cattoolady

It's possible, I suppose! We made it clear to our interviewees that we wanted them to make sure our practice area and firm culture would be a good fit for them. However, she did share that she had had 20 interviews, and ours was only the second call-back interview she had had. At the time we were interviewing, the job market for brand-new baby lawyers was dismal. We had over 100 applicants, and interviewed 20 people. The field of candidates was outstanding, so she was up against tough competition. I suppose there are some brand-new baby lawyers with zero experience out there that don't have in excess of $100K in student loans to pay off and that are independently wealthy, and that can afford to test the waters during an interview, but I would assume those people are very few and far between. While I know there are lawyers with tattoos, and even some that might be considered "heavily" tattooed, in my practice field, I've never seen another lawyer's visible tattoos, and am only aware of one other lawyer that does defense, that has two full sleeves. Us lawyers are a judgmental, uptight bunch when it comes to our own kind. ;)

Thanks for the kind welcome! This is an interesting thing - particularly for women. Unless I'm at a funeral, I don't worry about covering my tattoos for the most part. I recently attended a very formal fundraising event in conjunction with my work, and I wore a sleeveless gown. I had positive feedback from a few people that made a point to comment at the event. At the after-event get together that was a group primarily of uppity, uber-rich corporate types, I think I was viewed as sort of exotic (?). It was strange. I had a pleasant conversation with one woman who showed me her tiny "secret" thigh tattoo. But then, of course, there was a big wig who walked up to me, uninvited, pointed to my tiny paw print wrist tattoo out of all my visible tattoos, and said "that's the only good one." :rolleyes: I've had a conversation with my boss about visible tattoos at work-related social events, and to his credit, he has no qualms with it. I really like that tattoo! Interesting that you perceive the shoulder to elbow as more of a commitment than the forearm. I've decided that my forearms are no longer off limits. That didn't take long. LOL. This! Seems like a very slippery slope LOL! Five years ago, I wouldn't have dreamed of having full sleeves because of my job, but now I find myself thinking about whether I could ever get away with tattooed hands in my line of work. Haha! And last but not least, here's what I found at the Minneapolis Tattoo Convention yesterday. By Ryan Thomas of Black13.

Such an interesting thread. Doesn't seem like generalizations can be made about type of employment, size of employer, or anything else, with regards to how an individual's tattoos are treated in the workplace. I'm a lawyer at a small plaintiff's law firm. For the first several years I practiced, I made certain my tattoos were covered. Over time, as I've "earned" my reputation for being damn good at what I do, I've loosened up about my tattoos showing. I also have more visible or potentially visible tattoos than when I started. My boss, who is male, and who leans to the extreme conservative, is not a fan of tattoos at all. If asked, he will generally comment that he has no idea why an otherwise attractive woman would tattoo her arms all up, but concedes a small rose on the ankle is sexy. :rolleyes: To his credit, though, after I got my half sleeve done, he did acknowledge that it was pretty "neat." For female professionals especially, I think it largely comes down to having "earned it." I'm fortunate in that I work in a practice area and with a client base, where my tattoos can, in some instances, be an asset. In fact, my boss has had me join him in a meeting or two with a new potential client specifically to point out that I'm tattooed. A bit annoying and offensive, of course, but if it helps establish a rapport with a potential client - sure. That said, my tattoos, other than my small one on my wrist, are never visible in court. Usually they're not visible when meeting with a client or with opposing counsel. The reality is that female lawyers are absolutely judged on their appearance, and looking polished helps my clients in court, and it helps me in securing new clients. Other than a couple small ankle tattoos, and a boob tattoo, I'm the only one in the office with any large amount of tattoo work. I don't care if my colleagues' tattoos are visible when it's quiet in the office, but I don't want to see that boob tattoo when there's a client in the office. Same thing goes for hiring. We hired two new young female attorneys in the last two years, and during the interview process, a young woman, who was otherwise very qualified came in for a second interview. Her dress was far too low cut and showed too much cleavage, and I could see her large tattoo on her boob - and it annoyed me. I thought it actually showed somewhat poor judgment. Why would you show your cleavage and a boob tattoo during a second interview at a law firm??

Hello! Finally decided to register and make a first post after lurking here for at least a couple years now. :) I'm a lawyer by day and tattoo lover by night. Also, cats. :D I got my first tattoo on my 18th birthday, and never looked back. Here are my two most recent tattoos: The cat matryoshka was done at last year's Minneapolis Tattoo Expo by Shawn Patton. The photo was taken immediately after completion. The next two are of my space cats. These are cartoons of my four fur-children. Of course, prior to finishing the piece, our family expanded to add another cat and a dog. Good thing there's space on my forearm. That was done by Dan Dittmer. One photo is after my second to last sitting, and the other is after the last sitting. Finished this about 6 months ago. No formal healed pics yet. I have some other random stuff, but probably nothing else worth posting pictures of. I'll be at the Minneapolis Tattoo Expo this coming weekend possibly looking for something to fill some blank space on my upper outer arm. :D Given my occupation in particular, getting any potentially visible tattoo is a fairly large commitment. I'm more or less restricted to always wearing long sleeves at the office, although on quiet days, I can get away with partially-sheer sleeves, or 3/4 length sleeves. I know for me, deciding to get a half-sleeve marked the point in time where I decided I was going to be a tattooed person rather than a person with tattoos. I'm curious if others - particularly other tattooed women - had this experience - that of knowing that they were committing to being a "tattooed person." Thanks all!