I don't speak for any other lawyers, but I have always taken an active hand in "appearance management" for my clients. In private practice, I made sure that my clients understood just how much appearance matters, not only to the jury, but to the judge.
There's a story that I read on the listserv (sp?) for the Arkansas Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers some years ago. One of the listserv members had a client who was charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver. The client showed up for trial wearing a T-shirt . . . with a big ol' pot leaf on the front, and there was a dollar sign on top of the leaf. Wanna guess how that trial turned out?
So that's my off-topic, but funny story for the day . . . at least I thought it was funny.
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I'm a lawyer, but I'm not your lawyer. If you need some honest-to-goodness legal advice, go buy some.
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