What Lawyers Wear: Attorney Suits and Court Dress Codes in the US and UK

Last updated: 1 November 2026. This guide draws on the Judiciary of England and Wales, the Bar Council’s Court Dress Guide (July 2025), Practice Direction (Court Dress) (No 4), the US Supreme Court’s Guide for Counsel, US federal local rules, the Law Society of Scotland, and reporting by the ABA Journal, The Seattle Times and Legal Cheek.

Short answer: In the United States, lawyers wear conservative business dress in court, normally a dark suit, because no national rule requires robes or wigs; courts and individual judges set the details. In England and Wales, barristers and solicitor advocates wear a wig, gown and bands in the Crown Court and many higher court hearings, but business attire in magistrates’ courts, tribunals and most family hearings.

Key takeaways

• US lawyers never robe. The Supreme Court asks for “conservative business dress in traditional dark colors”, and local rules, such as the District of Puerto Rico’s Rule 83M, set similar standards for trial courts.
• In England and Wales, court dress means a wig, gown, wing collar and bands or a collarette. The Bar Council’s rule of thumb is simple: if the judge is robed, counsel should be robed.
• Since 1 October 2008, judges in civil and family cases have sat without wigs, but barristers still wear them in many civil trials. Solicitor advocates have been allowed to wear wigs since 2 January 2008.
• Wigs are not being abolished. In July 2025 the Bar Council added a three-year trial of dispensations on grounds of race, sex and disability, on top of existing religious exemptions.

What do lawyers wear to court in the United States?

There is no federal statute or national rule that sets one dress code for American lawyers. What you wear is governed by each court’s local rules, the judge’s standing orders and long custom. In practice, that means a dark, well-fitted suit and quiet accessories. Judges wear black robes; lawyers do not wear gowns, wigs or bands at any level.

The clearest written standard comes from the top. The Supreme Court’s Guide for Counsel says that “appropriate attire for counsel is conservative business dress in traditional dark colors (e.g., navy blue or charcoal gray)”. It also bans phones, laptops and other electronic devices from the courtroom and warns counsel never to interrupt a Justice.

Trial courts tend to write broader rules. The District of Puerto Rico’s Local Rule 83M requires business attire (“suits, slacks and a sport coat or jacket, or dress”), bans exposed shoulders and midriffs, and makes attorneys responsible for their clients’ and witnesses’ dress. The Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida’s Rule 5072-1 asks everyone appearing “whether remotely or in person” to wear appropriate business attire and bars clothing “intended or likely to influence or distract”. Many judges add preferences in standing orders.

One quirk survives at the Supreme Court. Lawyers from the Office of the Solicitor General have traditionally argued in morning coats. When Elena Kagan, the first woman Solicitor General, argued her first case in September 2009 she wore a dark suit instead, and the ABA Journal reported that the office then adopted a policy under which male lawyers still wear morning coats and women may choose not to.

How have dress codes for women lawyers changed in the US?

Written rules today are mostly gender neutral, but that is recent. In 1999 Judge Jeanette Burrage of King County Superior Court in Washington State told women attorneys she hoped they would wear skirts rather than pantsuits in her courtroom. After a wave of complaints she backed down within days, according to The Seattle Times. In 2013 Circuit Judge Royce Taylor of Rutherford County, Tennessee, drew national criticism for proposing dress guidance for women lawyers, including that jackets should have sleeves reaching below the elbow. The ABA Journal reported that he denied a rumour that it would require pantyhose.

The modern position is that trousers and skirt suits are equally acceptable. Rules such as Puerto Rico’s speak to fit, cleanliness and skirt length rather than to whether a woman wears a skirt at all. In England and Wales, the Bar Council’s guide goes further and says counsel may dress according to their gender identity.

What do lawyers wear at the office?

Outside court, the suit has been in retreat for years. Large firms began relaxing dress codes to attract junior talent. Legal Cheek reported that Baker McKenzie moved its London lawyers, trainees and staff to a business casual policy that allowed smart jeans in October 2018, and that CMS and Travers Smith introduced casual codes in 2017. In March 2019 Dechert allowed jeans every day, while keeping business attire for court and other formal appearances and keeping suits in garment bags at the office for unexpected meetings.

That is the practical lesson: office dress is set by your firm and clients, not the court, so keep a dark suit at work for short-notice hearings. For tips on choosing outfits, bags and accessories, see our guide to professional outfits for lawyers.

What do barristers and solicitors wear in court in England and Wales?

The Bar Council’s Court Dress Guide, agreed with the senior judiciary, divides hearings into two types. “Court dress” means wig, gown, wing collar and bands or collarette. “Business attire” means a dark, dark grey or dark blue suit or similar jacket, with a skirt or trousers. The guiding principle is: “If the judge is robed, they should be robed.”

• Court dress: the Crown Court, the Court of Appeal, trials in the King’s Bench Division, the Commercial Court, the Technology and Construction Court and the Administrative Court, and Chancery trials and appeals where oral evidence is heard. By convention it is also worn in “liberty of the subject” hearings such as committal applications.
• Business attire: magistrates’ courts, youth courts, coroners’ courts and tribunals, including the First-tier and Upper Tribunals.
• Family courts: court dress only for contested divorce or nullity petitions or when sitting in open court, unless the judge directs otherwise. Since 15 April 2024 judges at the Central Family Court are robed without wigs, and practitioners are not expected to robe.
• Remote and hybrid hearings: dress as if you were in the courtroom. If the in-person hearing is robed, the remote advocate should robe too, unless the judge grants a dispensation.

Solicitors with higher rights of audience have the same choice. Practice Direction (Court Dress) (No 4), in force from 2 January 2008, says that “solicitors and other advocates with rights of audience have the option to wear wigs in circumstances where they would be worn by members of the Bar.” Our explainer on who can conduct litigation after Mazur covers the related question of who may act in court proceedings at all.

What changed in 2008, and when are wigs dispensed with?

The biggest reform was to judges’ dress. According to the Judiciary of England and Wales, the Lord Chief Justice announced changes in July 2007 that took effect on 1 October 2008. Court of Appeal and High Court judges stopped wearing wigs, wing collars and bands in civil and family cases and adopted a new civil gown, designed pro bono by Betty Jackson CBE. Coloured bands on the gown show rank: gold for heads of division and appeal judges, red for High Court judges, blue for district judges and pink for masters and registrars. Criminal court dress did not change, except that High Court judges now wear one set of red robes all year.

Advocates kept their wigs, so a High Court civil trial can feature an unwigged judge facing counsel in full court dress.

The Bar Council allows dispensations. Barristers who wear turbans or headscarves need not wear wigs. From July 2025, for a three-year trial, barristers need not wear a wig where their ethnicity’s hairstyle traditions make one impractical, with no application needed, and those with a disability or affected by pregnancy or the menopause can obtain a free certificate, valid for 12 months, to remove a wig or gown. After press reports that wigs were being scrapped, the Bar Council published an update on 27 October 2025 saying those headlines were wrong and that managing proceedings remains a matter for each judge. A judge can still direct everyone in a hearing to remove wigs.

The UK Supreme Court is more relaxed again: since December 2011, advocates there may, by agreement, dispense with wigs and gowns.

What do lawyers wear in Scottish courts?

Scotland has its own rules. Judges of the Inner House of the Court of Session, the appeal tier of the civil court, stopped wearing wigs and robes in April 2014. From 1 December 2019, judges in the Outer House ordinarily stopped wearing them too, except at hearings where witnesses give evidence, and the Law Society of Scotland reported that counsel and solicitors with rights of audience are expected to wear business clothing at those hearings. The Dean of the Faculty of Advocates said advocates may still wear court dress if they choose. The changes did not extend to the criminal courts.

How do US and UK court dress codes compare?

What are the courtroom etiquette dos and don’ts?

Dress is only part of courtroom behaviour. The rules below come from the court guides cited in this article; our list of tips for success in the courtroom covers preparation more broadly.

• Do read the judge’s standing order or the court’s practice note before the hearing, including any dress requirements for remote appearances.
• Do use the right form of address. In the US, “Your Honor” for trial judges; at the Supreme Court, address each Justice as “Justice” followed by their name, never as “Judge”. In England and Wales, the judiciary’s guidance is “My Lord” or “My Lady” in the High Court and Court of Appeal, “Your Honour” for a circuit judge, “Judge” for district and tribunal judges, and “Sir” or “Madam” (or “Your Worship”) for magistrates.
• Do address your remarks to the court, not to opposing counsel, and tell clients and witnesses what to wear.
• Don’t interrupt the judge, glance at the clock while a judge is speaking, or bring a phone into a courtroom that bans devices.
• Don’t wear clothing intended or likely to influence or distract the court or jury.
• Don’t assume office business casual is acceptable in court. It almost never is.

If you are new to practice and wondering where advocates sit in the wider career structure, our guide to law firm hierarchy explains the roles from trainee to partner.

Frequently asked questions

Do American lawyers wear wigs or gowns in court?

No. American lawyers do not wear wigs, gowns or bands in any court. They wear business dress, usually a dark suit. Judges wear black robes. The only formal survival is the morning coat traditionally worn by male lawyers from the Solicitor General’s office when arguing before the Supreme Court; other counsel there are asked to wear conservative business dress in dark colours.

Are barristers’ wigs being abolished in England and Wales?

No. The Bar Council said on 27 October 2025 that headlines about wigs being axed were wrong. Its July 2025 guide keeps court dress where judges are robed, but adds a three-year trial of dispensations for race, sex and disability, alongside existing religious exemptions for barristers who wear turbans or headscarves. Judges can still direct that wigs be removed in a particular hearing.

Can solicitors wear wigs in court?

Yes, if they have higher rights of audience. Practice Direction (Court Dress) (No 4), in force from 2 January 2008, gives solicitors and other advocates with rights of audience the option to wear wigs wherever barristers wear them. The option follows the Bar’s practice, so it does not arise in magistrates’ courts or tribunals, where nobody robes.

What should a woman lawyer wear to court?

The same standard applies to everyone: a dark, well-fitted suit with trousers or a skirt, or a dress with a jacket, and nothing that distracts. Some US courts set skirt length or ban exposed shoulders. In England and Wales, female barristers wear the same wig, gown and bands or collarette as men where court dress applies, and the Bar Council says counsel may dress according to their gender identity.

What do lawyers wear for a remote or video hearing?

Treat it as an in-person hearing. The Bar Council says barristers should robe for a remote appearance if the in-person hearing is robed, unless the judge grants a one-off dispensation. US courts take a similar line: the Middle District of Florida Bankruptcy Court, for example, expects business attire whether people appear remotely or in person. Check the camera background as well as your clothes.

Why are judges in civil cases no longer wigged in England?

The Lord Chief Justice simplified judicial working dress from 1 October 2008. Court of Appeal and High Court judges dropped wigs, wing collars and bands in civil and family cases and adopted a new civil gown with coloured bands showing rank. Criminal court dress was left unchanged, so judges still wear wigs when trying criminal cases in the Crown Court.

This article is general information about court dress and etiquette as of 1 November 2026. It is not legal or professional advice. Dress requirements vary by court and judge, so check local rules, standing orders and the current Bar Council or court guidance before you appear.