Lawyers – love them or hate them, they do a very important job. If you are considering studying law or even if you are now, you may be very surprised to learn that there are a few celebrities out there who were lawyers but you would never have guessed it. Here we look at some of the famous faces who practiced law before they became famous:

Julio Iglesias – yes, the Spanish crooner himself and father to the famous Enrique had a brief spell working in law. He studied law in Spain when he was involved in a car accident that left him paralyzed for three years. This significantly interrupted his studies so that during recovery, he taught himself the guitar and discovered a natural talent for music. After a highly successful career in the music industry, he returned to higher education and eventually completed his law degree in 2001.

Bob Mortimer is one celebrity you would never imagine having a law degree. He seems too silly for it! It seems funny Bob also has an incredible intelligence to go with it. He earned a law degree at the University of Sussex and then his LLM in Leicester. He went to join the legal team at Southwark Council, and it was during this time he was introduced to Vic Reeves. When you need a solicitor, consider Southend Solicitors at a site like https://www.drysdales-solicitors.co.uk/

Jerry Springer – he does not appear much on TV anymore but was hugely popular a few years ago for his often controversial and very hard-hitting tabloid TV show where people accused others of cheating etc and DNA tests were ordered by the bucketload. Jeremy Kyle was our UK equivalent. Well, Jerry earned his law degree from Northwestern University and then worked on the presidential campaign of Robert Kennedy. He later became mayor of Cincinnati in 1977 before switching to broadcast journalism.

Fidel Castro had humble beginnings as the illegitimate son of a Cuban farmer. He studied law at the University of Havana when he first developed left-leaning tendencies. From humble beginnings he found himself the president of Cuba until 2008, after several uprisings and revolutions.

John Cleese studied law at the University of Cambridge but certainly had a lot more fun with the Cambridge Footlights amateur theatre club. Joining this club laid the foundation for a very successful career with Monty Python. After University, he took his show to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and a star was born.

Nelson Mandela was born into a tribe of South Africa and was the first person in his family to go to school. In 1943 he began to study law at the University of Witwatersrand and thus began a spectacular life. He was imprisoned for decades, fought to end apartheid and after being released from prison later became President of South Africa in 1994.