Types of Lawyer Briefcases

The hard-sided attaché is the briefcase the profession is pictured with, and it's just one of five types practicing lawyers actually choose from. But for most, it isn't the one they carry every day.

Which type fits depends on what your working day looks like. A litigator heading to trial with binders and exhibits needs a different briefcase from a corporate associate carrying a laptop and a few contracts.

Some lawyers also carry backpacks, totes, or messenger bags. This guide sticks to briefcases.

The Attaché Case

An attaché case is a hard-sided briefcase with:

• a rigid frame
• metal latches or a combination lock
• structured internal dividers that keep documents flat and protected

The word "briefcase" itself comes from the legal profession, from barristers carrying their briefs in a bag. The attaché is the oldest surviving form of the briefcase: upright, rigid, formal.

It's the most formal briefcase type. If your work takes you into courtrooms or senior client meetings regularly, the attaché fits those settings better than any soft-sided alternative.

An attaché is heavier than a leather briefcase, and there's rarely room for a laptop alongside your documents. If you carry a computer every day (and most lawyers do now), this type works for specific occasions rather than daily use.

The structured leather briefcase is its modern descendant: the same sharp, professional look, but built for a laptop and a legal pad together. We designed the Von Baer No.1 Leather Briefcase as exactly that, with a triple-gusset layout, key-lock closure, and a padded compartment that fits a 16-inch laptop, so you keep the formal courtroom silhouette without giving up daily laptop carry. 

If you're weighing the two directly, we compare attaché vs briefcase here.

We also have a general briefcase types guide here.

The Slim or Portfolio Briefcase

A slim or portfolio briefcase holds a few documents, a tablet, and writing materials, and not much else. It's the lightest, sharpest type in the category, built for the day you walk into a meeting with exactly what that meeting needs.

It suits:

• hearings
• interviews
• negotiations
• light meeting days where you're carrying a single file and a legal pad rather than a week's worth of case documents

A slim briefcase with a padded sleeve still holds a laptop, so slim doesn't have to mean no technology. But the capacity is limited: there's no room for trial binders or large file volumes.

If you're a student, a trainee, or recently called to the bar, a portfolio briefcase is a strong first case. The look is sharp, the price tends to be lower, and you're not paying for capacity you don't yet need.

The Von Baer Diplomat Leather Briefcase was built for exactly this kind of day: a small, slim take on the classic briefcase with a single key-lock closure, a padded sleeve that fits up to a 15.6-inch laptop, and a carry weight of just 1.48 kg.

We've also compared classic vs modern briefcase shapes here.

The Laptop Briefcase

A laptop briefcase carries a padded compartment for a 15 to 17-inch laptop, a tablet sleeve, and dedicated pockets for chargers and cables, alongside your documents. It's the type most practicing lawyers now carry every day.

Legal work has shifted: court filings go through e-filing systems, case files sit on shared drives, and the laptop has replaced the paper stack as most lawyers' primary working tool. The laptop briefcase was built for that shift. It keeps the professional silhouette of a traditional briefcase while holding the technology your day actually runs on.

• Separate compartments keep your laptop and cables apart from your files and legal pads. Without them, a cable clasp scratches your screen and a loose pen leaks onto a brief.
• If you're carrying the same briefcase five days a week, the leather grade matters. Full-grain leather resists the scuffing and shape loss that corrected or bonded leather shows within a year or two of daily use.

A laptop briefcase carries a laptop, a legal pad, a few file folders, and your daily accessories comfortably. It's not built for trial-day loads of binders and exhibits.

For the daily laptop carry, we make two models at different sizes. The Von Baer Essential Modern Briefcase has a zip-top profile with dual compartments and a 15.6-inch padded sleeve sized to fit a 16-inch MacBook Pro. The Von Baer City Large Leather Laptop Bag is the only case in our range with a dedicated padded center compartment for a 17-inch laptop, built for professionals carrying a larger screen alongside a day's documents.

You can browse all laptop briefcases here.

The Litigation or Trial Bag

A litigation bag is a briefcase built deeper and wider than a standard case, with a reinforced base and multiple compartments, designed to carry binders, exhibits, and heavy paperwork to court. If you're preparing for trial or heading into document-intensive hearings, this is the type built for that volume.

The defining feature is a double or triple-gusset design: two or three separate compartments that expand the case's depth. Three compartments:

• hold A4 and legal-size documents flat without folding
• keep exhibit binders separate from your working files
• and still leave room for a laptop

A redweld of case documents, a three-ring binder of exhibits, and a legal pad can all stand upright in their own sections.

A litigation bag loaded with a full day's trial materials gets heavy, and that weight is the cost of carrying everything you need in a single case rather than splitting it across two.

Most lawyers don't need a litigation bag every day. It's a specialist tool for trial preparation and document-heavy court appearances, not the briefcase you carry on a quiet Tuesday. As more trial preparation moves to tablets and digital filing, fewer litigators use the full trial bag day to day.

The Rolling or Travel Briefcase

A rolling briefcase has built-in wheels and a retractable telescoping handle, so you can move heavy files, binders, and a laptop without loading the weight onto your back or shoulder.

If you regularly carry trial-day volumes on a long commute, through airports, or across large courthouse complexes, a rolling case solves the weight problem directly. Your documents roll on wheels rather than on you.

A rolling briefcase looks less formal than a hand-carried case, which matters if you're walking into court. And stairs are awkward: you're lifting the full weight of the case plus the weight of the wheel mechanism and handle hardware at every flight.

A lighter alternative for travel is a briefcase with a built-in trolley sleeve. The sleeve slides over your wheeled-luggage handle, so the suitcase carries the briefcase. You keep the professional silhouette of a hand-carried case, and you're only lifting it when you step away from the luggage. If your travel is occasional rather than constant, a trolley-sleeve briefcase covers the job without the formality trade-off of a wheeled case.

We make several cases with a trolley sleeves here.

How to Choose the Right Type for Your Legal Work

Pick by four things:

• How much you carry on a typical day
• Whether your work takes you to court or keeps you at a desk
• How far you commute
• How formal your setting is

Most lawyers end up with a laptop briefcase for daily use. It fits the broadest range of days: a laptop, a legal pad, a few file folders, and room for your phone and chargers. If you regularly go to trial, a second case (a litigation bag or rolling case) for those days specifically makes more sense than overbuying capacity you carry empty the rest of the week.

Avoid buying a briefcase by laptop screen size alone, or buying oversized "just in case." A briefcase that's too large for what you actually carry loses its shape and looks sloppy. Match the case to the load you carry most days, not the load you carry once a quarter.

Three Von Baer briefcases cover those situations. The Von Baer No.1 Leather Briefcase suits formal court appearances and senior client meetings, with a key-lock closure and a triple-gusset layout that keeps privileged documents organized. The Von Baer Essential Modern Briefcase handles the daily office commute, with a zip-top and a padded 15.6-inch laptop sleeve. And for light meeting days, the Von Baer Diplomat Leather Briefcase carries a single file, a legal pad, and a laptop at just 1.48 kg.

You can see our full range of briefcases for legal work here.

What to Look for in a Lawyer's Briefcase

A lawyer's briefcase should fit full-size legal documents and legal pads flat without folding, alongside a padded laptop compartment and separate sections that keep your cables away from your papers. How well it's built determines how long it keeps doing that.

Document and laptop fit

Your legal pads and A4 documents should lie flat without folding. The laptop compartment should be padded, fit your machine (15.6 to 17 inches covers the range most lawyers carry), and sit in its own section, with zipped pockets between it and your files, so chargers and pens don't ride against the screen.

Secure closure

You're carrying confidential client documents. A key-lock or secure zip closure protects privileged material when the briefcase leaves your hands at airport security, in a shared taxi, or under the table at a restaurant.

Comfortable carry

A reinforced handle that doesn't dig into your palm matters by week two of carrying the briefcase daily. A detachable crossbody strap leaves your hands free when you're moving between firm office, client site, and courtroom.

Leather grade

Full-grain leather is the strongest, most durable grade. It uses the complete outer surface of the hide with the natural grain preserved, so it holds its shape and stays distinguished with age rather than cracking and peeling the way corrected or bonded leather (the lower grades) does.

• At Von Baer, we select A-grade hides from Bos Taurus cattle only, chosen for their tight, fine, consistent grain. The leather is cut from the bend, the back and butt of the hide, where the fibers are densest and tightest, and drum-dyed so the color runs all the way through. It won't fade pale at a scuff the way surface-dyed leather does.
• We cut our leather to 1.4 to 1.8 mm for bags. That's the thickness that lets a briefcase hold its shape and withstand daily wear without becoming stiff or uncomfortable to carry. The handles aren't thin because of it; we build them from multiple layers of the same leather, with supporting material underneath.
• Every briefcase in our range carries Cuoio Superiore certification (Italian for "superior leather"). Each leather batch is laboratory-tested, and the tannery itself is audited on-site at least every three years. We put our leather through certification because self-declared leather grades carry no enforceable standard.
• Our men's business bags are lined with high-grade cotton twill, a separate crafted component that is easier to clean than suede or exposed leather. If a bottle leaks inside a suede-lined bag, the suede soaks it up and the stain is permanent. A proper lining gives you the chance to clean it before it reaches the leather.

Hardware and zippers

Every piece of our hardware passes four separate checks by four different teams before it reaches a finished bag. Our zippers have brass teeth set into high-tenacity polyester tape, independently tested by accredited laboratories for corrosion resistance and metal safety. We've sold over 5,000 locked briefcases in the last ten years, with fewer than 0.1% recorded lock failures.

The D-rings and handle attachments are built as load-bearing components: layered leather, skived to control thickness, reinforced internally with tear-resistant material, so the stress spreads through the bag's structure rather than concentrating on a single layer or a few stitches.

Color

Our briefcases come in brown, tan, black, and red. All four look professional across legal settings and require the least thought. They work in court, in the office, and at a client dinner.

Value over time

We design every Von Baer briefcase for the working week, not for a photoshoot. We back every briefcase with a 5-year warranty covering defects in materials or workmanship under normal use, and we sell direct to you, without middlemen or seasonal sales.

FAQs

What is the best briefcase for a lawyer?

For most lawyers, a structured leather briefcase is the strongest all-round choice. No single type is the best briefcase for every lawyer, so the right one matches your practice area, how much you carry on a typical day, and how formal your setting is.

For most, the versatile default is a structured leather briefcase with a padded laptop compartment and separate sections for documents and cables. It works for daily commuting, office work, and most client meetings in one case.

Litigators and trial lawyers who carry heavy file loads lean toward a litigation bag or rolling case. Corporate lawyers and in-house counsel often do best with a slim or laptop briefcase.

We compare the best options in this guide.

What do lawyers have in their briefcase?

Most lawyers carry:

• A laptop
• Legal pads
• Case files or folders
• A phone charger and cables
• Pens
• Business cards

That's the daily load for office and meeting days.

Litigators and trial lawyers add binders, exhibits, and expandable file folders on court days, which is why the litigation bag and rolling briefcase exist as separate types.

You can browse all our briefcases here.

What do you call a lawyer's suitcase?

The general term is a briefcase. A hard-sided version with a rigid frame and latches is specifically an attaché case.

Larger document cases designed for trial volumes are called litigation bags or trial bags. In the UK, a barrister's equivalent is traditionally known as a brief bag.