<p>I have aspirations to become a lawyer but I have a few questions regarding tattoos in the law profession. I have a couple of tattoos and both of them end right above my elbow. You can see them if I wear a short sleeve shirt. I would like to get some more tattoos but im worried about how this may appear to future employers.
Now I would be able to cover them up with a long sleeve shirt and suit, which I assume is the usual attire. Are there going to be situations where I would have to dress more casual, like company picnics or something? If partners saw tattoos on an associate would they look down upon it? What are the chances that my firm would see my tattoos?</p>
<p>No replys? Someone must have an idea or atleast an opinion.</p>
<p>fijeeboi, I don't think that there's a definitive answer to your question. What I can tell you is that I know many lawyers who have tattoos. My H practiced at a 'biglaw' firm for 20 years and for the past ten has been the General Counsel of a large corporation. Several of the partners, and probably more associates, at his firm had tattoos, which as you pointed out, were covered up by the usual office attire. I don't recall anyone ever having a problem with them. When my H started out as an associate, I do recall a very senior partner giving him a hard time about a tie he wore one day - he thought it was too 'frivolous' in its design. :) That generation has long since retired.</p>
<p>Will there be people who don't like tattoos? Of course. Will it influence your ability to be hired if you have a tattoo? Doubtful, unless you're covered with them from head to toe, or if the tattoo is somehow offensive. Tattoos are much more commonplace now, for both males and females.</p>
<p>More and more firms have gone to casual attire on some level - some have business casual which is really trading a suit for sport coat and slacks. Others are more casual. There is no reason for anyone to know you have tattoos before you're hired because suits are typically worm for the interviewing process. A couple of my clients have gone pretty casual so polos would be worn for example. I have one client whose standard attire is dress- type jeans. They don't even want people coming in to interview to dress up. They are a national plaintiff firm - not "biglaw" however.</p>
<p>I once appeared before a judge who had barbed wire tatooed around each wrist. I found it distracting, to be honest.</p>
<p>
[quote]
If partners saw tattoos on an associate would they look down upon it?
[/quote]
Yes. Tattoos are unprofessional. First and continuing impressions are often very important in law. </p>
<p>If you do much criminal work, you will notice that many of your criminal defendants have tattoos. Criminal defendants want someone who looks like a lawyer, not someone who looks like them. Judges and prosecutors may make unfavorable assumptions about you if you have visible tattoos.</p>
<p>With the anonymity of the internet I don't mind telling you that I have a deep seated prejudice against people with tattoos. I doubt their judgement, their maturity and their class or lack thereof. All tats remind me of the awful prison tats I have seen. Having said that I must also tell you that if you met me you would never know I have this prejudice. I would never comment on someone's tattoos or try to make them feel uncomfortble or unwanted because they paid somebody to vandalize their skin.</p>
<p>Here's the point: You won't know who has this prejudice because most people in the workplace are conditioned to be polite and not give offense to anyone. There are a lot more people who despise tats than you will ever know, and the only reason I point this out is to encourage you not to add to your collection.</p>
<p>Good luck to you.</p>
<p>I appreciate everyones feedback. Gives me something to think about. StephenR, I appreciate your honesty but wow.......why the hatred towards tattoos?
Ok, so I know some people won't like it. My question to you guys now is, can I hide behind a suit my whole career? Will there be occassions that I must dress more casual? Oh and I don't plan on doing litigation. I would like to do corporate law. I figure either way though, I would be wearing a suit most of the time.</p>
<p>There are firms where everyone wears suits all the time, and there are firms where they don't. You might decide you don't want to work in a firm forever. I've worked in-house for in Silicon Valley for a number of years, and the lawyers wear suits only for special occasions (board meetings, when they're attending court hearings, and when they're interviewing for other jobs).</p>
<p>I've never been particularly enamored of tattoos, but figure that young people have to find some way to annoy the middle aged, much as we annoyed an older generation with long hair and beards. My recommendation would be to confine them to areas that are easily concealed at work, even with short sleeves; failing that, keep them small, and non-controversial. </p>
<p>There will be lots of people you will wish to avoid antagonizing unnecessarily when you begin practicing law (potential employers, judges, clients, and jurors, for example).</p>
<p>Yeah, gotta be honest, I feel the same way as StephenR. If I was hiring a lawyer and I saw a guy with several tattoos, I'd assume that he was doing it to express some deep-seated issue with authority. That's not somebody I want to have to deal with. Unfair? Quite possibly. But I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks this way.</p>
<p>I know visible tattoos would be a big nono but I plan on being able to cover them up. Even if work attire is more casual, I can still wear long sleeve shirts to cover up my tats. My main concern was something like a company picnic at the beach or something. Some place where I couldnt really hide my tats.</p>
<p>It is unrealistic to believe that you can hide your tattoos under long sleeves shirts all the time.
What if you happen to run into your boss at a beach? Or a grocery store when you are in your most casual attire?</p>
<p>Tattoos suggest:
1. Past drug issues
2. Past mental health issues
3. Severe attitude problems with authority
4. A prison record
5. or at the very least, very poor judgement.</p>
<p>None of these would be desirable in a lawyer I was planning to hire.</p>
<p>Tattoos do not suggest to me anything about drugs, mental health, authority, prison, or poor judgment. </p>
<p>fijeeboi, </p>
<p>Close-minded people will make assumptions about you based on your appearance, the same way some people assume those who are fat are lazy, or those from the South are ignorant racists, or those who carry a U.S. passport are xenophobic and think they know everything. It's up to you to decide how much you value the opinions of those who make such assumptions and how important those people are to your success. If you want their approval, then you must conform to their perspective. If your definition of successful does not require their approval, then you have more options.</p>
<p>Wow, I never expected such a negative reaction from everyone. Past mental health issues? Past drug issues? poor judgement? I'm not talking about prison tats here. What's wrong with having a beautiful work of art on your body? I have scheduled an appointment with one of the best tattoo artists around. I plan on having a half sleeve with lotus flowers and buddha tattooed on me. It's going to be a beautiful work of art when it is complete. I have a hard time believing that you guys could be so closed minded as to judge people so negatively just because they choose to have art work on their bodies. Again, I understand how important it is to have a professional appearance, and I will have that. Just because I have a tattoo (that will be covered up), doesn't mean im irresponsible or that ive spent time in prison.</p>
<p>dntw8up, I think your post makes perfect sense. Perhaps im going to have to pretend to conform.</p>
<p>I think suggesting that tatoos represent drug use and prison time is just silly and I'm not sure what to think of people who feel that way - maybe they need to get out more? It will be hard to cover up the tatoos all the time, but once you get a job and prove yourself, I wouldn't be completely paranoid about your bosses seeing them. Depending on the type of work you do and who firm clients are, you may not have much contact with them anyway.</p>
<p>If you look at the correlational studies that have been done, you will discover that individuals with tattooed skin are far more likely to be drug users, gay prostitutes, or engaged in other illicit activities. My father was an attorney, and I am certain that if someone ever showed up in his office looking like a heathen, he would have ordered them to leave the premises immediately
before he called security. He would have just assumed you were a thug. </p>
<p>Tattoos are a pretty good indicator of character. They reveal both a facile mind, and a self-absorbed personality. According to the latest research, individuals who get tattoos have far lower IQ's and are therefore unable to find meaningful ways to express themselves and get the attention they so desperately crave. Naturally, they resort to destructive means. Tattoos provide our attention seeking idiots (henceforth ATI's) with a way to satisfy both their thirst for self-expression (a perpetual frustration to an ATI) and also get the attention they have always been denied. As kids, ATI's were incapable of receiving positive attention from their parents by achieving good grades (too stupid) or at the very least achieving success in some outside activity(too self-involved to ever commit to anything), so drugs, vandalism, and a disrespectful attitude and the ensuing negative attention they caused had to suffice. When ATI's grow up and are out on their own, they are likewise denied any attention by a society that has little patience for low IQ'd muttonheads. At this point, their previous behaviour will no longer give them anything but a jail sentence, so they start tattooing in their bodies. In both cases, they are trying to say "F you" to the authority they believe unjustifiably (our original poster seems to suffer from this paranoid delusion as well) ignores them and stifles their creative impulses with its' own rigid dictates. </p>
<p>It's also rather ironic than in their search for individuality ATI's all do the exact same thing. In fact, sometimes the design's of the tattoos themselves are remarkably similar (dragon, heart, Japanese character). </p>
<p>It is rather remarkable how much tattooed skin reveals about the individual who bears it. I could go on and further explore the similarity it bears to other seemingly inexplicable self-destructive choices like smoking and not wearing a seat-belt, but alas, I am tired of talking about you these degenerate worthless filth, and will not disgrace myself and humor them by allotting any more time. </p>
<p>So, if an employer has any sense, he will be like my father, and throw you out of the room before he even gives you a chance.</p>
<p>Well, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree now does it?</p>
<p>i am not a criminal. i am not addicted to drugs. my sexual orientation is irrelevant. i am not a prostitute. i have high self esteem. i have an iq of 140.</p>
<p>and i can refute 3 more claims with one example: </p>
<p>claims:
1. tattoos = anti-authority
2. tattoos = attention seeking
3. tattoos = search for individuality</p>
<p>example: i'd love my tattoos just as much if i was on a deserted island. </p>
<p>summary:
correlation does not imply causation.</p>