What to Wear to Your Summer Clerkship

July 28, 2021

Now that you have a summer job, the question is how do you make a good impression to the firm?

First impressions definitely play a big role in your time at the firm and whether they offer to keep you on during the school year or a second summer position, and one day an associate position. Many firms treat the summer clerkship as a working interview so dressing the part is half the battle. The other half is doing good work and being respectful, attentive, friendly and open to constructive feedback.

To start, what do you wear to work as a summer law clerk/associate?

Easy, business casual. Harder, what exactly is business casual. For guys its simpler, dress shoes, slacks, a button down and depending on the firm, a tie. For girls, it can mean a million things and thats where it gets tricky. A good rule of thumb is being ready if you ever have to go to court, so slacks or a skirt (to the knee or close to the knee) and a button down, blouse or top that you can throw a blazer over if needed. Pinterest is a great resource for this! You can totally have fun with it too! Colors and prints are cool if thats your jam, just keep it more on the modest side. A good tip is to play it safe initially and take cues from the women at your office and go from there.

A capsule wardrobe is a great place to start for this. Black and navy slacks, a pair of grey trousers and one or two matching jackets. A pair of nude and black pumps each, make sure they’re comfy! For tops, button downs or blouses in all the colors! I love white, blue, black, baby pink and a few prints. I also like pretty tank tops for layering under cardigans or blazers.

A few brands I love for work clothes, especially pants are HM, Zara, Calvin Klein, and Ann Taylor Loft. I often get the latter at Macys, sometimes Bloomingdales and Saks outlets and even TJ Maxx! I like to find styles that fit and get them in every color. For tops, Express has some good ones, as do the brands mentioned above. My suit is Ann Taylor and I have a second Calvin Klein jacket I can take to court as well. There’s no need to have multiple suits yet so get one in your most flattering color, either black, navy or gray, and have it tailored.

For work shoes, Calvin Klein has great options, I get mine at Macys. DSW has some good brands too! I love a Steve Madden pump too. You can also do heeled sandals and flats, but I would see if those at your office wear these before investing. At my job we’re fairly casual so I can wear open toe sandals every day and I use just my normal 3 inch shoes that pair with my outfit.

The best day of the week though is Friday and not just because you can taste the weekend, but because many offices these days have Casual Friday. If yours does, jeans are often ok. For CF, I wear a NON ripped jean, a blouse, tank/blazer combo and fun heels! I usually wear the most color on Fridays, idk if its because I’m happier on Fridays or because Happy Hour is always a possibility but I’ve noticed that at least at my office, we tend to do that.

Sidebar: If you are clerking for a judge, it is possible you may have to wear business professional which means a suit daily, so then you may want to get two or three options to interchange and then go for fun tops to personalize. Jewelry also goes a long way, if you’re into it! Some law firms may opt for business professional daily too.

Like I mentioned above, the other half of the battle is good work and personality so if you want a post on that, just let me know! Thanks for reading!

xo Kayla