It is easy when you are a lawyer to want to feel good.  You want to feel like a professional.  You want to look sharp.  You want to feel like you have made it.

You may see other lawyers in court and elsewhere looking on top of their game.  They’ve got a custom suit.  Maybe they have their initials embroidered in their shirt.  The suit was not off the rack and it was made just for them.

There are lots of individuals who work for custom clothiers who reach out to lawyers.  They will even come to your office, get your measurements and make you look fantastic.  To begin the process, you normally get something for free like a custom-made shirt.

The reality is that custom-made suits and clothing are nice.  On a lot of levels, who would not want one?  It feels good to look sharp.  Potential clients and current clients can be impressed with your clothing if you are wearing custom-made clothing.

But these custom clothiers sales people can be a bit relentless.  If you are a lawyer, you’ve likely received calls, e-mails or mailings from many of them.  They can literally circle a lawyer with contact attempts and spend a lot of time trying to flatter a lawyer into making a big purchase.  They can take a lot of your time.

Like other solicitations a lawyer gets, it can honestly be a bit much.  And for a lot of lawyers, there really is not the time available to respond to every solicitation, including those from custom clothiers.  Many do not take “no” for an answer easily once you respond.

If you are tempted to get custom-made clothing, the question you have to ask yourself is whether you really have the funds to be spending on custom-made suits and clothing (or whether it’s a wise use of your money)?  The reality is that this can be quite expensive.

For many lawyers, there can be a tendency to want to chase the shiny object, to have the nicest things out there, etc.  But maybe this money could be spent on other important items for your law firm?  Maybe as it relates to your personal budget as well, this is not the best use of your funds.

And, past that, you have to ask whether you could get top quality clothing at a lesser cost.  The reality is that while the clothing might not be custom-made, you can still look like a sharply dressed attorney who wears the best brand suits a lot more affordably.

In a previous blog entry, I talked about how top brand suits and clothing can be bought online from places like eBay.  To some, talk about buying used clothing might sound like heresy, but shrewd lawyers are not cavalier when it comes to their hard-earned funds.  You can easily buy multiple Armani, Hugo Boss or similar quality suits online, for example, and have minor alterations made for the cost of one custom-made suit.

If you have any thoughts, feel free to share them below.