To mark the 25th anniversary of the comedy-drama Legally Blonde, the Guardian has spoken to several women in the legal profession about how Reese Witherspoon's character, Elle Woods, shaped their careers and outlook. The piece matters as a look at the film's lasting cultural influence, particularly its message that women can succeed in a male-dominated field without abandoning their femininity or authenticity.

The four interviewees offer varied perspectives: Angela McCarthy, a senior associate in London, credits her "inner Elle Woods" with driving her to back herself in a competitive, still male-dominated industry. Kathleen Martinez, a Dallas-Fort Worth immigration attorney, embraced pink so fully that she launched her own firm and put up a pink billboard, happily accepting the nickname "the real Elle Woods". Haley Moss, an autistic attorney and neurodiversity expert in Florida, related to Elle's non-traditional background and wore a pink dress beneath her graduation robes as class speaker, while Washington DC-Baltimore civil rights attorney Hadiyah Cummings, a Black woman who founded the nonprofit LawyHer, says Elle inspired the kind of lawyer she wanted to be — one who refuses to shrink herself despite being underestimated.