Leading Lawyers
At work, I receive (compulsorily, it would seem) a publication called Leading Lawyers. It's not clear to me what kind of publication this is. It presents itself as a something capable of carrying information one might want to learn, though as a matter of fact it appears to be primarily a vehicle for lawyers to advertise to other lawyers. Much of its content consists of full-page advertisement for small law firms, interspersed among profiles of apparently leading lawyers.
Flipping through its pages, one can't help but be struck by the iconography. Many of these ads feature their entire lawyer-lineup, in dark suits and ties, standing in three-quarter profile, posing in front of their offices, local landmarks. Walls of books - caselaw reporters, typically - are also common backgrounds. Mostly white faces, mostly male faces. White, pale, pudgy.
One question: why this uniformity? How can it arise? Who devises these images and layouts? They can't possibly think that bringing all of the lawyers together to pose in front of a recognizable background will mark the firm out from its competitors, like it's an arresting image. That's what they practically all are. So is it just something passable? Like the composer of the image figured that the very possibility of uniqueness was foreclosed, so it would be better to go for something that no one would find offensive?
It's hard to look at this sea of ill-fitting wool and not wonder. These are, after all, my ilk. White, pale. Maybe not as pudgy. But I've got the same suits, jackets, and ties. My work is like their work. We're all scrambling in the same general industry. Just trying to pass.
Flipping through its pages, one can't help but be struck by the iconography. Many of these ads feature their entire lawyer-lineup, in dark suits and ties, standing in three-quarter profile, posing in front of their offices, local landmarks. Walls of books - caselaw reporters, typically - are also common backgrounds. Mostly white faces, mostly male faces. White, pale, pudgy.
One question: why this uniformity? How can it arise? Who devises these images and layouts? They can't possibly think that bringing all of the lawyers together to pose in front of a recognizable background will mark the firm out from its competitors, like it's an arresting image. That's what they practically all are. So is it just something passable? Like the composer of the image figured that the very possibility of uniqueness was foreclosed, so it would be better to go for something that no one would find offensive?
It's hard to look at this sea of ill-fitting wool and not wonder. These are, after all, my ilk. White, pale. Maybe not as pudgy. But I've got the same suits, jackets, and ties. My work is like their work. We're all scrambling in the same general industry. Just trying to pass.