I saw this movie last night. It was good for a TV movie. It quickly evolved from a typical Lifetime "woman having an affair" story to an interesting legal drama. One thing I noticed was the ugly uniforms that Canadian lawyers and judges wore in the movie. Is that for real? At least they didn't wear wigs.
share"At least they didn't wear wigs."
LOL.... Yeah, those were some robes, thank goodness in the U.S. only the judge wears a black robe. Not sure what the white ties were all about.
It all goes back to traditional English Court. The type of robes woren makes it so people can tell what type of lawyer/judge they are. It shows seniority. For example the lawyers in the movie were not junior barrister but a barrister.
Advocates
English advocates (whether barristers or solicitors) who appear before a judge who is robed, or before the House of Lords or Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, must themselves be robed.
All male advocates wear a white stiff wing collar with bands (two strips of linen about 5" by 1" hanging down the front of the neck). They also wear either a dark suit (usually with waistcoat if single-breasted) or a black coat and waistcoat and grey pinstriped trousers. The black coat and waistcoat can be combined into a single garment, which is simply a waistcoat with sleeves, known as a bar jacket or court waistcoat. Female advocates also wear a dark suit, but often wear bands attached to a collarette rather than a wing collar.
Junior barristers
Junior barristers wear an open-fronted black gown with open sleeves, gathered and decorated with buttons and ribbons, and a gathered yoke, over a black or dark suit, hence the term stuffgownsman for juniors. In addition barristers wear a short horsehair wig with curls at the side and ties down the back.
Solicitors
Solicitors wear an open-fronted black gown similar to that worn by a QC save that the material used is the same as a junior barrister's gown over a black or dark suit and may wear a short horsehair wig with curls at the side and ties down the back.
Queen's Counsel
A QC in court dressBarristers or solicitors who have been appointed Queen's Counsel, or QCs, wear a silk gown with a flap collar and long closed sleeves (the arm opening is half-way up the sleeve). The QC's black coat, known as a court coat, is cut like 18th-century court dress, and the sleeve of the QC's court coat or bar jacket has a turnback cuff with three buttons across.
Judges
From autumn 2008, judges in all civil and family cases began to wear a newly designed robe with no wig, collar or bands, over an ordinary business suit and tie.
Judges in the highest courts, the Supreme Court and the Privy Council, have never worn court dress at all (although advocates appearing before them do). Instead they are dressed in ordinary business clothing.
It is in intermediate courts that try cases at first instance (with a jury in criminal cases) that court dress is the most complicated.
Source: wikipedia and my law classes.