Do face piercings stop you getting vac schemes/training contracts? (law)

I'm a law student currently applying for vac schemes and if I have to do an in person interview would they reject me because I have piercings? I currently just have two nose piercings which I could take out for interviews/work but I'm planning to get a lip piercing (vertical labret) which I would be able to leave the jewellery out of for an entire day without it closing up, so it wouldn't really be worth getting the piercing just to have to let it close up a few months later to do interviews/a vac scheme. I know they wouldn't/couldn't give having piercings as an official reason for rejecting me but to what extent would it be likely to accept my prospects of being accepted for vac schemes/training contracts (especially at top law firms)?

Reply 1

Stiffy Byng

Facial piercings are not a legally protected characteristic. A law firm could, and many probably would, say no to facial piercings in the office. The law is a small c conservative profession.

Reply 2

Stiffy Byng

PS: A piercing which reflects an ethnic heritage (for example, an Indian woman's nose piercing) would be a different matter, but a lip piercing might disadavantage you save in a few groovy entertainment law firms.

Reply 3

AMac86

I'd recommend not having the lip piercing. Law firms are certainly less stuffy than they used to be 15-20 years ago but exactly as SB says it's still a relatively conservative profession, particularly in the city law firms you're thinking of.

You'll be in an environment where lawyers at these firms for the most part have rather conventional tastes and expectations of how solicitors dress. Ditto the clients these firms usually work for - large banks, financial institutions, private equity houses, large corporates etc... also tend to be skewed towards this outlook too.

VC and TC processes are so competitive I wouldn't risk anything that could hamper those chances, even if it's only slightly. If you're set on having the piercing at some point I would at the very least delay it until after you've qualified (when the competition for roles is much less and you have a more marketable skill set).

Reply 4

Crazy Jamie

I agree with the advice that you've already been given. We had a very similar thread and discussion a little while ago about tattoos. The reality is that even if the firms themselves have no particular issue with facial piercings, there may well be concerns that their clients might, and no firm is going to risk losing or in some way offending clients over something like that. I do know plenty of lawyers whose look is in some way unconventional. One of my best male friends is a barrister in London with long hair, which you don't see very often at all in male barristers, and I know various solicitors and barristers with a range of tattoos, piercings and hair colours. But these are all pretty established lawyers working in areas where their clients care very little about these aspects of their appearance. The top law firms that you're talking about are more likely to either hold adverse views on facial piercings and similar, or have clients that they fear might hold adverse views. Ultimately it is important for clients to have trust in their legal representatives, and different things to go into that, including the lawyer broadly looking like the client expects a lawyer to look. The clothes that I wear do not in any way impact on my ability to run a trial and act in the best interests of my client, but if I turned up to a conference in a vest and shorts I wouldn't blame my client for questioning whether or not I'm the right barrister for them. Image does matter for lawyers.

Is any of this fair? Probably not. I don't think your desire to get a lip piercing tells us anything at all about your potential as a lawyer. But it is the reality of the situation and this is a competitive industry where you should be looking to gain advantages, no matter how small, over your competition, and should equally be looking to avoid disadvantages. That doesn't mean conforming to stereotypes in every respect, but in my view it would mean not getting the lip piercing at this stage. As has been said, I just don't think it's worth the risk of it having some sort of negative impact on your applications.

Reply 5

katana10000

Original post

by Username123ab

I haven’t come across a lawyer with a lip piercing in 25 years of practice. Discrete nose piercings are not uncommon.

Reply 6

Stiffy Byng

If you ever practise law in the BVI or the Cayman Islands, the person in a dark suit and maybe also a black gown whom you see in Court on Friday you are quite likely to see wearing only shorts or a bikini when you go to the beach for brunch on Saturday. Many of the lawyers, Insolvency Practitioners, and Fiduciary services people aged under fifty have quite a few tattoos, and pierced noses and upper and lower ears, but I haven't noticed any lip piercings.

Friday afternoon at the High Court in Road Town, Tortola, British Virgin Islands. I have some Saturday brunch photos as well (taken at the Paradise Club in Cane Garden Bay, Tortola, and the Soggy Dollar on Jost Van Dike*), but they might be too racy for a sober and serious forum such as this.