At first, it appears an odd combination, reality television star Kim Kardashian and the study of legal systems, and indeed is one that has both shocked and intrigued many.
Whilst Kim Kardashian isn’t a lawyer at time of writing, she began studying law in 2018 and is set to take the bar in 2022.
Read more below about the ups and downs of Kardashian’s aspirations to become a lawyer.
Studying for a Career in Law
In 2018 Kim Kardashian began her 4-year long apprenticeship with The State Bar of California to becoming a criminal justice lawyer, opting for the less common route, she studies for 18 hours a week with the help of two mentors. The three of them can be seen photographed in a 2019 Instagram post as Kim prepares for “the baby bar”, The First-Year Law Students’ Examination taken by students studying in this way.
When speaking to CNN she said that, “it’s a lot of hard work” but ensures her audience that she is passionate about the cause and wants to make a difference to the “system”. She tells the interviewer that during her campaign for the case of Alice Marie Johnson Kim got to see the justice system from the inside, and learning about the corruption that goes on she was inspired to do something about it. “I just figured, if I know more about the system I can do more for the system,” she says. When asked by Vogue why she began the journey she recounted a similar reason. “I just felt like I wanted to be able to fight for people who have paid their dues to society. I just felt like the system could be so different, and I wanted to fight to fix it,” Kim tells author Jonathan Van Meter.
The Problem of Public Perception
A massive pitfall in Kim’s desire to become a lawyer is the image that the public has of her. Being that the actress, model and businesswoman is predominantly known for a sex tape of her and Kanye West leaked in 2007, having a large bottom, and starring in a reality television show, her professional background does not scream the intellectuality and seriousness required of a lawyer.
In September 2019, during an episode of Entertainment Tonight Canada Live, Graeme O’Neil commented on Kim’s decision to become a lawyer, saying, “I don’t think she’ll ever be accepted as a legitimate lawyer”. On the show, O’Neil argues that no matter how good she becomes “there’s going to be a certain percentage of people that just never take her seriously.” Other critics, like The Guardian’s Hadley Freeman have criticized Kim for taking “celebrity hubris to a whole new level”. Freeman states that celebrities all too often believe that they are capable of doing any job simply because they have money and fame behind them. However, this does not mean that such perceptions can’t be changed.
The Justice Project
Kim Kardashian-West: The Justice Project first aired on Oxygen in 2020 and is a documentary about the celebrity’s journey to becoming a lawyer. The show received mixed reviews and whilst the Variety labeled it “garish and gross”, Helen Daly wrote in the Radio Times that the show is “surprisingly hard-hitting and very important”.
Despite the critics, Kim Kardashian seems determined to succeed and comes across as tremendously down to earth in many of her interviews. Whilst being a mother to four young children, Kim also runs a multimillion-dollar beauty enterprise and has starred in numerous television shows. How is she doing it all? She’s only human like the rest of us after all. At the end of the day, we cannot ignore the fact that Kim Kardashian is a team of people, not just one person. The people she pays create her image and over time this will no doubt undergo a metamorphosis if necessary. Either way, the bottom line is, as long as she passes the bar at the end of the four years then there is no reason why Kim K can’t be a successful lawyer like anyone else.