Halloween is a special time of year. We have clients that celebrate the holiday in different ways. One client has a massive Halloween party where everyone comes dressed in costume (some of which would shame Hollywood makeup artists) and there is a contest with prizes for the winners. A few years ago, the entire legal department went as a Mardi Gras crew. Other celebrations are more muted. One client invites employees' children to trick-or-treat around the office. They love it. But there can be a lot of leftover candy that hangs out for a couple of months or until some hungry outside lawyer eats way too much of it. More on that below.

The legal function continually tries to show alignment with the business—that they get the business, align with the strategy, are good partners, guardians of the company, and trusted counsel. Halloween is a good opportunity to really show the business what you're made of. To this end, we have a few ideas and suggestions. Group themes are the best, so we've organized our suggestions into group costumes for the entire department, along with some solo ideas for legal functions with smaller headcounts. Here are a couple:

Star Wars. This is always popular and never gets old. It says to the business, we are protectors of the galaxy (and the company). We are guardians, good partners, and help the business defeat the competition (the Empire). Now if you find out beforehand one of the business folks is going as Darth Maul, Vader, or a Stormtrooper, you should rethink this. The other significant issue that must be addressed from the outset is that everyone wants to be Chewie, so you have to draw straws on that one early—you can't have two Chewies, that just looks weird. And if someone goes as Jar Jar Binks, you know that you have an issue in your department. Play it safe and discuss the costumes ahead of time. Star Wars says that the legal department is a force of good, agile, and can work efficiently. Other movie or TV themes are equally appropriate (but nothing too serious).

Local Sports Team. Nothing says teamwork like sports. Uniforms are inexpensive, and everyone can get behind the local team. Unless it's the Texans or your team is having a really terrible season, at which point the costumes can be a sore spot. If done correctly, the sports team idea can show that legal helps the business win. One pointer—make sure that your colleagues know something about the team. If one of the business folks asks about the score of the season opener and your colleague is clueless, it could backfire.

Not everyone will be on board with the group theme or someone may just feel strongly about standing out. You need enough characters for each colleague without significant repeats. In the example above, you could get away with two of the same jerseys for the sports team, or maybe a young Han Solo and an older Han Solo, but not two of the same character where you have to wear a mask. Or you may be a one-person function, so you don't have anyone to coordinate with. Here are five tips of what not to do:

1. Don't wear anything you'd be embarrassed by if it was posted to Instagram. You know someone is going to take photos, so if they wouldn't sell it at Walmart (conceptually), don't wear it. Another test—if you can't go eat at the Waffle House wearing your costume, you need to change. And don't dress up as the CEO or anyone on the leadership team (or anyone else at the company). Political figures are also a no.
2. Stay away from colored hair. Use the wig. No matter what the bottle says, it's not going to look the same the next day. And dressing up for Halloween is cool but having green hair that looked awesome for your Joker costume will not go over well the next day in the leadership meeting.
3. No live animals. You can't use Halloween as an excuse to violate the company's pet policy. Just because you put a hat on your dog, you can't bring her to the office unless the policy says you can. We have a dog friendly work place so not an issue, and if that's the case, make sure you adhere to tips #1 and 2 for the pet. Plush is okay if it complements the costume (e.g., Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz).
4. Compliment your co-workers costumes. If someone went to the effort to dress up, tell them how awesome their costume is (even if they violated tip #2—they'll need that compliment later). Fist bumps are highly appropriate. A little dance if you've got it (but only on Halloween).
5. Don't bring leftover candy to the office unless it's a type of candy that would normally be present in the office (e.g., mints, etc.). Or worse, take your kid's Halloween candy to the office and tell the kid some story about the “candy witch.” Just avoid the headache and put candy you don't want back in the bowl for next year or save it for Aunt Sally when she comes over for the holidays. If it's expired by then, toss it.

Ryan McConnell and Meagan Baker are lawyers at R. McConnell Group—a compliance and internal investigations boutique law firm in Houston Texas. McConnell is a former assistant U.S. Attorney in Houston who has taught criminal procedure and corporate compliance at the University of Houston Law Center. Baker's work at the firm focuses on risk and compliance issues in addition to assisting clients with responding to compliance failures. Send column ideas to [email protected]. Follow the firm on Twitter at @rmcconnellgroup.