lostarkansan

Hey Everyone,

Fresh out of law school, looking for a briefcase. This will accompany rather than replace a patagonia MLC or tumi carry-on when flying, and also be my daily work carrier, commuting by bike (so a strap is a good thing!)

The Coach Trans-Atlantic is just fairly crummy quality for the money they charge, but that's what has caught my attention so far. I'd probably like it more if it had brass hardware...

Anyone have anything they just love? Thanks!!

(note: I know there's already a briefcases thread, but thought this was justifiably different to it with 2.5x price point and different priorities...)

N1120A

Depends on what you like. Do you want leather? What kind of style do you like?

I have a Bric's Pininfarina 2 Gusset Brief in Chocolate (I'm a trial lawyer), and you can have money left over:

http://www.ebags.com/product/brics/p...ponid=95202659

You could also get a Red Oxx CPA, though it depends on how casual you want/think you can be:

http://www.redoxx.com/Briefcases-and...se/130/Product

You can get a Metro if you want slimmer, but less room:

http://www.redoxx.com/Briefcases-and...ne/130/Product

Something rustic, yet classy from Filson?

http://www.filson.com/products/brief...taProduct=1019

tfar

If you are commuting by bike and the briefcase will be slung around your torso without any additional protection, I advise strongly against a leather bag, especially one with brass fittings.

The brass fittings require thick leather. Thick leather is not comfortable on your body. When it rains water may get in too easily especially if there are no additional zippers. The leather will also quickly show wear from rubbing against your body and against the shoulder belt. This goes against the look of leather and brass that you seem to want to achieve. Besides, leather is heavy and heavy is not what you want when your are biking.

So if you want that look you should either forego the leather/brass classic lawyer briefcase or you should adapt the bike to carry the briefcase. That means a rear carrier with a big waterproof nylon pouch that can hold the briefcase. The other side could hold some spare clothes. Again, I don't know where you work or how long your commute is. But biking in a suit is no fun and coming to court or clients in a suit that has done duty on a bike for say five miles, rain or sun, is not gonna look very professional.

For canvas style bags in the Filson style one could say basically the same with added emphasis on water resistance and less on wear.

Ballistic or Cordura nylon are the materials of choice if you really want to wear the bag on your body while biking.

I'd get a Tumi briefcase and outfit it with a Rickshaw waist strap to steady it on your back.

Or try to get your hands on the discontinued but fabulous Briggs Riley BB107 bag. It has good backpack straps that are detachable and take very little room. It also has a detachable shoulder strap. And it has leather handles. Excellent layout as well.

If you are wearing a suit, I also advise against carrying a bag with a shoulder strap. You will totally ruin the suits shoulder, within a week if just walking and carrying and within a day or two when biking. Suits with ruined shoulders look like cr*p. They are also expensive to impossible to fix properly unless you have custom suits from your own tailor and he has a good stock of pads that he loves to replace for you every week. But that doesn't prevent you from looking crummy for some days until you can get those pads replaced.

In a word, bike commuting as a lawyer with a possibly/likely heavy leather briefcase, only secured by a shoulder strap, possibly wearing a suit, might look like a really stylish thing to do. But believe me it is not a brilliant idea.

Bike commuting, leather/brass briefcase, smart looks: choose any two.

This is based on my own experience trying to ride a bike in a suit (bad idea already) and with a big bag around my shoulders (even worse idea). So I'm not talking from a high horse here but from a humbled been there position.

Otherwise, if you can scrap the bike thing or outfit the bike with big saddle bags I'd look into Goldpfeil and Glaser Design for a sylish leather brass briefcase.

Note also that many times those classic briefcases don't have a slip-through in the back to attach them to the expansion handles of your Tumi wheeler.

Till

~tc~

X2ish for if you're gonna bike commute, you need a proper messenger bag with the cross strap. You can either put something like a soft portfolio case inside the messenger bag (heavy) or just leave your nice briefcase in the office just for court

Zanotti

I have had great luck with Tumi ballistic cloth briefcases and computer bags.

Built exceptionally tough, and good looking.

Not cheap, but very functional. If you get on the mailing list there are occaisional coupons.

http://tumi.com/

lostarkansan

Thanks to all for the fantastic recs! Great info here, all!

lostarkansan

Again, thanks to all.

Assuming I take a "usually leave it at the office"/"client meetings only" approach, so ignoring commuting issues and just focusing on quality, does anyone know anything about mulholland brothers bags?

http://shopmulholland.com/catalog.htm?Line=Briefs

Thanks!

tfar

I really like Mulholland. Great company, nicely made, upscale but reasonably priced. I want one of their Longhorn travel duffels. Definitely a go if you like them.

Offerman and Goldpfeil from Germany might also be good alternatives. GP might be too expensive but is very classic and classy.

Here is an offermann link:
http://www.offermann.de/de/collection/men.html

From Italy, my mother who is a lawyer, has a wonderful leather briefcase. Very elegant, understated, modern, unisex. Held up great! The company is Mandarina Duck. I believe they are available in London and might even have a boutique. They have one in Paris.

In the US, I really like Glaser Design. Great stuff. Might be out of budget, though. Not sure.

Also google Aspinal, Asprey, Tusting and Fogg bags. All nice stuff and not every Joe Schmoe has one. Like Tumi, although the 26141 is one heck of a briefcase. I got one.

Once you made it, a Swaine Adeney Briggs is de rigueur I guess. But as a young'un it's probably not recommended.

I'd also check out Sterling Burke in DC
http://www.classicluggage.com/LAWYER...ION163231.html

Good luck,

Till

Yuengling

For trial bags, I'd think about getting something on wheels.

SAT Lawyer

I'm partial to this Kenneth Cole expandable briefcase. $400 MSRP, but available for a fraction of the price through LuggageGuru or Amazon.com.

Kgmm77

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Try www.knomo.com. I'm on my 3rd bag. Use every day and they age well and IMO have a nice balance between modern and classic styling.

N1120A

Better just having a Samsonite luggage cart if you are in trial, as you are carrying a lot more than a briefcase.

edcaya

The good doctor's gone through a lot of briefcases over the years, but he's been carrying a TravelTeq Trash Messenger for a couple of years now.

Mandarina Duck also do great bags, and if you phone up the outlet store in Orlando, they'll be more than happy to give you information on what they currently have in stock, plus they have deep discounts.

lostarkansan

This is fantastic. Just an edit: I'm corporate side so no trials, just meetings. Gigantor-bags will (hopefully) not be needed. Really big thanks to everyone, I've enjoyed going through all of these.

tfar

Thanks, Ed. That is really valuable info. I never knew MD had outlet stores. Very interesting.

I own quite a few pieces from their Tank Series from the 80s. Very good stuff. Some rails on the suitcases broke and some wheels, too. But these have seen a lot of abuse. And the design is a super classic.

What is crazy about my mother's leather briefcase is how resistant the leather is to scratches. You can't scratch it with a fingernail. I tried a coin on the bottom of the case. Even that hardly left a mark at all. I wonder how they do it. Would be great to have that kind of leather for shoes.

Till