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7 Celebrities Who Survived Law School

By Casey C. Sullivan, Esq. on August 31, 2015 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

Two years ago, the Pew Research Center announced that lawyers were the most hated professionals in America. No surprise there -- very few people think their ex's divorce attorney was just a committed professional doing the best for her client.

But for all the hate, there are plenty of lawyers that are deeply loved. And it's not just the usual suspects like politicians and judges. A good handful of movie stars, singers, and comedians can tack on a JD after their name.

1. Gerard Butler -- Before the star of '300' became a superstar, he was training his abs -- and mind -- studying law at the University of Glasgow. Butler worked in an Edinburgh firm, but was fired before his legal training ended.

2. Rebel Wilson -- The break out star from 'Bachelorette' and 'Pitch Perfect' is truly a triple-threat. She holds degrees in theater, performance studies, and law from the University of New South Wales.

3. Andrea Bocelli -- The blind classical singer and one of the Three Tenors, Bocelli went to law school at the University of Pisa and worked for a year as a court-appointed lawyer.

4. Julio Iglesias -- This Spanish singer-songwriter has sold 300 million records in 14 languages, but first he wanted to be professional soccer player, and then a lawyer. Iglesias got a law degree from the University of Madrid.

5. John Cleese -- Cleese studied law at Cambridge, before going on to found Monty Python. Cleese didn't practice, but he did play a lawyer in "A Fish Called Wanda."

6. Geraldo Rivera -- Finally, an American! Rivera worked as an investigator for the NYPD before getting his JD from Brooklyn Law School and working for public interest legal groups for a year before switching to journalism.

7. Jerry Springer -- The king of televised daytime chair flinging, Springer graduated from Northwestern University law school, advised R.F.K, and worked in a Cincinnati firm before switching to politics and eventually television.

Bonus: Artists and Revolutionaries

It's not just the stars of stage and screen who've become famous after law school. The modern artists Henri Matisse and Wassily Kandinsky, both studied law. Kandinsky even taught law school, briefly, while Matisse discovered painting while on sick leave from this firm.

Those two revolutionary artists are also joined by actual, political revolutionaries. Fidel Castro was an esquire, as were Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, and Vladimir Lenin.

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