ExactNetWorth’s March 24, 2022 list put Peter Angelos first, with an estimated net worth of $2 billion. That figure—and every amount in the ranking—is the publisher’s estimate, not an independently verified or consistently measured personal balance sheet. Other lists published around the same time differ in both their entries and estimates, so this is best read as one historical compilation rather than a definitive worldwide ranking.
ExactNetWorth’s 2022 list of 20 wealthy people with legal backgrounds
ExactNetWorth said it gathered information from other sources, including Forbes, The Richest, and Celebrity Net Worth. It did not set out one consistent valuation method for everyone on the list. The amounts below are its reported 2022 estimates, shown in the order it published them—not verified fortunes or a measure of wealth earned solely through legal practice.
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| Rank in ExactNetWorth’s list | Name | Estimated net worth reported in 2022 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jason Oppenheim | $50 million |
| 2 | David Falk | $50 million |
| 3 | Jane Wanjiru Michuki | $50 million |
| 4 | Roy Black | $75 million |
| 5 | Jerry Falwell Jr. | $100 million |
| 6 | John Branca | $100 million |
| 7 | Robert Shapiro | $110 million |
| 8 | Leon Rose | $150 million |
| 9 | Willie E. Gary | $175 million |
| 10 | Maryanne Trump Barry | $200 million |
| 11 | Adam Dell | $210 million |
| 12 | Steuart Walton | $300 million |
| 13 | Felipe Gozon | $400 million |
| 14 | Judy Sheindlin | $460 million |
| 15 | Bill Neukom | $850 million |
| 16 | William Lerach | $900 million |
| 17 | Jerry Reinsdorf | $1.5 billion |
| 18 | Richard Scruggs | $1.7 billion |
| 19 | Wichai Thongtang | $1.8 billion |
| 20 | Peter Angelos | $2 billion |
Source: ExactNetWorth, “Top 20 Richest Lawyers Ranked by Their Net Worth 2022,” published March 24, 2022. The rank column preserves that article’s ordering; it should not be interpreted as a standardized comparison.
Why other 2022 rankings do not match
There was no single agreed list or valuation. Inclusion criteria varied: some publishers considered people with legal backgrounds broadly, while Biglaw Investor explicitly focused on practicing lawyers. Estimates also differed for the same person.
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| Publisher and scope | Examples from its 2022 figures |
|---|---|
| Moneyzine, historical 2022 section; page last updated April 18, 2024 | Named Charlie Munger first at $2.3 billion, Peter Angelos second at $2 billion, Wichai Thongtang third at $2 billion, Jerry Reinsdorf fourth at $1.8 billion, and Richard Scruggs fifth at $1.7 billion. It estimated Bill Neukom at $850 million, Judy Sheindlin at $440 million, and Felipe Gozon at $355 million. |
| Biglaw Investor, list of practicing lawyers; last updated May 28, 2022 | Listed Wichai Thongtang at $1.8 billion, Charlie Munger at $1.6 billion, Bill Neukom at $850 million, Judge Judy at $440 million, and Robert Shapiro at $120 million. |
Even within these overlapping entries, the amounts are not uniform: ExactNetWorth put Robert Shapiro at $110 million and Judy Sheindlin at $460 million, while Biglaw Investor listed $120 million and $440 million respectively. Differences like these, as well as differing criteria, make a precise cross-publisher ranking misleading.
Are these fortunes the result of practicing law?
Not necessarily. “Richest lawyers” can describe people with legal training or careers, not just attorneys whose wealth came from billing clients or running law firms. The biographical accounts in ExactNetWorth and Lawyer Monthly describe several fortunes connected to other work and investments.
Rank #2
- ExactNetWorth describes Wichai Thongtang as a lawyer turned investor and associates much of his wealth with investments. Lawyer Monthly also attributes his fortune largely to strategic investment holdings.
- ExactNetWorth describes Jerry Reinsdorf as a former tax attorney whose wealth came through real estate and sports ownership.
- Its account of Judy Sheindlin emphasizes her television career, and its account of Bill Neukom includes his work as Microsoft counsel and his baseball ownership role.
- Lawyer Monthly says Charlie Munger left legal practice to focus on investment.
These are reported career explanations, not audited breakdowns of personal assets. The available estimates do not establish how much any individual earned from legal practice versus investments, ownership, media, or other activities. See Lawyer Monthly’s overview, first published January 20, 2022 and updated January 27, 2025.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the ranking can—and cannot—tell you
The 2022 Forbes billionaire list counted 2,668 billionaires with combined wealth of $12.7 trillion, according to a secondary summary of that list. That broad figure provides context about billionaire wealth overall; it does not verify estimates for lawyers or settle who belongs at the top of a lawyer-specific ranking. The summary of Forbes’ 2022 list is not a lawyer-specific valuation source.
Rank #3
For someone asking how much a lawyer “really” makes, these exceptional estimates are a poor proxy for typical earnings. They concern a small group of unusually wealthy people, use uncertain estimates, and include fortunes associated with careers beyond legal work. They do not show what lawyers generally earn or what a typical legal career produces.
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Rank #4
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