Wardrobe for London solicitor

Greetz. I've been lurking for a while, but need to come out of the closet, so to speak. I was hired by a London law firm called Linklaters and will be joining the US team in the London mothership. Since I found this forum, I invested in a pair of AE Park Avenues and another pair. However, the rest of my closet is still a bunch of blue striped shirts, jeans, flip flops and a Men's Wearhouse suit. The official dress policy is business casual and the associates I had lunch with said not to worry because people are more laid back now when it comes to clothes. I also read here that lawyers really dress up in the Square Mile and that you can get sent home for not wearing black shoes. I read the old threads and I understand that hard work and willingness to learn are what will get me ahead in my first year, but of course I also want to look presentable without going over the top. Should I just dress as though I were going to a New York business casual office, or are the rules for London going to be different? Thanks in advance.

Good grief - slob wear (aka business 'casual') in the hear to of the City of London too. If you ask me this is formal business attire: This is business casual: The rest is underwear. More seriously, I think you will find that the rules of business slobwear/casual in London are equally confusing and ill defined as they are anywhere else in the world - which is a real problem when firms insist that employees go to work in their underwear. It is all just too confusing and every company and every office will be different. The business with black shoes is applicable only to situations in London where they still vaguely dress for work, even it is merely a lounge suit that they wear. Indeed, a lounge suit is the bare minimum dress requirement before you can wear your Park Avenues.

Congrats on the Linklaters job - I have a couple of friends who have worked in the London office and found the work to be very interesting. Long hours are the norm, however - one friend told me that he found himself going home at 10 o'clock one evening and was surprised by how early it was. On the positive side, he usually didn't start work until about 10am.

Anyway, I think that as long as you get some business basics, you'll be fine. Pick up a navy suit, a charcoal suit, some white and light blue business shirts and some ties.

I tend to think that, whatever you might be told by others at the firm, it is still a good idea to have a couple of versatile, hardworking suits that will serve you well in a wide variety of situations - particularly as you are a lawyer.

The advice offered by Journeyman is perfectly sound. I don´t know exactly what constitutes business casual in London, but at least here in Frankfurt Linklaters seem to be rather laid back in such things as oposed to, say, Freshfields, where casual Friday obviously means that you may leave your waistcoat at home. Still, and I might be mistaken, I can´t remember ever having met a guy from Linklaters who wasn´t dressed in suit and tie. I´d venture the guess that the situation in London will be comparable.
Best of luck on your new job.

London firms, even where they have gone business casual, tend to have more people wearing suits than comparable places in NY. You will have plenty of meetings, even as a junior associate, so you'll need to be stocked up on suits.

Congrats on the move to London. Feel free to send me a PM to discuss in more detail - I know this scene pretty well.

Congrats on your admittance into the Magic Circle.

The real Ivan Boesky was a neighbor of ours for many years after he was released from the Federal Prison in Lompoc.

We moved.

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