearing “hiking/snow boots” this summer.

So what can they wear?

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A SCOTUS Joke from The Gap?

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Is the clothing mega-retailer following the Supreme Court nomination process?

Check out this photo of a store window here in New York….

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Did Bill Clinton Just Join Team Kagan?
And what team does Elena Kagan play for?

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Shortly after Justice John Paul Stevens announced his upcoming retirement from the Supreme Court, Solicitor General Elena Kagan emerged as a leading candidate to fill his seat. The phrase “Team Kagan” started popping up all over the place (as we noted in our Twitter feed). Numerous users of Twitter and Facebook, as well as many bloggers and observers of the Court, proudly proclaimed themselves members of “Team Kagan.”

Over the weekend, Team Kagan may have gained another prominent member: former President Bill Clinton. In an interview with ABC’s “This Week,” Clinton said that he and his wife, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, are simply too old for SCOTUS. “I’d like to see [President Obama] put someone in there, late 40s, early 50s, on the court and someone with a lot of energy for the job,” Clinton said.

Hmm…. Of the three leading candidates for the Court — Elena Kagan, Judge Diane Wood (7th Cir.), and Judge Merrick Garland (D.C. Cir.) — only one, Kagan, fits the “late forties / early fifties” demographic. Kagan is 49, turning 50 later this month (on April 28). Wood is 59 — although she’s in great health, and looks like a million bucks. Garland is 57.

Then ex-president Clinton took another step towards openly endorsing Kagan. He urged Obama to consider someone from outside the judiciary. Again, of the three leading candidates, Kagan is the only non-judge. (Judges Wood and Garland were appointed to their judicial posts — by President Clinton, as a matter of fact — in 1995 and 1997, respectively.)

Going into this weekend, Solicitor General Kagan was already viewed as the frontrunner for JPS’s seat. We’ve said so here at Above the Law (here and here), and she’s also the nominee predicted by our readers (and by Fantasy SCOTUS players, too). Tom Goldstein, over at SCOTUSblog, has flat-out declared that “[o]n October 4, 2010, Elena Kagan will ask her first question as a Supreme Court justice.”

The apparent support of a former president can only increase Kagan’s lead. But what about the issue of her (real or perceived) sexual orientation?

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And what team does Elena Kagan play for?“

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Curtis Mallet Defines ‘Business Casual’ for its New York Associates

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curtis mallet summer wear suggestions.jpgAs the temperature rises, so does the desire to embrace informal summer fashions. Women are breaking out their strapless dresses and short skirts, and men are starting to sport shorts. While casual summer wear is fine on the weekends, don’t yield to the temptation to wear your flip flops to your white shoe firm.

Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle conveyed that message to its New York office with a memo sent out last week. In its e-mail making the case for “business casual,” the firm reminded associates that pecs are not to be admitted into evidence:

By all means resist the urge to acquaint us with your chest hair. If you think it necessary to impress the ladies with your efforts at the gym over the winter, think again – we are not a particularly good demographic for that.

After that, the memo’s author reminds the gents that loose-fitting suits can help hide pounds. We’re not sure what that has to do with business casual exactly, and suspect the firm just wanted to try to give equal attention to men and women so as not to appear to be solely lecturing females guilty of summer-slutty fashion sense. (As the Seventh Circuit did last month.)

After the jump, we bring you the full memo, which advises the ladies to “save it for the clubs or the beach.” According to the tipster who sent this along, the advice “wasn’t well received.”

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Tax Professors in Love

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This just in, from TaxProf Blog:

Tax Profs Miranda Perry and Vic Fleischer tied the knot Saturday at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, followed by a reception at the Kitchen [Upstairs], a Boulder wine bar.

A photograph of the two good professors appears above. Fashion props to Professor Perry for the understated elegance of her strapless, cream-colored, Empire waist gown. (Usually we can’t stand Empire waists; but this wedding dress looks great on her.)

Additional details from the wedding, also from TaxProf Blog:

Miranda’s judge, Judge Morris (Buzz) Arnold of the 8th Circuit, officiated. He managed to work in a wonderful legal history describing how the marriage contract is rooted in the common law of private ordering.

Attending were Tax Profs Eric Zolt (UCLA) and his wife Kathy Smalley (who worked on the Tufts concurrence for Justice O’Connor!), and Adam Chodorow (Arizona State) and his wife Rebel Rice. Also in attendance were tax lawyers Sang Ji (White & Case), Katharine Moir (Simpson Thacher), and John Melfi (Holland and Hart). Rounding out the tax expertise was Gail Perry, CPA, Miranda’s aunt and author of many tax books, including “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Doing Your Income Taxes.” Some non-tax Profs also celebrated with us, including Matt Bodie (Hofstra), Rebecca Hollander-Blumoff (Wash U), David Zaring (Washington & Lee), Paul Ohm (Colorado), Clare Huntington (Colorado), Nestor Davidson (Colorado), Meredith Harbach (NYU), and Kris Collins (Boston University).

Congratulations and best wishes to the happy couple! Given their brains and beauty, we have big expectations for their little deductions.

Tax Prof Nuptials: Miranda Perry & Vic Fleischer [TaxProf Blog]

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