Your briefcase is as important as your traditional suit and tie and using big latin words to express simple concepts. From the first day you step into the law office, to your last day appearing in court, you will have to schlep files, yellow pads, pens, laptops, and legal tomes around with you to court and client meetings. With that in mind, it’s worth it to invest in a high-quality briefcase early in your career because that one briefcase can last your entire legal career (or longer). Here’s a succinct way to put it: Buy the best, cry once. So let’s talk about how terrible your briefcase probably is and give you three potential options to replace your sad sack. If you are using any of the following things to carry your lawyerly stuff, you should stop, now. Backpacks are for children. You’ve worked hard to get through law school and pass the bar to have some fancy letters after your name. People come to you for legal advice, and it is your duty to represent your clients zealously.

Do you think that you, a lawyer, carrying your important client files around in a backpack like a fifth grader will inspire confidence that you are a competent, confident professional? Messenger bags are for bike messengers, mailmen, and people who are too cool for backpacks. Yes, I understand that you may have a super-cool limited edition color-way bag featuring a screen print by your favorite street artist. targus voyager ii 16 laptop backpackThat’s fine, but save it for carrying your things when you are not lawyering.backpack routes oost europa These are the Wonder Bread of briefcases. heineken backpack coolerNothing says “I don’t care” like a generic black ballistic nylon laptop bag used as a briefcase. pmw mfg backpack

I don’t think that anyone buys these — they just kind of show up in peoples’ houses. I like to imagine that people carry these only because they don’t have to think — they simply find this bag in their house, shrug, and start using it as a briefcase. They are ugly, boring, and generic. The ballistic nylon will not age well, and the zippers will likely break.ossington backpack These bags are ugly, boring, and generic. mcsweeney's backpackThe ballistic nylon will not age well, and the zippers will probably break.louis vuitton bosphore backpack cheap There iss a distinct difference between a branding and quality. Too many “designer” men’s stores these days produce garbage, stick their label on it, and charge a premium for the brand.

Don’t fall prey to the siren’s song — most of the time these goods are made of inferior materials with inferior construction and aren’t worth the price tag. Now that we’ve figured out what you shouldn’t be carrying your important lawyerly stuff in, we should discuss some better options. I’ve provided three different options for a briefcase that will last you your entire career or longer. These are so well-built you will probably be able to give them to your kids. The Filson Original Briefcase is a classic no-nonsense design. It’s made of water resistant cotton twill and should be large enough to handle your legal-sized files. The  big brass zippers are not going to jam and break. It also comes with a bridle-leather shoulder strap. It’s affordably priced at $225 and is available in tan, otter green, or brown. If this style is too rugged for you, take a look at Filson’s Leather Field Satchel instead. The Saddleback Classic Large Briefcase is a beast.

It’s made of thick full-grain boot leather and weighs in at a substantial 7 1/2 pounds. The large size is 16″ wide, a 12″ tall, and 9″ deep —  big enough to hold a redwell or two, plus your laptop, and a few books. The pockets on the outside are great to hold extra pens, your business cards, your keys, or a bottle of hand sanitizer. Because it’s full-grain leather, it develops a wonderful patina as it ages. It will get scratched from time to time, but those scratches buff out with a quick brush and add to the character of the bag. Finally, because it fastens with buckles, there’s nothing to break or fall apart — you won’t have to worry about dainty locks or forgetting a tumble lock combination. The large bag with a pigskin lining is available in four different colors, and will cost you about $610.00. So you’ve recently come into a bit of money and have a $2,200.00 budget for a briefcase? This Swaine Adeney Brigg Westminster case is for you. SAB is an English luggage and umbrella manufacturer that has been around since 1750.

They have held Royal Warrants since 1893 for their goods. If they are good enough for English Royalty, they should be good enough for you. Available in four colours (Black, Chestnut, Havana, and London Tan), this bag is made of leather tanned with natural plant extracts, rather than harsh synthetics, so it will only look better with age. It’s not as large as the Saddleback, and it costs 10x as much as the Filson, but if durability and timeless style are your things, and you have some excess cash to spend, you can’t get much better than this.Macworld|iWorld Expo was fast approaching and I needed a bag for the six hour plane ride and to carry in San Francisco. I didn’t want a backpack because they tend to be too bulky, and I knew I would be constantly banging into displays and innocent people on the show floor. I wanted something I could wear across the front of my body, with easy access to my iPhone and mic. When the Levenger Staff Bag arrived in the mail for me to review shortly before Macworld I realized I had a win-win situation.

The Staff Bag was exactly what I was looking for, and Macworld|iWorld would be the perfect place to put the bag through its paces. Let’s start with the negative: ladies, if you’re looking for a multi-compartment pocketbook, keep looking. Nothing to see here. If you’re like me and want to separate your purse items into sections this won’t be the bag for you. That doesn’t make the Staff Bag bad; it just means that for me, I can’t use it as a pocketbook. However as a messenger bag I was very pleased. Everyone else, including the men, continue reading. The Staff Bag opens to one large main area with a key clasp and a deep zippered pocket at the back of the bag. The zippered pocket was great to hold all the little things I needed, like pens, gum, and my mic when not in use. Two deep pockets on the front of the Staff Bag were roomy enough to hold my eyeglasses and sunglasses in their respective cases in one pocket, while the other was home to my iPhone. The pocket on each side of the bag is smaller but was still quite useful for my digital camera and business cards.

Inside the Staff Bag was plenty of room for my iPad with Bluetooth keyboard and leather case, a plastic bag of power chargers, microfiber cloth, snacks, jewelry bag, makeup case (a girl has to look good!), extra business cards, and my large wallet, with plenty of room for more. For security there’s a zipper to seal the main compartment before closing the front flap via a loop tab. The front pockets are easily accessible with the flap closed but not “pickpocket accessible.” The shoulder strap on the Staff Bag is wide enough to hold the bag but not so wide as to be uncomfortable, and is adjustable in length for a perfect fit. The heavy-duty canvas held up well with two days of constant wearing at Macworld and being shoved under a plane seat for the cross country trips. If you’re looking for a bag for work, school, or travel, give serious consideration to the Levenger Staff Bag. At $79 it’s reasonably priced and high quality. This is the bag I’ll be using from now on when I travel.

Review Rating: 8 out of 10 If you’re in a hurry, here’s the summary of this review: I love this bag! If you’d like to find out why, continue reading. The Levenger Bloomsbury Bookbag is marketed as a tote for carrying books. It even comes with an assortment of reading/writing tools. But that’s not how I use it. The minute I took it out of the box, I knew I had the perfect knitting bag. As you can see by the photo above, the Bloomsbury Bookbag has loads of space to carry whatever you need. In my case that was five skeins of yarn to knit a sweater. There’s an inside zippered pocket, perfect for notions, along with six outside pockets. Now that I’ve knit the body of the sweater, the photo below shows the bag with two skeins of yarn, the sweater, my iPad, and a few magazines. You’ll notice there’s still room to spare. Once a week I meet a few friends at a local coffee shop to knit. Rather than lugging a knitting bag and pocketbook, everything I need goes into the Bloomsbury Bookbag.

My project, iPad, iPhone, wallet, and car keys fit perfectly in the bag and pockets, and I only have to carry one item. The rounded leather handles are securely attached to the canvas bag, and the cotton twill lining means my projects won’t get accidentally snagged. Since it has a flat bottom the Bloomsbury Bookbag stands up well and doesn’t sag. A nice feature knitters will appreciate are the grommets on both sides of the bag: we can run the yarn strand through a grommet to keep the ball of yarn from bouncing around. The Bloomsbury Bookbag isn’t just for books or knitting. Think of the possibilities: gardening bag, diaper bag, shopping tote, travel bag, craft bag, kids toy bag, computer bag, overnight bag. The included high-quality reading/writing tools are an added bonus. I’ve used the Bloomsbury Bookbag almost every day since it arrived, and I love it more and more each day. In September 2012, I purchased a large cloth knitting bag for $45 at a festival. it’s very functional and has lots of pockets for storage.