Lawyer's ascot borders on contemptuous

[Bic Pentameter]

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=705084




Not-so-natty neckwear raises judge's hackles
By DERRICK NUNNALLY

Posted: Jan. 8, 2008

Justice may be blind, but Milwaukee County Circuit Judge William Sosnay's sense of courtroom fashion is not.

Ascot or Tie?


Warren Zier's ascot violates courtroom decorum, a judge says.

Quotable

I think it's too casual, and Mr. Zier has appeared with a tie before. He has told me that if we're before a jury, he would appear with a tie. Well, why? I think we can draw an obvious implication from that.

- William Sosnay,
circuit judge


In the courtroom of the pompadoured judge long known as a fastidious dresser, a sentencing hearing in a misdemeanor case was delayed for three hours Tuesday after a veteran prosecutor turned up for court wearing an ascot.

A courthouse rule requires all lawyers to wear neckties, but prosecutor Warren Zier's occasional choice of creative cravats drew the judge's ire.

Sosnay's review found Zier's red ascot - which matched the handkerchief in the breast pocket of Zier's pinstriped gray suit - "borders on contemptuous," given the judge's prior warnings that he only cottons to neck- and bow-ties.

"This is not about the definition of an ascot or a necktie," Sosnay said in court, addressing a reporter in the gallery directly while a case waited to be heard. "This is an issue which I believe deals with the integrity of the court."

Then he called the neckwear inappropriate given his longstanding policy, which only Zier has flouted: no ascots in lieu of neckties for formal proceedings.

"Really?" Bob Norris, manager of Harleys for Men haberdashery in Shorewood, said by phone when told of the courthouse happenings. "Ascots aren't worn very much but would be considered formal."

The silk neck loop, worn under the shirt around the base of the neck, is an unusual touch, Norris said, a wardrobe choice one might wear to a fancy dinner party. Hugh Hefner has worn them for decades, but Norris said he's seen ascots used as a personal signature by others - just as, he said, the late Gov. Lee Sherman Dreyfus made a red vest his iconic personal attire.

Zier has dabbled with ascots for decades - "since the '70s, 1975 or '76," he said.

Then came an April courthouse rule ordering that "men will wear coats and ties and women will wear dresses, suits or pantsuits." Ever since, a steady rotation of long ties, bowties and ascots has marked Zier's scheduled court appearances. And he said he won't change even in the face of Sosnay's allusion to possible contempt proceedings.

"I guess we'll deal with that if it gets to that point," Zier said.

Tuesday morning, the three people in the gallery to hear the fate of Bryan Collins had to wait two hours, 58 minutes to hear it finally begin.

The lag gave them time to discuss the standoff.

"Don't they got a novelty shop in this place somewhere so he can buy a tie?" one of the observers asked.

 

[King Francis]

Originally Posted by Bic Pentameter

Sosnay's review found Zier's red ascot - which matched the handkerchief in the breast pocket of Zier's pinstriped gray suit - "borders on contemptuous," given the judge's prior warnings that he only cottons to neck- and bow-ties.

The truly criminal error.

 

[style from the heartland]

"Formal"--maybe, but comporting with court room traditions in this country, circa 1900 - on, no.

 

[FLMountainMan]

I swear I read about this somewhere else.

 

[oldog/oldtrix]

Many years ago, I decided to make my stay on St. Maarten into a busman's holiday and attend the local court. I don't speak Dutch, but I quickly understood that the trial I was viewing was a domestic proceeding, either for a divorce or legal separation. I would have had little trouble following the ebb and flow of the case, but I was continually distracted by the bare shins and sandal shod feet of the barristers who, above calf level, were draped in black robes with white ascots and bewigged. Apparently there, a lawyer may dispense with not only the tie but also the suit, shirt and socks (and, for all I could tell, underwear). But this is not St. Maarten. If there's one lesson I've learned in almost 35 years of trial practice, it's wear a tie, whether four-in-hand or bow, to court. Come to think of it, I knew that a priori.