Blog for a lifestyle dressed to be yourself or biting off too much than you can chew?

Many want to practice law illegally; without a license.    Mr. Roger Stone’s recent daily caller video, really takes it to a new level or low, as he is known to do, by giving legal advice to those who have been recently arrested (http://youtube.com/watch?v=Lg_gwyMCXBs)in an effort to benefit from his run in with “the feds.”

Roger Stone recently wrote a book, “Stone’s Rules: How to Win at Politics, Business, and Style.”  And, he seems to believe he is all knowing in all things when it comes to presenting himself to a court.   He recently plead not guilty after being charged with seven counts of obstruction, witness tampering and making false statements in DC Federal District Court wearing a single breasted blue suit with a pocket square. 

It is accurate that you must dress well if you are appearing in court as a defendant, however, you need not follow Stone’s pocket square advise.

In recent appearance of Cohen the disbarred "hit man" lawyer of Trump, you see no pocket square on his suit, only his lawyers wore the square.   While his testimony's importance will remain debatable, it was good entertainment, and did reveal the truth about the Stormy coverup.  In Cohen's testimony, he tried to reducing his sentence, and provide advice to those that follow a leader blindly, including hiding his extramarital affairs, he chose not to wear the square.   (https://www.c-span.org/video/?458125-1/michael-cohen-president-trump-he-racist-con-man-cheat).   Cohen looked more appropriately dressed defendant than Stone,  he did not look like his attorneys who wore the pocket square.    We will see which one benefits for dressing like they should.

An adage that Stone missed miserably, is do not out dress your lawyer.   If you do so, the jury or your audience will think you are upstaging them, and that you want to be the center of attention always. This is not a good strategy for an accused because you should have the jury not focus on your physical appearance, but your innocence.  Although, you want to appear comfortable as possible given the intense and stressful nature of court appearances; you still must dress respectfully, but still feel like yourself.

Stone, in his own words and actions, has managed to disprove his own point about double breasted suits due to his recent clothing change. He posted a photo of his judge on his Instagram feed, with an inference of cross-hairs of a gun near her head.  This caused the judge to call him to return to court to explain himself.   During his hearing, you will notice something changed in his dress and demeanor.

Stone, now, after a hearing, has had his release conditions increased or the gag order enforced entirely against him. He is lucky he did not get his bail revoked after that stunt.  But, you will notice, Stone, originally stated in the DC video that you should not wear any type of double breasted suit to court, because you cannot make a “Nixon” sign with both of your arms, wearing one. 

Despite his former advise, Stone is ultimately comfortable wearing one. And, you will see him wearing one in this recent court appearance; he is now following my advice that you ultimately need to be comfortable in how you dress, even if it is from the early 80’s (see my comments in the Washingtonian regarding same https://www.washingtonian.com/2019/01/31/dc-attorney-what-to-wear-roger-stone-in-court/).

A takeaway from all this debate on how to dress in court, and maybe a good thing we have all learned from Roger Stone’s flurry of talk about his dress for success at court, is that anyone facing such an onslaught of prosecution needs to do things that make them feel comfortable to sustain them during the intense stress.   For Roger Stone, it is thinking he is still in control of the narrative by putting out fluff pieces about how to dress, and sprinkling them with his comical “half Italian from the waist down” comment, that garner a lot of attention.   He is someone who is always seeking the limelight and feels comfortable in it.  In this way, he is being allowed to be a little over-exposed while getting ready for one of the most difficult things any man or woman may face; a federal prosecution by the United States Attorney’s Office.   He is facing possibly, the rest of his life in jail, when he should be spending his time writing a memoir. 

While not trying to emote sympathy, it is important to know that when you are representing someone facing such a foe, with so much on the line, it is best to let them try and be comfortable.   Not to their detriment, but, enough to keep him/her able to face the jury and judge at the trial in a helpful demeanor.    This is the final lesson we glean from Stone, be yourself, even if it means being too exposed.  We will see at his next court appearance on March 14, 2019.