The traditional barrister’s garb has not been the most attractive or practical for women, but a junior barrister has now set up her own online outfitter designed to create gear that is designed to make women attending court “looking bloody great,” as she told one blog.
Karlia Lykourgou, is a criminal barrister at Doughty Street Chambers, and set up her online store named Ivy & Normanton after Ivy Williams and Helena Normanton, the first two women called to the bar in England and Wales.
The business is the first to cater for women lawyers. Previously the default setting for women in court has been male-focused garb even though women have now been at the bar for over 100 years in the UK.
With a background in criminal law work, including work in Cambodia facilitating the work of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia in their prosecution of Khmer Rouge cadres and liaising with the FCO to help British nationals facing capital charges for drug importation in Pakistan.
The website says the designs have been created “with advocates’ day-to-day experience in mind to provide products that emphasize comfort, quality and fit.”
“We are invested in the growth of the legal profession and continue to support all women who attend court to do so with confidence,” she says. With a family involved in the rag trade she is well equipped to deal with such matters noting that her range of courtwear is designed to fit a woman’s body and accommodate a chest and hits, as well as permitting it to tuck into trousers and skirt without riding up.
No word yet on whether she might develop something to replace itchy horse-hair wigs.
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