New adventure...

So, this happened yesterday:

Yeah, as crazy as it might sound, I am going to go to law school. St. Francis is an all-online law school, accredited by the State Bar of California, awarding a J.D. degree which meets the legal education requirement to apply for admission to the California Bar to practice law.

I have been kicking this idea around for a while, and almost did it last year, but opted instead to enter a post-master's certificate program - a program I dropped after one class. That class, in higher ed law, was a lot of fun, but the syllabi for the next two courses convinced me that the core of the program would have been pretty old hat for someone with over twenty years' experience in higher ed - a conclusion supported by the fact that most of my classmates were much earlier in their higher ed careers.

I had chosen the certificate partly because is seemed a lot more doable than another full graduate-level degree, given my, ahem, not-inconsiderable years, but then I was inspired by this:

credit to Michelle Rial

I thought what the heck - and I'm all in now. I began the application process several months ago and just got the official word. There's an orientation that starts in a month, and then the term starts the middle of August, kicking off something between 192 and 208 weeks of year-round synchronous and asynchronous online instruction - and one trip down to California for the "Baby Bar" after the first year of instruction is complete. It'll be a heavy lift, but the program is specifically designed for working professionals, and since Coco is immersed in her grad program in counseling, we'll just be a household of bookworms for a few years. Then, maybe admission to the California Bar.

In any event, I anticipate the legal education will serve me in good stead for the rest of my active career as well as in any post-retirement consulting. And who knows? Maybe when Coco and I retire to Palm Springs, I'll even hang out a shingle.

James Caan in Poodle Springs