Mickey Mouse's grin may be incongruous under the circumstances, but every time veteran public defender Sumner Parker tries a homicide case, he wears a tie featuring the cartoon character.

"It's something that makes me feel comfortable when I'm dealing with a tough subject," Mr. Parker said. "Lawyers have to feel comfortable in the skin they're wearing."

To Mr. Parker, his attire is a matter of personal style. To Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge David R. Cashman, it's inappropriate.

"You're sending the message to the jury that you think this is a Mickey Mouse proceeding or that this is not important," said the nattily dressed judge, whose shirt cuffs are monogrammed with his initials.

Federal judges at a recent conference in Indianapolis spoke out about attorneys getting increasingly too casual with their courtroom attire, sparking fashion debates in the legal community, where conservative garb has traditionally been the norm.

But the consensus among Western Pennsylvania judges is that, with a few exceptions, unprofessional dress is not a widespread problem here.

Senior U.S. District Judge Gustave Diamond said that he hasn't noticed many changes in the way lawyers dress in his 31 years on the bench -- other than the fact that most men's suits these days are two-piece versus three.

Generally, in federal court, attorneys dress professionally all the time, he said.

"Maybe down the street [in the Allegheny County Courthouse], you have dress-down Fridays, and I imagine there's not quite as much formality," Judge Diamond said. "But even in the state courts, a certain amount of respect and dignity is expected."

In the county courthouse, pretrial Fridays -- when attorneys appear en masse to choose trial dates for cases -- can be a bit relaxed. Mr. Parker, for example, wears Hawaiian shirts on those days.

But when appearing before a judge or a jury, a tie is still a must for men. For women attorneys, the line is harder to draw.

John Gismondi, a lawyer who has taught trial advocacy at the University of Pittsburgh Law School for 24 years, said he instructs female students to err on the conservative side when dressing for court.

Women with high hemlines or low-cut tops used to bother Common Pleas Judge Christine A. Ward when she worked in the family division, though she said they were a rare sight.

"It doesn't give me the best impression of the attorney, because in my opinion you should have enough sense to be dressed appropriately, but it's not going to affect the case," said Judge Ward, who now handles business cases in the civil division, where she sees nothing but snappy dressers.

Judge Cashman, though, orders attorneys out of his courtroom if he feels they're underdressed -- usually when an attorney who wore casual clothes to the office that day is summoned to court unexpectedly.

In his days as an attorney, Judge Cashman said he always kept a spare suit in his office -- a safety measure still employed by many other attorneys. He doesn't buy the "I didn't expect to be in court today" excuse.

"If you want to be a lawyer, you dress like one," he said.

Defense attorneys, typically, are more likely than prosecutors to be casually dressed. The U.S. Attorneys office and the county District Attorney's office require employees to adhere to a professional dress standard, and the DA's office is planning on implementing an official dress code in the near future, according to a spokesman.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Luke Dembosky keeps four suits at work. He usually bikes to the office two or three days each week, so he leaves many of his clothes there. While he has never been without a suit, Mr. Dembosky said he has forgotten shoes, belts and ties.

If he's tieless, he's got no better place to turn than the legendary coat tree-turned-tie-tree in the office of Assistant U.S. Attorney Bruce Teitelbaum.

It currently holds about 100 ties -- most sporting the labels of expensive designers, although several feature gaudy Christmas scenes -- collected over what he estimates to be about 28 years.

"I realized a long time ago, you don't really need to wear a tie in to work or on the way home," Mr. Teitelbaum said.

Stuffed behind a file cabinet in his office, his tie tree includes patterns from paisley to polka dots and materials from fine silk to straight-up polyester.

A surprising number of cravats feature animal prints, including monkeys, stallions, elephants and cats. There's also a tie bearing the scales of justice.

New lawyers joining the federal prosecutor's office must go through a training course at the Department of Justice, which includes professionalism -- and dress -- as a topic.

"A lawyer never wants his or her appearance to be the focus of the court's or jury's attention," said U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan.

She recounted a story dating back to her days as a young line prosecutor in the office. On her way into court one wintry morning, she slipped on the sidewalk in front of the courthouse and tore out the knees in her stockings.

"I had to decide whether to take them off or go as I was," she said. "I didn't really have a choice. I had to be in court on time."

Ms. Buchanan, who was about to appear before Senior U.S. District Judge Alan N. Bloch, decided to leave on the shredded hose.

"I knew if I took the stockings off, I might offend the judge and anyone else in the courtroom," she said.

"The judge never batted an eye."

Looking good for a judge is one concern, but attorneys also place extra emphasis on dressing for success when they're standing before a jury.

"Jurors sometimes ask for contact information for lawyers because they're impressed with how they handled a case," Judge Cashman said. "It's never for somebody dressed like they're going to the South Side on a Friday afternoon."

But Judge Cashman and other local jurists agreed that standards of dress have, in fact, improved over the last few years from the business casual trend of the late 1990s and early 2000s.

"Now it's coming back the other way," said Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey A. Manning. "The community tends to reflect the corporate world."

Still, some lawyers take pride in bucking all trends.

Longtime criminal defense attorney Paul Gettleman for years has been seen striding the courthouse hallways in blue jeans and a past-the-shoulders ponytail that he said he's been growing for 37 years. It will not be shorn, he vows, until "there's justice in the courtroom."

Mr. Gettleman said his average-Joe look is a hit with clients and jurors, saying they appreciate that he's not putting on airs.

"Jurors who see flashy lawyers with real expensive clothes and real expensive jewelry tend to think, 'Wow, this guy probably paid all this money to this lawyer, so he really must be guilty,' " Mr. Gettleman said.

Judges can be more critical of his look, but Mr. Gettleman has a quick comeback when challenged: "If you don't like the way I look, you can take me shopping."

Mr. Gettleman said he has only bought one suit in his life -- in 1989, when he argued a case before the U.S. Supreme Court. He lost the case, so he said he has no interest in wearing the unlucky suit again.

Besides, he said, judges shouldn't take issue with attorneys' attire because their own dress code is so simple.

"We don't have robes -- you can see us," Mr. Gettleman said. "You can't see what judges are wearing under the robes. It could be nothing at all."