In Part III, Michael tells Anthony that he should finish his law degree, even though he hates law and wants to be an opera singer instead, because "If you have a law degree, you're taking out insurance." If the Corleones were a typical family financially, that would make sense. But they most certainly are not--as is dramatically demonstrated when Mary gives Archbishop Gilday a check for $100 million "...for the poor of Sicily, in the name of Vito Corleone." So why should Anthony worry about financial "insurance" when the family is so fabulously wealthy? He'll inherit much of Michael's wealth when Michael dies anyway.

Remember Vito's famous quote (I'm paraphrasing)..."One lawyer with a briefcase can steal more than a hundred men with guns." A very subtle but powerful statement.

It was pretty obvious that Anthony didn't want to have anything to do with his father's business (or his father, at that point), so I'm assuming he wasn't counting on the family's fabulous wealth to cover him if an opera career failed. Michael's advice to him was as if he were intending a career that would sustain him and his family, unsubsidized. He was saying, "get the law degree and then take up opera-if you still foolishly want to. When you flop in opera, you can turn to law, instead of going on welfare."

Its kinda like a father giving practical advice even though Michael knows that Anthony will be taken care of financially. Hey Anthony, don't be a slacker.

It's what a father says to a child. It's good advice.

Don't get me wrong, I can certainly understand why Anthony would not want to be financially dependent on his father. Still, to me it seemed odd for Michael to be so big on him finishing a degree in a subject he didn't like given how wealthy they were. And given the fact that there are other possible ways to make a living besides just law and music.

Anthony becoming a lawyer was part of Michael's obsession with being considered "legitimate." He thought that having a son as a lawyer would enable him to say that, far from being a common criminal, he'd raised a fine lad who had chosen a career upholding and strengthening the law. Of course, had Anthony become a lawyer, he'd never have gotten out from under his father's shadow.

Do lawyers have that kind of image?

Michael would expect Anthony, as a lawyer, to be like Caesar's wife before the bar, precisely because of who his father was.

Anthony would have had an odd career path as a lawyer. It is unlikely he would make his bones, so to speak as a prosecutor...I don't know any D.A. who would take a Corleone in as an assistant, and I am not sure any big Wall Street firm would be anxious to have a Corleone getting access to insider information, trade secrts, etc., so at the end of the day, the only thing Anthony could do as a lawyer would be to go to work for some mickey mouse law firm someplace that handled all the
documents for the family's charitable work....oh wait...that was George Hamilton. So what kind of lawyer would Anthony be other than one dependent on his father?

Michael would arrange for him to handle the legal affairs of Don Altobello...

He could have been someone who did heavy television advertising.
"Are you the victim of medical malpractice? Been in a car accident? Dog bite? If so, the insurance companies are already figuring out a way to keep you from getting what you deserve. Don't hesitate call 1-800-IMA-GUMBA and talk to one of our lawyers at the law firm of Anthony Corleone. Remember at the Corleone law firm when we deal with insurance companies we make them offers they can't refuse."

I think I saw that commercial on local TV here in Arizona...

It's possible Michael would refuse to support him if he did not follow through with his father's dreams for him.