The lawyers redefining corporate style
It’s been 24 years since Reese Witherspoon’s most famous character, Elle Woods, made waves for being a pink-leather-clad lawyer in the hit comedy, Legally Blonde. At the time, it was considered oxymoronic to be a fashion-obsessed lawyer, not least because as a professional it skewed heavily towards men (women now make up 53 per cent of lawyers – up from 48 per cent in 2015).
To wear diamanté heels and Tiffany necklaces, as Woods does, was seen as unserious for a sector concerned with the very serious business of the law. Yet today, as Witherspoon prepares to release a new prequel TV series, Elle, on Amazon Prime, there are a growing number of female lawyers whose cool, grown-up style is seeing them gain fashion influencer status.
One such lawyer is Lisa Ing, who shares reels detailing her work looks and style tips to her 260K followers. She first started sharing her looks on Instagram in 2020, and is now signed to Lucy Owen Talent Agency, which also represents more traditional influencers like Liv Purvis and Anna Bromilow. This has led to partnerships with the likes of Hush and Bicester Village.
“I think when it comes to style, you don’t necessarily equate those who work in the legal field with creativity,” she explains of her success. “Whereas I take more risks with my outfits and am less conservative than you might imagine for someone in this profession. I don’t necessarily fit into the mold of what you envisage a lawyer to dress like.”
Favouring buying high quality clothing over fast fashion is very much the ethos of her account, with the hashtag “buywellnotoften” on her bio. “It’s not a secret that I buy designer stuff, but I do try to demonstrate how much I wear them, that I keep things for years” she explains. “A lot of influencers buy things just for their posts and don’t wear them again. But I put thought into what I’m buying – this is my money and I want to spend it wisely.”
According to the Law Society, the average salary of a lawyer in the UK is £62,000 (rising to £80,000 in London), which is significantly higher than the national average of £37,430 (ONS). As a profession of high earners, it could be argued that it is actually fairly easy for lawyers to dress well, with access to designer labels. Yet these women aren’t necessarily espousing the benefits of an Hermès Birkin. Take 49-year-old Georgina Cook, for example, who shares her love of second hand fashion with her 182K followers on Instagram.
“I think that’s actually one of my USPs – that I shop mostly vintage – but work at a law firm,” shares Cook. “There aren’t that many of us in charity shop clothes. The first ever post I shared that went viral was of a second hand aubergine-coloured velvet dress in a “Get Ready With Me Video”. There’s so much fast fashion out there, and the landfill is full. I think there’s also an element of fun to finding treasures second hand – it’s like striking gold.” Some of Cook’s most popular posts are her “Sparkle Fridays”, in which she shares her trademark magpie style – something which might seem at odds with her profession.
Indeed, the relaxing of business-smart dress codes post-Covid have meant that these women can now leave grey suits in the past. “Covid and lockdown had a huge impact on the way we dress for work,” explains Cook. “We were all in our pyjamas working from home, and then we went back into the office, and people just thought ‘you know what, I’m not putting a suit back on.’ Certainly at my firm we’re allowed to dress down everyday, there’s no formal dress code anymore.”
Another factor in the visibility of stylish female lawyers? They are breaking the glass ceiling. “More women are reaching senior positions within the legal profession today,” shares Cook. “So there is a visible role model you can look up to and it doesn’t need to be someone in a power suit pretending to be a man. I would hope that somebody would look at me and think that you can be yourself and still progress.”
Yet does having so many new lawyers-slash-fashion-influencers pile on the pressure for others in the profession to be stylish? For Thandi Maqubela, the accessibility of her fashion for all women – not just those within her industry – is the key to her success. “I’d like to think the workwear I share is largely accessible,” she says. “I don’t think every single item in one’s wardrobe needs to be designer in order to make a sartorial impact. Don’t get me wrong, I do have a few high end pieces in my armoury but it’s not the be all and end all.”
There are also undeniable benefits to being confident in your fashion choices in the workplace, not least for performance. “It’s no secret that dressing in a way that makes you happy has a positive impact on how confident a person feels. I also think having a bit of fun with what we wear brings some much needed levity to the often high pressure environments we work in,” shares Maqubela.
“I think a lot of people I work with are leaning into their personal approach to workwear, without fear of showing their personality in the way they dress. And I’ve met a lot of stylish women as a result of my Lawyers’ Dining Club [a supper club she set up to network with fellow lawyers] – my love of Blaze Milano blazers is a direct result of seeing it on one of the women who attended.”
And it’s not just those with a large Instagram following who are sartorially adventurous in court either. Lois Langton, head of family law at Howard Kennedy LLP, has never shied away from her love of fashion, and is an avid collector of both Vivienne Westwood and original era Alexander McQueen (she recently won the hero item – a Nineties emerald suit – at the Christie’s auction of the former). “Some of my go-to office looks include a Vivienne Westwood tartan bondage suit,” she shares. For Langton, the way she dresses has only ever been a positive in her career. “I don’t change my outfits based on what I’m doing that day, I’ve only ever dressed for me,” she says. “It’s very much a reflection of who I am and my personality, and I think that authenticity serves me well as a lawyer.”
