Frank Abagnale, who's now an American security consultant, faked many professions during his tenure as a con artist 40 years ago, including pilot, doctor, and even college professor.
But the easiest profession to impersonate was being a lawyer, Abagnale told the St. Paul Business Journal.
After forging a law degree from Harvard, Abagnale landed a job at the Louisiana Attorney General's office when he was just 19 years old.
Abagnale says he found practicing the law so easy because he used the very research and persuasion skills he had sharpened while working as a con artist.
"Of all the things I did, the easiest profession [to fake] was the lawyer," Abagnale told the Business Journal. "As the lawyer, I found most of it was the matter of research, which I was great at -- that's what I did to death -- and then basically persuading people that you're right and they're wrong ... I found that the easiest of all the professions to impersonate."
Abagnale spent five years in prison and eventually inspired the Leonardo DiCaprio movie Catch Me If You Can.
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