Most attorneys are doomed to a life behind a computer screen and pretty boring lives. Here are 12 things that people with law degrees (or at least some legal education!) have done that made them famous without practicing law:
See the following for more information:
- 60 Nontraditional Jobs You Can Do with a Law Degree (and Should Strongly Consider Doing)
- LawCrossing's Guide to Alternative Careers
1. Become an Actor
There are tons of actors with law degrees:
- John Cleese
(comedic actor with a law degree from Cambridge) - Ben Stein (Ferris Buehler's Day Off, went to Yale Law School)
- Jerry O'Connell (Stand By Me, attended Southwestern Law School but did not graduate)
- Ozzie Nelson (star of the Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, graduate of Rutgers Law School)
- Josh Saviano (the Wonder Years, graduate of Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law)
- Gerard Butler (was a Scottish attorney, graduate of Glasgow University)
- Charlie Korsmo (Can't Hardly Wait went to Yale Law School)
- Hill Harper (Skulls, CSI NY, went to Harvard Law School)
- Juliam McMahon (Nip/Tuck, studied law at the University of Sydney and did not graduate)
- William Sanderson (True Blood, graduated from Memphis State University Law School)
2. Become a Media/Television Host
Lots of well-known media/televisions hosts have come out of law school.
Jerry Springer (graduate of Northwestern University School of Law)- Geraldo Rivera (host of Geraldo at Large, graduate of Brooklyn Law School)
- Cynthia McFadden (co-anchor of ABC News's Nightline, graduate of Columbia Law School)
- Jeff Greenfield (former CBS News political correspondent, graduate of Yale Law School)
- Star Jones (host of The View, graduate of the University of Houston Law Center)
- Howard Cosell (sports announcer, graduate of New York University School of Law)
- Jim Cramer (host of CNBC's Mad Money, graduate of Harvard Law School)
3. Become a JournalistThere are a ton of famous journalists with law degrees:
- Jack Fuller, president of the Tribune Company (Yale Law School)
- Adam Cohen, editorial page editor for the New York Times (Harvard Law School)
- Diane Sawyer (dropped out of Louisville School of Law)
4. Become an Artist
- Henri Matisse (French artist, gained his qualification in law after working as a court administrator)
- Wassily Kandinsky (abstract artist, studied law at the University of Moscow)
5. Become a Musician
- Julio Iglesias (received his law degree at Complutense University of Madrid)
- Andrea Bocelli (Italian Singer, graduated from the University of Pisa)
- Paul Simon (dropped out of Brooklyn Law School)
6. Become a Screenwriter
- Paul Attanasio
(screenwriter, Homicide: Life on the Street, graduated from Harvard Law School) - Ron Bass (screenwriter who wrote Rainman, graduated from Harvard Law School)
- Adam Perlman (Drop Dead Diva, HBO's the Newsroom, graduated from Harvard Law School)
7. Become a Puzzle Maker
Will Shortz (New York Times Crossword puzzle maker, University of Virginia Law School graduate)
8. Become an Author
- John Grisham
(The Firm, graduated from University of Mississippi School of Law) - Scott Turow (Presumed Innocent, graduated from Harvard Law School)
- Robert Louis Stevenson (Treasure Island, studied law at Edinburgh University)
- Washington Irving (Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, studied law in New York City under a judge)
- Charles Perrault (Tales of Mother Goose, studied law in Paris)
9. Become an Entrepreneur
Being an attorney is a great path to being a successful entrepreneur.
- Nina and Tim Zaggat (founders of Zaggats, met at Yale Law School)
- Daniel Dolan (Harvard Law School graduate, launched It's Just Lunch)
- Joel Hyatt (founder of Current TV with Al Gore, Yale Law School)
- Summer Redstone (Harvard Law School graduate and chairman of CBS and Viacom)
- Robert Rowling (CEO of TRT Holdings, graduate of Southern Methodist School of Law)
- Richard Kinder (oil baron, graduate of University of Missouri Law School)
- David Rubenstein
(co-CEO and founder of the Carlyle Group, graduate of University of Chicago Law School) - Michael Jaharis (founder of Kos Pharmaceuticals, graduate of DePaul University Law School)
- Randal Kirk (founder of New River Pharmaceuticals, graduated from the University of Virginia Law School)
- David Bonderman (founder of TPG Capital, graduated from Harvard Law School)
- George Roberts (founder of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (private equity), graduated from the University of California-Hastings Law School)
10. Become a CEO
The number of CEOs who are attorneys is very impressive. Here are some Fortune 500 CEOs with law degrees:
| CEO | Company | Law school (name) (state) |
| Alexander, Anthony J. | FirstEnergy | University of Akron |
| Anderson, Richard H. | Delta Air Lines, Inc. | South Texas College of Law |
| Blake, Francis S. | Home Depot | Columbia University (NY) |
| Blankfein, Lloyd C. | Goldman Sachs Group | Harvard University (MA) |
| Braly, Angela F. | WellPoint | Southern Methodist University (Dedman) (TX) |
| Burke, Kevin | Consolidated Edison | Fordham University (NY) |
| Chambers, John T. | Cisco Systems | West Virginia University |
| Chenault, Kenneth I. | American Express | Harvard University (MA) |
| Conway, John W. | Crown Holdings | Columbia University (NY) |
| Crane, David W. | NRG Energy | Harvard University (MA) |
| Dauman, Philippe P. | Viacom | Columbia University (NY) |
| Diaz, Paul J. | Kindred Healthcare | Georgetown University (DC) |
| Dillon, David B. | Kroger | Southern Methodist University (Dedman) (TX) |
| Earley, Anthony F. Jr. | PG&E Corp. | University of Notre Dame (IN) |
| Engles, Gregg L. | Dean Foods | Yale University (CT) |
| Ettinger, Jeffrey M. | Hormel Foods | University of California-Los Angeles |
| Farrell, Thomas F. II | Dominion Resources | University of Virginia |
| Ferguson, Roger W. Jr. | TIAA-CREF | Harvard University (MA) |
| Finnegan, John D. | Chubb | Fordham University (NY) |
| Frazier, Kenneth C. | Merck | Harvard University (MA) |
| Greenberg, Lon R. | UGI | Villanova University |
| Haldeman, Charles E. Jr. | Freddie Mac | Harvard University (MA) |
| Johnson, William D. | Progress Energy | University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill |
| Kandarian, Steven A. | MetLife | Georgetown University (DC) |
| Kearney, Christopher J. | SPX | DePaul University (IL) |
| Kinder, Richard D. | Kinder Morgan | University of Missouri |
| King, David P. | Laboratory Corp. of American | University of Pennsylvania |
| Lipinski, John J. | CVR Energy | Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey-Camden |
| Mathas, Theodore A. | New York Life Insurance | University of Virginia |
| McGee, Liam E. | Hartford Financial Services Group | Loyola Marymount University (CA) |
| Moynihan, Brian T. | Bank of America Corp. | University of Notre Dame (IN) |
| Ninivaggi, Daniel A. | Icahn Enterprises | Stanford University (CA) |
| O'Brien, Richard T. | Newmont Mining | Lewis and Clark Law School (MA) |
| Otis, Clarence Jr. | Darden Restaurants | Stanford University (CA) |
| Rogers, James E. | Duke Energy | University of Kentucky |
| Roth, Michael I. | Interpublic Group | New York University |
| Roth, Michael I. | Interpublic Group | Boston University |
| Rubright, James A. | Rock-Tenn | University of Virginia |
| Rust, Edward B. Jr. | State Farm Insurance Cos. | Southern Methodist University (Dedman) (TX) |
| Skaggs, Robert C. Jr. | NiSource | West Virginia University |
| Smisek, Jeffrey A. | United Continental Holdings | Harvard University (MA) |
| Sorenson, Arne M. | Marriott International | University of Minnesota-Twin Cities |
| Starks, Daniel J. | St. Jude Medical | University of Minnesota-Twin Cities |
| Steiner, David P. | Waste Management | University of California-Los Angeles |
| Storch, Gerald L. | Toys "R" Us | Harvard University (MA) |
| Temares, Steven H. | Bed Bath & Beyond | University of Pennsylvania |
11. Become a Real Estate Developer- Sam Zell (real estate tycoon, went to the University of Michigan Law School)
- Jeffrey Codorow (shopping center developer, graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School)
- Richard LeFrak (real estate tycoon, went to Columbia Law School)
- Neil Bluhm (real estate magnate, graduated from Northwestern Law School)
- Ted Lerner (graduated from George Washington University Law School)
12. Become a Politician
Lawyers generally make up over 40% of the US Congress and over 60% of the US Senate. Many big-time politicians are/were attorneys:
- Gandhi (trained in law at the Inner Temple, London)
- Fidel Castro (graduated from the University of Havana)
- Nelson Mandela (studied at University of Witwatersrand)
A surprising number of attorneys were also US Presidents:
- John Adams (Harvard, then apprenticed as a lawyer)
- Thomas Jefferson (College of William & Mary, then apprenticed as a lawyer)
- James Madison (College of New Jersey, now Princeton, then read law)
- John Quincy Adams (Harvard, then apprenticed as a lawyer)
- Andrew Jackson (self-taught lawyer)
- Martin Van Buren (Kinderhook Academy, then apprenticed as a lawyer)
- John Tyler (College of William & Mary, then apprenticed as a lawyer)
- James Polk (University of North Carolina, then apprenticed as a lawyer)
- Millard Fillmore (clerked for and studied under New York Judge Walter Wood)
- Franklin Pierce (Bowdoin College, then studied law)
- James Buchanan (Dickinson College, then studied law)
- Abraham Lincoln (No formal education, a self-taught lawyer)
- Rutherford Hayes (Kenyon College, Harvard Law)
- Chester Arthur (Union College, then studied law)
- Grover Cleveland (apprenticed as a lawyer)
- Benjamin Harrison (Miami University in Ohio, then studied law)
- William McKinley (Allegheny College, Albany Law)
- William Howard Taft (Yale, Cincinnati Law)
- Woodrow Wilson (Princeton, UVA Law)
- Calvin Coolidge (Amherst, then apprenticed as a lawyer)
- Franklin Roosevelt (Harvard, Columbia Law)
- Richard Nixon (Whittier College, Duke Law)
- Gerald Ford (University of Michigan, Yale Law)
- Bill Clinton (Georgetown University, Yale Law)
- Barack Obama (Columbia, Harvard Law)
- See Considering an Alternative Career for more information.
Please see the following articles for more information about nontraditional law jobs and alternative ways to use your law degree:
- 60 Nontraditional Jobs You Can Do with a Law Degree (and Should Strongly Consider Doing)
- Practicing Law Not the Only Option for Attorneys
- Life Outside the Law Firm: Non-Legal Jobs for Law School Grads
- When Being a Lawyer is Not for You: How to Successfully Transition into the Job of Your Dreams!
- Why You Should Think Twice About Remaining in Law (or Going to Law School)
- Thinking about Becoming a Legal Search Consultant (a.k.a. a ''Headhunter'')? Here's the Inside Scoop.
- What to Do If You Hate Your Attorney Job
- 25 Reasons Most Attorneys Hate the Practice of Law and Go Crazy (and What to Do About it)
- Non-Traditional Job Settings: The Temporary or Telecommuting Lawyer-The Best of Both Worlds or a Big Mistake?
- Three Tips for Lawyers Unhappy with Their Jobs (What to Do If You Hate Being an Attorney and Your Attorney Job)
- The True Meaning of JD in the World of Legal Publishing
- The Benefits of Avoiding the Large Law Firm
