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19 Halloween Costumes That Will Terrify Lawyers in 2026

Just for Fun
4 Min Read
By: 
June Hunter
Posted: 
October 1, 2026
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https://www.csdisco.com/blog/13-halloween-costumes-that-will-terrify-lawyers

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These Halloween costumes are specifically designed to strike fear into the hearts of legal professionals, both in-house and at law firms. Sure, ghosts and vampires can be frightening - but for lawyers, they've got nothing on regular terrors like AI hallucinations, phishing attacks, or disappearing ediscovery data. 

So whatever your reasons for wanting to give legal professionals a scare, here are some ideas. 

For law firms

1. “Spinning wheel of death”

Painful document load times or search speeds cause this loathed computer icon to appear all too often for many legal professionals. DISCO Ediscovery users may have forgotten about it, given the platform’s snap-fast load and search times – but this will give a scare to legal teams who aren't so lucky!

2. Vexatious litigant 

Wear whatever you want -- but end every conversation with several threats to sue. 

3. Email from your boss saying: “Can we chat?”/“Pls fix”

Bonus points if your Halloween party is on a Friday at 4:30 p.m. 

4. Non-billable hours

RIP to the hours of document review lost to redoing work from missed QC or making clients happy. (If write-offs are a persistent problem, check out DISCO Review.)

5. The reply-allpocalypse

‍A close cousin of the phishing attack, but the horror comes from inside the house. To create this costume, cover yourself in printouts of emails marked “ATTORNEY-CLIENT PRIVILEGED & CONFIDENTIAL.” Then, wear a giant, glowing “REPLY ALL” button on your chest. You’re just one mistaken click away from sending the entire firm’s settlement strategy to opposing counsel.

6. The Rule 37(e) Reaper

Classic Grim Reaper robes – but your scythe is shaped like a judicial gavel, and your cloak is pinned with court motions for spoliation sanctions. The real horror? Hearing the judge read an adverse inference jury instruction because a legal hold notification was sent three months too late.

For in-house/corporate legal teams

7. The Shadow IT Spectre

The costume: A ghostly cloak made of printed Slack messages, WhatsApp voice note transcripts, personal iMessages, and non-custodial emojis. Will strike terror into the heart of any in-house legal professional who’s realized their custodian "self-collected" by taking cropped screenshots of their phone screen with an iPad—destroying essential EXIF metadata, breaking the chain of custody, and leaving you without a defensible forensic image when opposing counsel moves for sanctions.

8. An invoice

Make yourself into an impossibly long piece of paper — think, longer than a CVS receipt — with the most inane line items you can think of (deduplication fee, expanded data fee, analytics add-ons, hundreds of hours billed to manage a review, etc).

9. The company holiday party

The infinite number of legal issues that can arise at any holiday party make it a liability nightmare for an in-house lawyer. Feel free to get creative in which ones you choose — a favorite we’ve heard was “stuck in a corner with your boss at a party.”

10. Phishing attack

Get a name tag with your last name misspelled by one letter, and urgently tell people their boss called and needs their financial information.

11. The unreviewed track change

‍Dress in a business suit, but attach a giant, red Microsoft Word comment bubble to your side that reads, “Partner note: Let’s hope they don’t notice we removed this clause. We can add it back if they push.” This costume embodies the small, terrifying oversight in a 100-page contract that keeps GCs up at night.

12. Scope creep

‍Start with a simple, well-defined costume, like “Contract Review.” Throughout the night, continually add more and more pieces to your outfit. First, a hat that says “Vendor Dispute.” Then, a scarf labeled “New Privacy Regulation.” Then, a blinking light for “Urgent HR Investigation.” By the end of the party, you should be an unrecognizable, overburdened mess of legal tasks that were absolutely not part of the original plan.

All legal professionals

13. AI-hallucinated case law

Varghese vs. China Southern Airlines, Shaboon vs. Egypt Air, and more! Much like these nonexistent cases made up by ChatGPT and cited by attorneys in court (ouch!), this costume can be whatever ChatGPT says it should be -- just wear it with authority.

📚Check out our experts’ analysis of legal decisions in cases involving AI-hallucinated content.

12. Math

Many choose this field specifically to avoid math. Paste some numbers and equations on yourself and watch legal professionals avoid you all night. 

13. Banker’s box

Perhaps more targeted towards those scarred by the days of paper, even the sight of one Banker’s Box makes veteran legal professionals wonder how many rooms full of boxes are hiding in the wings. Better yet, create a train of Banker's Boxes trailing behind your costume, or make it a group costume so you can gang up on your unsuspecting colleagues.

14. Slack data

Seriously, have you ever seen a .JSON file? It’s the stuff of nightmares. 

Fortunately, DISCO has your back. Check out our article on making collecting Slack data easy for legal holds and recreating a more natural review experience in ediscovery. 

15. The unending privilege log

‍This is the document review nightmare that never ends. Create a costume that looks like an infinitely long spreadsheet scroll. The columns should be labeled: "Bates Number," "Document Date," "Author," "Recipients," "Description of Contents," and "Privilege Claimed." The true terror is in the details—fill the description column with thousands of agonizingly similar entries like, “Email chain re: draft agreement” and “Internal communication regarding legal advice.”

16. The metadata phantom 

Straight from the nightmares of ediscovery professionals everywhere, it’s the non-searchable TIFF! Wrap yourself in blank white poster boards with faint, crooked, low-resolution text printed across them.  Whenever anyone speaks to you, respond in uncopyable, and garbled language.

17. Any legal software that isn’t DISCO

We saved the scariest for last! Imagine the horrors that can emerge without DISCO — whether it’s lost strategic advantage by not having access to Cecilia AI at the outset of your case, document reviews that can’t scale with the sky-high accuracy and control of DISCO Auto Review, or the horrors of working with legal services providers who aren’t experts in their own tech (unlike DISCO Professional Services, our team of global experts who know our tech inside and out and are with you in every case), doing legal work without DISCO is the scariest outcome of all. 

Want to see what we can do for you beyond punny Halloween costumes for lawyers? Schedule a call and let’s connect.

June Hunter
Technical Enablement Lead

June Hunter is a Technical Enablement Lead for legal software company, DISCO, where she trains firms and teams on legal technology. Prior to joining DISCO, June worked as a paralegal/IT services provider/eDiscovery Specialist at CGS3, LLP ‐- a boutique real estate firm in San Diego. She is equipped with a powerful combination of IT systems expertise and legal experience and has a unique capability for recognizing and resolving the complex technology issues encountered in a law firm environment.

A graduate of the ABA‐approved Paralegal Studies program at UC San Diego, June has worked in the legal field for 30+ years in roles such as legal secretary, paralegal, litigation support, and computer software trainer. Her industry experience and talent has made her a go‐to provider of clear, hands‐on training for other legal professionals in how to effectively use legal software.

June's community & professional involvement includes:

Adjunct Teacher, Cuyamaca Community College ABA Approved Paralegal Program

Adjunct Teacher, Skyline College ABA Approved Paralegal Program

Adjunct Teacher, UCSD Extension ABA Approved Paralegal Program

Technology Trainer, Legal Professionals Inc.

SDPA Paralegal of the Year 2019

CAPA Paralegal of the Year Runner up 2019

Association of Legal Technologists, Member

American Association for Paralegal Education, Member

San Diego Paralegal Association, Board Member (2018 – 2021)

San Diego Paralegal Association, Paralegal Mentor

Women in eDiscovery, San Diego Chapter

San Diego ESI Forum

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