“What bet did you lose?”
“Did we get sued?”
“Who died?”
These are some of the wisecracks I get from startup clients when I show up to their office wearing a suit. And since most of my clients wear flip-flops to work, I probably should know better than to wear dress shoes to their office.
But I’ve been wearing fewer suits. In fact, I just completed a “no suit summer” at my office. Mere coincidence that this summer was legendary? I think not.
While some suits are Seersuckers, all suits are creativity-suckers. In the last 25 years, nothing of substance was invented while wearing a suit.
Although, I bet mortgage-backed securities were invented by someone wearing a suit. We could probably replace over 300 pages of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Bill with a simple “No Suit” policy for the financial sector:
I’m a bit of a hypocrite because I’m wearing a suit and tie in my website photos. I really need to get one of those “chillin’, but professional” headshots with a dress shirt or blazer/dress shirt combo and replace the current photos on this site.
If you feel uncomfortable with your lawyer wearing a suit around you, I’d just tell him or her. I wouldn’t expect any objections.
Ryan RobertsPartner
Ryan Roberts is a startup and venture capital attorney and partner at Roberts Zimmerman PLLC with more than two decades of experience advising high‑growth startups and venture capital investors. He is the author of Acceleration: What All Entrepreneurs Must Know About Startup Law and StartupLawyer.com
