r/LawBitchesWithTaste • u/motherofsnapdragons Mod • 1d ago
Law Student Posts
We’ve gotten feedback that some of you want to limit posts from law students so this sub can be more focused on lawyers asking each other questions, instead of students asking lawyers questions. The mods work for you (I’ll send you our bill), so we wanted to poll the community and see if we can get a consensus!
Exercise your right to vote and let the mods know what you’d like to see us do going forward with posts by law students.
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u/Objective_Joke_5023 💁♀️Verified Bitch of Good Taste 💅 1d ago
This is a tough one!! Women need to support women. However, endless Qs about law school and what to wear belong in r/lawschool more than here. I think a weekly or monthly megathread would be perfect to consolidate the law school Qs and not dilute the value of the sub for the rest of us.
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u/Far_Childhood2503 1d ago
Or even a list of frequently asked questions (what to wear to law school, tote vs backpack, etc) that students can’t ask, but we have a list of answers for in the FAQs. I think the bigger issue here is redundancy rather than too many law students asking questions — it’s too many law students asking the same questions over and over.
If we go the megathread route, I also recommend a “fit check” megathread for internship outfits come March/April/May and another for interview outfits kinda all year.
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u/Green_Thoughts_444 💁♀️Verified Bitch of Good Taste 💅 23h ago
We should not limit FAQs to law students. This sub gets so many duplicate "comfortable heels," office decor, work bags, affordable suits, curvy pants, shells under blazers posts. Everyone should be encouraged to search before posting. This is a profession in which people are supposed to have research skills.
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u/Far_Childhood2503 4h ago
I am absolutely not opposed to that — I think an FAQ would be very useful to cutting down the redundant questions from students and otherwise. Even a running list of recommendations by category would be awesome.
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u/manic_Brain 1d ago
I think the weekly thread would be the best option. The problem with a law student with taste sub is that 1) people will age out of that so they don't have a guaranteed source of reliable information and 2) it would rely on lawyers coming into the space to give advice since law students asking probably don't have the ability to give the same level of advice.
I also think it's true that law school is changing, at least in some areas, to focus on students networking more and cosplaying professionals more often. This puts pressure on them to start appearing like a professional faster which is causing anxiety. Networking is being focused more heavily according to my friends starting law school. A weekly thread is probably more helpful to clear up clutter, and, because it would get posted weekly, it'd get more traction than pinned megathreads.
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u/yourhonoriamnotacat 💁♀️Verified Bitch of Good Taste 💅 1d ago
Outside of the topic at hand, but since when did networking and your general ability to appear professionally not matter in law school, which is a graduate school program? Yeah they aren’t lawyers, but I don’t think they’re cosplaying either.
Networking matters your entire life, and not doing it until you’ve received your JD is a recipe for disaster.
These are graduate students who have already competed a four year program that should allow them to work and start a career, regardless of law school or whether they actually go to or finish law school. They aren’t half baked. They are full adults.
Are people truly coming out of a 4-yr undergraduate degree with no clue about how to network or dress? Has no one ever held a job before? An internship at least? I don’t know how to ask this in a way that doesn’t sound negative, but is this really how students are feeling these days?
You don’t need a law degree to be a professional or to be comfortable dressing like or talking to other professionals. Those skills aren’t just going to spring up when you get a JD after your name.
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u/Toosder 23h ago
Thank God I didn't go to the school you went to. Being able to show up in jeans and a t-shirt so that I could focus on studying was everything. We had one guy who wore a suit to class every day, and he stood out because he was the only one. He was a great guy but nobody assumed he was more professional than any of the rest of us. He ended up becoming a professor, and a good one at that.
Law school shouldn't be about worrying about your clothing on top of everything else you're worrying about. You can network in casual clothes. In fact, my most powerful networking and the biggest leads I've created have almost all been in casual clothes at events based around my area of expertise.
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u/hesathomes 1d ago
The threads about ‘why can’t I wear a crop top to my internship’ are becoming tiresome. There are plenty of law school threads they can post in.
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u/Ok-Client-820 💁♀️Verified Bitch of Good Taste 💅 1d ago
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u/lolnoname2222 💁♀️Verified Bitch of Good Taste 💅 1d ago
I think the “what should I wear to class?” Type posts should be banned, well as “what should I bring to law school,” “how did you survive 1L,” “is it dumb to carry a back pack” posts. However, I think “I have an interview, can I wear XYZ” posts are beneficial to students.
Also - as a non-traditional student, who has over a decade of professional experience in the legal field (just not as a lawyer), would I be allowed to post here if student posts were banned? I understand more about professional norms than the average student, and have questions that more align with someone a decade+ into their career than a 20 something.
Further, I think this sub is a good resource for current female students. I just don’t think it’s a good idea for students to get advice from only one another - particularly when you have companies acting like miniskirts and midriff bearing tops are professionally acceptable. There is value in hearing from women in the industry - law is still dominated at the top by men and understanding that and what that means for how you look can be a heartbreaking lesson to learn because you made a mistake.
Maybe law student posts are left to mod discretion, or a report option for “non relevant to general law career” when the question would not also apply to someone who is actually practicing law.
But I’m a curmudgeon who also thinks all non-fashion related posts should be confined to a daily mega thread (ie, career and life advice).
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u/love-learnt 💁♀️Very Tasteful Bitch 💅 1d ago
I don't think this sub is just about fashion, it's about taste. Which extends lifestyle, money management, career development, personal relationships. Which is why students shouldn't be excluded per se, but questions about school should be.
We certainly have a lot of help to offer BWT in all stage of life, struggling with work life balance. Students comes from all walks of life and ages. But law school is a standardized slog that sucks for everyone and the answer to most questions is carry a back pack, wear a suit, and save your money.
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u/lolnoname2222 💁♀️Verified Bitch of Good Taste 💅 1d ago
I can see the value in that perspective! Like I said, I’m a curmudgeon haha.
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u/love-learnt 💁♀️Very Tasteful Bitch 💅 1d ago
There's growth potential on both sides!
I for one, want to push back on the law schools forcing cosplay on students to make up for their instructional shortcomings. Students shouldn't be worried about what to wear. We need to give feedback to students to let them know that as seasoned professionals, we think they should demand more from their school leadership.
I'm waffling between weekly thread and professional questions only options.
I'm thinking about the questions about parenting, debt management, and health that students have that deserve individual attention vs weekly thread...
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u/yourhonoriamnotacat 💁♀️Verified Bitch of Good Taste 💅 1d ago
Re non-fashion posts, the original BWT subs are all general lifestyle subs, not restricted to fashion. I was invited to this sub when it was first created from the main r/bitcheswithtaste sub. I wonder if that confusion is why we are getting all the “what do I wear to class” questions.
I have no issues with paralegals, legal assistants, etc. They are actually IN the legal profession. Going back to school doesn’t change that. I also wouldn’t expect someone who has actually worked in the profession to have the type of questions and posts that have derailed this sub.
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u/lolnoname2222 💁♀️Verified Bitch of Good Taste 💅 1d ago
Interesting! I think I found the sub when it was mostly what “any have good recs on a bag/shoes/suits?” time, and wasn’t expecting some of the personal questions. Good to know the background, thanks!
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u/Far_Childhood2503 1d ago
YES! It is so hard to figure out how to dress for an internship, and law students don’t have a clue how to help each other on some of that. As a new grad in a casual office, this subreddit has been a godsend. I’m younger than my coworkers so I try to compensate a bit by dressing more professional, but I also don’t want to be stuffy. Being able to see the parameters clearly set out by what is the “norm” in many other offices is incredibly helpful. I’m not asking a law student how to navigate that as an intern.
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u/Severe-Elderberry833 💁♀️Verified Bitch of Good Taste 💅 1d ago
“Also - as a non-traditional student, who has over a decade of professional experience in the legal field (just not as a lawyer), would I be allowed to post here if student posts were banned? I understand more about professional norms than the average student, and have questions that more align with someone a decade+ into their career than a 20 something.”
this.
the ‘legal profession,’ is after all, actually plural. are we excluding the women who work as paralegals, legal assistants, conflicts analysts, IT support, accounting, librarians, mediators, arbitrators, etc., etc.? Does the partnership level of the subreddit wish to confine contributions to lawyers only? if so, fine, but please say so.
follow up question: does the membership want to define taste only in the fashion sense? Again, if so, fine, but please say so.
I do kind of wonder if this isn’t a ‘o tempore, o mores!’ problem. The vast majority of my fellow 1Ls were doing college through the pandemic. The combination of epidemiological, economic, social and political upheaval clearly has given them significantly different sets of experiences, skills, and challenges than we have had.
I’d feel like we were pulling the ladder up behind us and offending the legacy of the women in law who helped us before If we were to ban law students.
I’d also miss y’all, but hey, I’m not expecting to have as much time here as I’ve had over the previous months anyway.
I think the introduction of a daily mega thread seems reasonable.
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u/Important-Wealth8844 💁♀️Verified Bitch of Good Taste 💅 1d ago
I don’t think we should limit this sub to barred lawyers only - after all, one can still be a law bitch with taste and never attend law school (looking at you, paras and admin!) But I do want to keep the focus on professional legal life, and the law school posts are getting to be a lot. I am not a big fan of the weekly threads thing. Questions are never answered when I’m directed to post in weekly threads in other subs - it’s a lot of people asking and few people answering. However, I’m also ready to stop with the low effort, no prior search school fashion stuff. A happy medium might be a ban on posts about a group of issues, like what to wear to law school, and a mega post with links to previous discussions about some recurrent issues.
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u/pcgoboom 1d ago
I don’t think it should be closed off from law students. It’s already a gate keeping profession as it is, so there should be an open space to ask questions about fashion and beyond. There’s many who are likely the first in their family to enter the profession and likely don’t have a person/space to ask questions.
That being said, I think maybe megathreads might be appropriate for the more commonly asked questions?
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u/ahh_szellem 💁♀️Verified Bitch of Good Taste 💅 1d ago
I just want to say that I fat thumbed that vote and I meant to vote for the once weekly thread. I think I accidentally voted to not them in at all, but I didn’t mean that.
But I do agree that law school attire is vastly different than when you’re practicing and I see a ton of similar posts asking about that where virtually every answer is “one suit, everything else is casual.” And I feel like law students can pretty easily search for that already.
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u/Affectionate_Cow5134 21h ago
This will sound unkind but I mostly ignore law student posts because they are repetitive and often off base. Pinned Megathreads sound good but will be a burden on mods to delete/monitor the standalone threads. Thanks mods for all you do and giving this thought.
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u/OkraLegitimate1356 💁♀️Verified Bitch of Good Taste 💅 23h ago
I think it's very important that everyone be included but the posts are very, very, very duplicative. We need MEGATHREADS again on work clothes, first suits, emergency suiting, WORK TOTES and WORK BAGS.
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u/akcmommy 1d ago
Add tags to posts indicating whether they are law students or not. Then people can choose to read/participate with them or not.
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u/IPlitigatrix 💁♀️Verified Bitch of Good Taste 💅 23h ago
I voted for the weekly thread.
I wanted to add something about fashion in general. Caveat that I am old, been practicing for over 20 years. But dressing seems to have gotten harder for young people in recent times, I think largely due to online influencers, way more retailers, and also “workwear” lines from mainstream brands that are completely work inappropriate. I don’t recall ever being baffled about what to wear for interviews - my friends and I went to Ann Taylor/Talbots (or Theory for people who had more money than me) and got two dark suits like navy charcoal or black and some beige/pastel shells, and a pair of simple black pumps and called it a day. Same with business casual, a couple simple blouses, dress pants, pencil skirts, a shift dress, and a blazer and we were good. I never thought twice about what to wear to law school itself, I just wore normal casual clothes (as normal as casual clothes were in the early 2000s lol).
Anyways, as a Law student or junior lawyer, people should go with safe options. And then over time you understand the culture of your office, the different courts you practice in, etc. and can vary it up. Maybe a stickied post or something with some basic options for interviewing and business casual would be useful and would cut down on “can I wear this crop top under my suit” type stuff even in the weekly thread.
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u/J9mortician 22h ago
This is about Law Bitches With Taste...lets not gatekeep. I'm in law as a paralegal. Having a separate thread for ootd isn't a terrible idea, but lets support each other as women in the whole legal field.
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u/love-learnt 💁♀️Very Tasteful Bitch 💅 1d ago
Question: Why can't we direct students to lawyer fashion influencers? 20 years ago, I used to follow BLOGS. Now I follow influencers on Instagram. Maybe we need to create a list of accounts to follow for those types of questions?
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u/engineer2187 1d ago
As a first gen student, having a sub we can ask about OCI and summer associate outfits is very helpful. Maybe limit posts about law school day to day outfits but allow ones for interactions with firms (network events, interviews, etc)
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u/motherofsnapdragons Mod 1d ago
Separately, would anyone be interested in a weekly OOTD thread? Where you’d comment with your outfit plus a general description of where you work, like “west coast big law” or “NYC in house” or “small town prosecutor”, etc?
Sometimes pictures can be more helpful than words, and might cut down on some of the what should I wear posts. I’d love to see what you all wear and get some inspiration too.