Dress is topical in clerical as well as legal circles at the moment.

The Times recently reported that clergymen were considering whether it was appropriate in the 21st century to continue to wear cassock and surplice for modern religious services.

Bar Council chairman Jonathan Hirst QC, in his inaugural speech, suggested a review of the practice of wearing wigs in court.

The Association of District Judges recently conducted a survey of its members into the question of wearing of robes.

The overwhelming response was for the retention of robes for both ceremonial and working occasions, and only 10% of those who replied did not wish to wear robes at all.Civil justice has just undergone the greatest reform of the last century.

The Civil Procedure Rules do not refer to court dress and so the current practice for the judiciary, bar, and solicitors has arisen by convention.

The convention requires robes to be worn in open court during trials.

That convention has been reflected in the code of practice of the legal professions.Paragraph 21.17 of the Guide to the Professional Conduct of Solicitors states: 'A solicitor appearing in court as an advocate should appear duly robed where this is customary and must always wear suitable clothing.' The code of conduct of the bar is slightly fuller at annex F paragraph 5.12: 'In court, a barrister's personal appearance should be decorous and his dress when robes are worn should be compatible with them.' Some confusion has been caused recently by the requirement under the Civil Procedure Rules for all hearings, except those specifically excluded, to be in public.

Are robes now required to be worn at case management conferences, whether in a court room or in private? Some local county courts have published notices stating that at interim hearings -- not trials -- counsel and solicitors are not required to wear robes.But does court dress matter? Proper dress by legal representatives gives the right impression.

Neat dress gives a positive impression to the judge.

Poor dress gives the impression that the advocate tends to be careless.

Advocates who care little for their dress may be less than attentive to their cases.

Sloppiness in appearance can give the impression of a lack of preparation.

In private hearings, district judges often face solicitor advocates or their clerks who cannot even be bothered to take off their overcoats, and are more concerned about placing their mobile telephones on the bench than opening their papers or thinking about what they have to say.Solicitors' dress is not much better in open court hearings when the custom is to robe.

In contrast, barristers are rarely ill dressed; solicitors frequently use the 'office gown' and often unkempt tabs.

Clearly, solicitors are uncomfortable generally with traditional court dress.

It might be easier for them if the court dressed down rather than expected them to dress up.

But then would this send the wrong message to advocates, litigants, and witnesses?Lay people, especially, expect a judge to be formally attired in wig and robe.

Lay people generally dress well for court appearances, save for the artisans who attend in work clothes to recover sums due to them from customers.

The experience of judges who conduct adoption cases is that families, particularly the children, are disappointed if the judge is less than formally dressed.

Some think they are being cheated by not getting the real thing.There is a strong case to suggest that formal attire lends a certain gravity to court proceedings.

Det ractors say it intimidates; the cynical that it is laughable.

Formality, I suggest, creates a ready expectation by the court of high standards in the quality of the argument and otherwise.

Contrasting that with an informal private hearing, can it be said that the same expectation is there? The dilemma is obvious.

Should the civil judiciary move ahead with the times and abandon formal 18th century attire in favour of something more European and modern, or should it retain a proper sense of gravity by retaining such dress? I suspect that colours may change and heads may be uncovered, but we shall all be dressing up for many years to come.