OT - dressing for jury service

[carol louise]

I just completed two days of jury duty in Manhattan. I didn’t serve on a case but passed some of the idle time observing what people were wearing. Out of a pool of about 150 people, I’d say about 10 percent of us were dressed in business casual, one male juror wore a jacket and tie, one female juror wore an ethnic African (long) dress, high heels, and matching turban. The remaining jurors were mostly wearing various combinations of the following: jeans, cutoffs, tank and camisole tops, flip-flops, cropped pants (including one man wearing them), shorts, tee-shirts, mini-skirts—very casual. The written materials stated that there was no dress code but that we dress in a manner that “respects” the court, and the only spoken instruction on the subject was that gentlemen were to remove hats (baseball caps were the only hats I noticed) when entering the courtroom if they were on a case. The air conditioning was quite cool and the weather had improved from the beastly heat of earlier in the week, so excessive heat was not an issue.

 

I did get called for one panel and there the lawyers and stenographer dressed in business attire, the defendant and his translator were in business casual, and the judge of course wore a black robe and the court officers wore uniforms.

 

I seem to remember that most jurors dressed in business attire, or at least business casual, when I last served, in 2000, but that was in winter. Comments? Different in your areas of the country? Different between summer and winter? Just curious

 

Carol Louise

[johnql]

I last served about three years ago - Queens County, NY. I would pretty much agree with your observations. Most of the prospective jurors were fairly casual, but no baseball caps and I don't recall any t-shirts. But overall, they weren't dressed well enough to be working in a corporate office.

[Jane110]

I've seen the same attire as you both have seen. Last time I served was 2 years ago. They were filming an episode of Law & Order on the courthouse steps. That was a fun diversion during the break.

 

I dress business casual when I'm on jury duty - one, being out of respect to being in a courtroom and two, because if they let us go early enough in the day, I can get back to work without going home to change clothes.

 

Jurors are picked by random, so of course there's going to be the usual cross section of attire.

[Happy ks]

I was called for jury duty a couple of months ago. Being that my job is extremely casual, it was fun to "dress up" to business casual for the day. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised that just about everyone was dressed appropriately. I really didn't expect this, but the form was specific about what to wear and I suppose people actually read it.

 

The term "casual" has sunk to new lows. It is supposed to mean presentable, clean and neat. So many people nowadays interpret "casual" as sloppy, wrinkled and generally unkempt. While I don't let it affect my attitude towards people, I wonder how they can be comfortable in public dressed for yardwork.

[Jan_In_Maine]

I think that some times it depends upon the part of the country that one lives in. I had jury duty in February (I had asked to be dismissed the fall before, as it did not fit into my schedule), there were people from all different walks of life - I had the best time people watching! Most people were in jeans and everyone seemed to know either the judge, the attorneys, defendent, etc. it was a very enjoyable experience! Only 28 out of hundreds of people got picked - and I wasn't one. Jan

[BonnieSeattle]

I recently spent 6 weeks on a jury (criminal case in Superior Court). Part of my decision to dress business casual, was that my outfits for work (elastic waist pants) are FAR more comfortable than my jeans, and when you serve on a jury you spend a whole lot of time sitting! The other part is that the women attorneys on both the prosecution and defense had incredibly nice outfits. Granted, they most likely have incredibly larger paychecks than I :D , but jeans just kind of seemed out of place. That said, at least half of my fellow jurors felt perfectly fine in jeans.

 

One thing we quickly discovered, was that while the courtroom was like an icebox, there was very little air circulation in our "cozy" juror room (where we spent a great amount of time). I parked a cardigan on the back of my chair and left it there the entire 6 weeks. This way I could grab it, whenever we headed into the courtroom.

 

BTW... we ended our marathon with a hung jury - almost split down the middle, and just found out that the case is going to be retried.

 

Of all things, two weeks ago, I got another summons, this time for district court. I put my foot down, returning the summons with a note stating that 1)I'd just served 6 weeks and most importantly, 2)My report date is the day before I leave on a 7-day Alaskan cruise. So far, no demands that I appear. I'm afraid if they do, they will have to issue a warrant for my arrest, because there is no way I am going to miss my very first cruise!

 

Bonnie

[Happy ks]

Bonnie, they will excuse you if you have a planned trip, no need to worry about a warrant. But, I've always thought you couldn't be called again for jury duty so soon:confused:

[BonnieSeattle]

Bonnie, they will excuse you if you have a planned trip, no need to worry about a warrant. But, I've always thought you couldn't be called again for jury duty so soon:confused:

 

Kathy,

 

I thought so, too! I'd been told by someone in my water aerobics classs who works for the Superior Court, that I'd be good for two years (this was my first time to ever serve on a jury). The only thing I can think of, is that District Court and Superior Court use different data bases. Still, it's odd that the summons came so soon on the heels of the other.

 

As for being excused, yes, it seemed like it was pretty easy to get out of it. There were 100 potential jurors, called in (2 groups, 50 each). The judge asked for a show of hands and then individually asked people what their reasons were. Anybody who had travel plans was automatically excused. But, once I was selected for the jury, I heard every story in the book, including some where the presiding judges didn't seem to think that travel was a good enough reason. I thought I'd just happened to have gotten a reasonable judge. :)

[jnc411]

Hi, I am in California also, and have had jury service on many occasions, as has my husband and sons. I have also found that there is quite a mix of different dress in the jury room. Overall the dress is business casual, but there are some dressed in more casual ware. I just feel like I should dress appropriately to show respect for our court system and the people who are there for a trial. Who knows I am probably old fashioned. Thats just what I feel.

Cori

[wrp96]

I'm in law school and one of my professors is a former U.S. Attorney, and has some good jury stories. The best one is one that got a lot of press nationwide, due to it's relation to a, then, sitting president. One of the jurors showed up every day dressed in full Star Trek regalia.

 

BTW, the best thing is to be honest and fair. Don't try to get out of jury duty by lying. One of the things we were taught to look for when choosing a jury is how inconvenienced someone is going to be by sitting on the jury, i.e. if you have a choice, don't keep the person on the jury who is going to lose their vacation of the lifetime, because most likely they will end up mad at you and take it out on your client.

 

Also, state courts and district (federal) courts pull from different databases. Depending on where you live, they could be exactly the same, but they don't share. I know here for state courts, the jury pool is only county wide, but for the federal courts, it encompasses half the state. So that is why you could be on a jury for 6 weeks, and then turn around and get called by the federal courts.

[trish1c]

Most lawyers will tell you that jurors dress the most casually on the 1st day when they are still part of the crowd. Once they are selected on a panel for a specific case, the level of dress tends to improve and equal out to business casual across the board. Being a juror is a responsibility and a privilege of living in the US. Most people take it seriously once they've been selected & dress accordingly.

[lszu]

Carol Louise - Your experience sounds much like mine. I'm in Northern NJ.

 

All - As for "getting out of it" here, it's extremely hard in my county. We do one day or one trial. They expect you to be there for that day. You can be excused for vacation, if you're not going to be home, that is, but that's about it. I'm sure if you get pulled into a panel, they'll take the standard hardship excuses. I don't think going for one day is that big of a deal. I've got friends in other counties that have to go for a week.

[BlueHerons]

I think it really depends on the part of the country you live in and time of year.

 

 

Down here, it is miserable trying to wear a suit if you are a man or woman four months out of the year.

As far as hose go, they are the worst. My first job out of college I would for a local CBS affiliate and had to wear hose every day if I wore a skirt and could not wear open toe shoes. That was the most miserable summer I've ever spent and don't think I've worn hose 10 times since.

 

I think you should dress out of respect for the court and definitely be clean and well groomed.

[carol louise]

I'm enjoying reading your comments. Thanks for taking the time to post.

Carol Louise