John Cleese
Has a law degree from no less than Cambridge. He never actually practiced though. After meeting Graham Chapman at school, He and Chapman went on to co-found a little comedy troupe called Monty Python.
◄ IMDb Polls
Poll: They Lawyer-ed Up
Celebrities that were or are Lawyers. Who is your favorite?
After voting, please discuss here.
Make Your Choice
-
-
Rubén Blades
University of Panama Law Degree -
Ben Stein
Started his professional life as a lawyer. He was the valedictorian of his Yale Law School class in 1970. Worked for Richard M. Nixon. -
Geraldo Rivera
Graduated top five in his Brooklyn Law School class of 1969. As a lawyer for a Puerto Rican activist group called the Young Lords, Rivera caught the eye of an Eyewitness News exec who offered him a job, and his career in journalism began. -
Jerry Springer
Graduated from Northwestern in 1968. Was a campaign aide to Robert Kennedy. After Kennedy was assassinated, he signed with a law firm in Cincinnati. After that he got involved in local politics and became a small-scale celebrity, which earned him a radio show in the ‘80s. -
Ozzie Nelson
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet star graduated from Rutgers, in 1930. This no doubt came in handy when he negotiated the first-ever "non-cancellable ten-year contract”. That agreement with ABC gave the Nelsons a salary for 10 years, even if they weren’t working. -
Jeff Cohen
Has a B.S. in Business Administration from UC Berkeley. The "Goonies" actor earned his law degree from the UCLA School of Law. He became an entertainment lawyer and founded the firm Cohen & Gardner. -
Fred Thompson
Lawyer, Actor, Senator, & Actor. In that order. Responsible for sending a corrupt Governor to jail. -
Josh Saviano
Kevin’s sidekick Paul Pfeiffer in The Wonder Years, got his B.A. at Yale, then got his J.D. from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and now practices in New York. -
Charlie Korsmo
After an appearance in 1998’s Can’t Hardly Wait, he earned a degree in physics from M.I.T. and got a federal job in missile defense while getting his J.D. from Yale on the side. He then became a professor at Cleveland’s Case Western Reserve University School of Law. He was awarded a spot in President Obama’s administration. -
Fidel Castro
Was admitted to the bar in 1950 after studying at the University of Havana. He had his own firm for a time - Azpiazo, Castro & Resende. -
Mohandas K. Gandhi
After studying at University College London, he passed the bar in 1891 and returned to India to practice in Bombay. It was then that he figured out being a lawyer may not have been his calling - he was too shy to speak loudly in court. -
Nelson Mandela
As the first black law partnership in South Africa, the office Mandela and his partner Oliver Tambo shared in Johannesburg is now being made into a museum. -
Howard Cosell
Cosell enrolled in the NYU School of Law and started practicing in Manhattan after WWII. His clients included Willie Mays and the New York Little League. He organized a radio show to help promote the latter and ended up being a natural at interviewing. He quit his law practice in 1956 to do sports reporting for ABC. -
Steve Young
Here’s something most of us will never do: win a Super Bowl and complete a law degree in the same year. San Francisco 49er Steve Young managed to check both of those things off of his bucket list in 1994. -
Francis Scott Key
The Star-Spangled Banner writer was a lawyer before he wrote the national anthem in 1814, and he continued to be a lawyer afterward. In fact, he represented Sam Houston when he was put on trial for assaulting a Congressman in 1832, and served as the District Attorney of the United States. -
Julio Iglesias
Iglesias was a law student in Spain in 1963 when a collision left him paralyzed. He taught himself guitar during the three-year recovery process and ended up discovering a natural talent for music. Iglesias eventually completed his law degree in 2001. -
Hill Harper
Graduated cum laude, from Harvard Law School. -
John Grisham
Received his degree from the University of Mississippi School of Law and he worked as a lawyer for several years before turning to writing. -
David E. Kelley
A former Boston lawyer, he switched careers to become a successful television producer -
William Sanderson
Had a B.B.A. in 1968. A law degree in 1971 from the University of Memphis (then known as Memphis State University). He has never taken the bar exam. Why make more money when you do what you love? -
Lara Jill Miller
Graduate of Fordham University School of Law. Licensed to practice law in New Jersey, New York, and her native Pennsylvania. -
Andrea Bocelli
An Operatic Tenor. Celine Dion has said that "If God would have a singing voice, he must sound a lot like Andrea Bocelli!" He only spent one year as a court-appointed lawyer after graduating. Another, that would rather do what they love.
