Admittedly, this is not a ground-breaking outfit from a fashion perspective. It IS an outfit to remember, for me, because I wore it for a very special event: running my first hearing as lead (sole, really) counsel. Considering the somewhat meandering path of my career over the last 10 years, I’m as surprised as anyone to find myself celebrating this particular milestone … and thrilled. If I can pause here for a second and give some unsolicited advice to recent grads in all professions (but especially law), allow me to say this: hang in there. The early years are often tough and unfulfilling, and you may find yourself wondering if you made a mistake in your choice of career. And, in some cases, the answer may be “yes”. But a lot of the time, the answer that might seem right is only a reflection of the difficulties you are experiencing – and, first and foremost, of the fear of failure. Give yourself time to learn and to get better, stronger, more confident. You may be amazed at the path you end up building for yourself. A path to success.
Back to the outfit. Since my hearing was administrative in nature, the dress code was more relaxed than it would have been in a courtroom. Hence – a pop of colour! Blue and red are my fave combo, so I thought it would be auspicious choice. I felt cool, calm and collected (and prepared!) that day, so I’d call that a win.
