Imagining the Future Legal Career of Casey Anthony

One of Casey Anthony's lawyers suggests that Casey, having been exposed to the criminal justice system, might look into a legal career. We imagine what such a career might look like.

Now that she has been acquitted of murder and manslaughter charges arising out of the death of her daughter, Caylee Anthony, where will Casey Anthony go next? Given her notoriety, it’s a tough question.

One possible answer: law school. As Ann Finnell, one of Casey Anthony’s lawyers, told People magazine, “She’s been exposed to the criminal justice system, and I think that might be a pursuit of hers.”

So should Casey Anthony go to law school? Many observers, including some of my colleagues here at Above the Law, say that going to law school isn’t a good idea for most people.

But Casey Anthony is no ordinary law student. She is an extraordinary young woman and who has had some extraordinary experiences. Conventional wisdom does not apply to her.

Let’s imagine Casey Anthony’s future legal career….

2011-2012:

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Casey Anthony — who never finished high school, but came extremely close to doing so — obtains her GED. She takes the SAT and works on her memoir.

2012-2013:

Armed with her GED and an SAT score in the 99th percentile, Casey applies to a dozen top colleges. While she waits for her acceptances, she finishes her memoir, I Am Not A Baby Killer. During this time, she also prevails in her appeal of her convictions for lying to law enforcement.

Fall 2013:

Casey matriculates at Harvard College — which has a history of admitting women accused of killing their relatives. Stung by prior criticism that it acted unfairly in rescinding the acceptance of Gina Grant back in the 1990s, this time Harvard stands by its controversial decision to admit Casey Anthony, arguing that “everyone deserves a second chance” and that “Casey’s extraordinary life story will add immeasurably to the diversity of the incoming class.”

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Spring 2017:

Casey graduates from Harvard with a degree in Government, summa cum laude. She wins a Hoopes Prize for her senior thesis, “The Jury Is Always Right: An Empirical Study of the American Criminal Justice System, 1995 to 2011.” Her memoir has become an international bestseller.

Fall 2017:

Casey matriculates at Yale Law School — which has a history of admitting troubled young women turned bestselling authors.

Spring 2020:

Casey graduates from YLS, after serving as an Articles Editor of the Yale Law Journal and winning the Thurman Arnold Prize for best oralist in the Morris Tyler Moot Court finals. The film adaptation of her memoir, I Am Not A Baby Killer, earns a second Best Actress Oscar for Natalie Portman.

2020 – 2021:

Casey clerks for Chief Judge Alex Kozinski of the Ninth Circuit — who has a history of hiring controversial women as law clerks. (During her clerkship interview, Casey charmed Judge Kozinski, a well-known movie buff, with behind-the-scenes stories about the filming of I Am Not A Baby Killer.)

2021 -2022:

Casey clerks for Justice Clarence Thomas — who also has a history of hiring controversial female law clerks, and who loves to stick his thumb in the eye of the establishment. (Justice Thomas felt a kinship with Casey, a fellow bestselling memoirist who didn’t get a fair shake from the mainstream media.)

2022 – 2027:

Turning down employment offers (and $350,000 SCOTUS clerk signing bonuses) from white-shoe law firms, Casey returns to her home state of Florida and works as an associate at the firm of Jose Baez, the brilliant criminal defense lawyer who secured her acquittal.

2027 – 2040:

After several years of successfully working for Jose Baez as an associate — winning one trial after another, thanks to the Svengali-like power over juries that she wielded at her own trial — Casey becomes a partner in the firm of Baez & Anthony. She and Jose Baez expand their practice beyond Florida and become two of the nation’s top criminal defense lawyers. They are nicknamed “The Wonder Twins,” for their amazing ability to obtain acquittals in the face of overwhelming prosecution evidence.

2041:

Casey Anthony, 55, is appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit by the nation’s first Asian-American and second female president, Sophia Chua-Rubenfeld, 48.

2046:

After winning a landslide reelection victory, President Chua-Rubenfeld appoints Judge Anthony to serve as Chief Justice of the United States. Casey replaces Chief Justice Goodwin Liu, the Supreme Court’s first Asian-American justice, who has retired from the Court at age 76.

2046 – ____:

Casey Anthony serves as the 19th Chief Justice of the United States.

Casey Anthony: Going Into Law? [People.com]