Why is it better to have a good-looking lawyer if you’re about to step into a court for a potentially life-altering trial? 

It turns out there is something called ‘pretty privilege’ and it means that pretty people do better than average-looking people with the same skills and ability. 

Speaking to Moncrieff, Communications Clinic Chair Terry Prone said it would not surprise her if looks were officially factored into the hiring process in certain jobs. 

“I would suggest that the Americans [have such] rigorous procedures to decide who they'll have on a jury, they will now be applying that to the defendant or prosecutor attorney selection too,” she said. 

“If you know that prettier people go down better with a jury or go down better with a judge, that’s something that gets factored into your thinking - whether we like it or not.” 

15/10/2021 Covid-19 Pandemic (Coronavirus), Ireland. Day 569 since start of lockdown. Day 159 of eased restrictions. Pictured today are the Criminal Courts of Justice in Dublin. On September 29th this year, Gerry Hutch was brought before the Special Criminal Court where he was remanded in custody until today's date. Photograph: Leah Farrell / RollingNews.ie

Even when a person is at a company and doing well in their job, Ms Prone said looks can be an important factor in determining who gets promoted. 

“We’ve known for some time, mainly anecdotally, that people who have physical disadvantages… things like weight, that they have a lesser chance of being hired and a lesser chance of being well paid, a greater chance of being laid off when layoffs come,” she said. 

“All of those sorts of things we knew weren’t really helpful to people weren’t astonishingly good looking.” 

'Validate the first impression'

Ms Prone said a “real oddity” in HR is that people who are not good-looking themselves still tend to favour good-looking candidates when they are decide who to hire. 

“Although [HR people] don’t like to admit it, they often make judgements about whether to hire somebody or not hire somebody within the first 30 seconds,” she said. 

“The fact is that the interview process was often used to validate the first impression, rather than question it.” 

Having said that, it can also work the other way as well. 

Studies have also found that some people have a negative reaction to people they think are exceptionally good-looking. 

“We did also note that it doesn’t pay to be breathtakingly [attractive],” Ms Prone said. 

“Being pretty is one thing and if you’re breathtakingly beautiful, it does tend to create kind of a reaction against you. 

“But for the most part, looking well is an unacknowledged bias among recruiters and among managers.” 

Main image: Young lawyer. Picture by: Alamy.com