One of the things I learned early on in my practice is that when you are young you have to do some things to make yourself appear more experienced - like you know what you’re doing. One thing I do, is meet with prospective clients in my personal office where there is nice furniture, law books, paintings, and most importantly my law license and college and law school diplomas hanging with nice matching frames. But that isn’t really the point I was trying to get at with this post.

Before you can get your license to practice law in South Carolina, the Bar requires you to go through certain training courses and one of those is called “Bridge the Gap.” This program is supposed to bridge the gap between law school and real world law practice by presenting a number of seminars with practicing lawyers and judges.

One of the meetings that really stood out to me was a statement made by a great South Carolina attorney, Gedney Howe, III from Charleston, South Carolina. Mr. Howe told us that you have to be what your prospective client has pictured in his mind before he comes. Now this is different depending on where you are practicing. Some areas are more casual and the attorneys where khaki pants and golf shirts, others are more formal and attorneys are expected to where a suit every day. Greenville is somewhat of a mixture.  Many attorneys continue the tradition of wearing a suit and tie each day to the office and others are business casual wearing a knit shirt and khakis.

My office is generally more on the casual side.  However, I found that people seemed to question my ability because I looked young.  I could change a few things and at least make myself appear older and more experienced without having complete plastic surgery on my face to add some age.  I began to dress up on days I met with prospective clients.  Suits, ties, sport coats, and even glasses.  I usually wear contact lenses, but I look a little older (and maybe more distinguished) when I wear my glasses.  This, along with the tweaks to my office I mentioned above, seemed to help me get over the initial credibility hump because I looked more like a lawyer than the college intern.