While the Department for Constitutional Affairs consultation on court dress appears to have been kicked into the longest of long grass, an Australian judge has caused something of a kerfuffle down under. Justice PW Young recently wrote in the Australian Law Journal that 'one matter of courtesy that I have found unable to address is court dress by solicitors'.

The bar, thanks to a standard form of dress, and male solicitors 'who invariably wear jacket, tie and long trousers' were exempted from the judge's criticism. 'However it is clear that some female solicitors have no idea of appropriate court dress. The worst offenders are usually well-built women who expose at least the upper halves of their breasts and as they lean forward to make a point to a judge sitting on a higher level, they present a most unwelcome display of bare flesh. A judge does not want to embarrass a woman who simply does not know how to behave properly in court, by making a remark, but it would be handy if the senior partners in law firms took precautions to see that all members of their team were appropriately dressed for court appearances.'