Celebrity lawyers thrive in a spotlight usually reserved for the rich and famous. They relish the amazingly high compensation they receive from representing glamorous people or powerful entertainment corporations. Starting from their humble classroom beginnings working toward a criminal justice degree and eventually law school, they build long and profitable careers as they secure vast settlements for their clients.
If you're planning to go to law school--or major in criminal justice and embark on a celebrity law career--there are powerful figures in the profession whose careers can be models for your own path. When most people think of celebrity lawyers, names like Robert Shapiro, Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr., Alan M. Dershowitz, Gloria Allred, and Thomas Mesereau come readily to mind. That they are so recognizable shows how their fame has been so commonly weaved into the American mainstream.
When a Legal Career Builds Celebrity Status
Richard A Hutton, who recently represented Paris Hilton on drunken driving charges, has recently sprung into the spotlight. Hutton, of Glendale law firm of Hutton & Wilson, gradually built a powerful law career representing the famous in public intoxication cases. He took over Hilton's representation after the celebrity was arrested for driving on a suspended license.
Mesereau is the criminal defense specialist who successfully gained an acquittal on all counts for mega-celebrity Michael Jackson, thereafter earning his own celebrity status when Barbara Walters named him among the year's "Ten Most Fascinating People", and was named GQ Magazine's "Man of the Year". Mersereau, who represented actor Robert Blake and boxer Mike Tyson, is a graduate of California's Hastings Law School.
Arguably the most successful and famous female attorney in the U.S., Gloria Allred took a completely different path to achieve her prominence. An English teacher working on her master's degree, Allred was raped in 1966. Pregnant and unable to obtain a legal abortion, Allred nearly died from the complications of an illegal procedure. The experience led her to law school and turned her passion for defending the rights of women and minorities into a celebrity career. Her most recent high-profile case was serving as legal counsel for witness Amber Frey, protecting and enabling her to testify in the Scott Peterson murder trial.
Not all lawyers serve famous celebrities--some become prominent fighting them instead. Patricia Glaser helped Main Line pictures win a multimillion-dollar breach of contract settlement against actress Kim Basinger, then represented MGM, Warner Brothers, Sony, Paramount, Universal, and Disney in other multimillion-dollar litigations.
Money Talks
It's doubtful that today's most prominent lawyers expected that their career lives would often mirror those of the celebrity clients they represent. Bankrate reports that the more than 100 lawyers working for Robert Shapiro's law firm charge $525 an hour. Shapiro gained notoriety after successfully defending O.J. Simpson during his murder trial. Shapiro, who received his law degree from Loyola Law School, has represented professional athletes with their own notoriety like Darryl Strawberry and José Canseco, and Hollywood celebrities including Johnny Carson and Linda Lovelace.
Trial attorneys can earn as much as one third of a settlement or 40 percent of a verdict--if they win for the client. Consider the legal career of attorney Robert Heimberg, who has earned more than $500 million for his medical-malpractice clientele; his cut would likely have been between $125 and $200 million. Heimberg, who attended ULCA Law School, is also a medical doctor, which helped him win the largest medical settlement to date in Los Angeles County.
The Long Road to Courtroom Fame
The journey begins in law school. Three out of four lawyers work in private practice, according to a survey by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). To practice law in the country, you need to hold a license and pass the state BAR exam.
Individual state rules vary, but most require a degree from an accredited law school. Many states accept online law school degrees and correspondence law school degrees, too. Undergraduate criminal justice degree programs offer solid preparatory work for law school.
It can be a long road to the top of the profession. It took 30 years for entertainment lawyer Stanton (Larry) Stein to build his top-ranked practice. "As the industry changed, I've changed," Stein told Variety Magazine. In the late 1990s, Stein took on actor-clients Alan Alda and David Duchovny; then he moved to the corporate side to represent Lions Gate films. His client list still includes the Olsen twins and Hilary Duff. "The business has become much more complicated," Stein told Variety," and it isn't enough to be a litigation boutique anymore."
