Law students have a seemingly endless amount of events to attend, a lot of which have varying dress codes. Whether you’re going to class, an interview, or a networking event, this post is meant to serve as a sort of guide into what different dress codes mean and how to make sure you’re well equipped to handle any of them!
Everyday Attire
It’s very normal to not know what to expect when you start law school. Do you show up in a suit? Sweatpants? Jeans? The good news is everybody is just as lost as you. However, I always err on the side of caution when I don’t know what to wear, so on my first day of law school, I showed up in slacks and a nice-ish sweater. Nothing too fancy, but also nice enough where I knew I wouldn’t feel out of place no matter how everyone else was dressed.
Once you get into the swing of things, you’ll have a better idea of what kind of dress code is expected at your law school. Mine is pretty casual, so on days when I only have class, I sometimes will wear athletic clothes or jeans rather than something nicer.
The thing about law school is that random events always seem to be popping up. For this reason, I know a lot of students prefer to dress in more business casual attire every day to make sure they’re prepared for anything. This is not a bad idea at all, I just get lazy sometimes and can’t commit to that! Overall, it’s pretty much your preference how you dress everyday, just keep in mind that it is law school and you are surrounded by future colleagues, so maybe don’t get too crazy with the graphic t’s.
Business Casual
I hate when an event has a dress code of business casual because I think the range is soooo broad. For instance, my work has a business casual dress code, but I wear jeans, sneakers, and t-shirts pretty much every day. On the other hand, if a law school networking event is business casual, I usually wear a nicer pair of pants with a collared shirt or nice sweater and opt for loafers over sneakers. When it doubt, ask someone! Usually the career advisors know pretty well what each event is sort of expecting when it comes to attire.
For all you Pinterest users, here’s my board that I use for business casual inspo. I’ll also put in a snippet for those of you who don’t use Pinterest:
I made sure to include some looks that have jeans! To me, it’s kind of a balance between either a more casual top and nice bottoms, or more casual bottoms and a nice top.
The shoes are cut out of all these photos because I am not the most tech savvy, but you can’t go wrong with loafers or a nice pair of sneakers!
Business Professional
Whenever I hear “Business Professional” for a dress code, I immediately know that it means my nicest business attire. For me, this usually means a nice blazer or suitcoat with nice pants and loafers or heels – no sneakers. Being on a law student budget, it’s hard to invest in a nice suit. I have two, one from Amazon and one from Old Navy – both of which do the job just fine! Every time I had a job interview, I made sure to dress business professional as well. As I’ve said – better to be overdressed than underdressed, especially for something so important.
Again, here is my business professional Pinterest board! And a quick snippet:
As you can tell, I like neutral colors. But the basic premise is just making sure you have a blazer/suit coat, some nice pants, and a decent pair of shoes. You don’t have to break the bank and you don’t need a lot!
There’s not as many events as you might think that require business professional outfits, so it’s completely acceptable to just have one or two outfits.
If you can’t tell by the content of this post, I am not a fashion expert nor do I have a very fun fashion sense. I stick to basic, neutral, comfortable clothes no matter what the dress code is because I care more about feeling good in what I’m wearing than having the nicest or most interesting outfit. You can achieve this while still dressing for whatever occasion, and hopefully this post helped at least a little in breaking down the types of outfits law students wear on a day-to-day basis!
Law Student Balance 
Love the Pinterest boards!
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I thought some of the photos were you at first 🙂 Good info!! You definitely want comfort, but still be classy and appropriate for whatever the day is going to hold for you.
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