Nicholas collected degrees and credentials the way some people collect passport stamps — a J.D., an LL.M., an M.A., bar admissions in three states, and eventually a London translation diploma — without, by his own accounting, much to show for it on the trophy shelf. He calls the growing pile “another certificate for the burgeoning Wall of Respect in our apartment.”

Webb (1984)

Webb School of California diploma, June 3, 1984. I was Graduate No. 1852 and ranked about 44th in a class of sixty or so. But I did win the E.T. Price Award in History and the Bank of America Achievement Award in Social Science. Except for a small scholarship I received at SDSU in 2001, since then I have never won or been awarded anything further.

Columbia (1989)

Two colleges he loathed came first — Hamilton (1984/85) and Claremont McKenna, “McCollege” as Fred dubbed it (1985–86 and fall 1986), where he “fell in with a group of incredibly awful boneheads.” Then Columbia, where he majored in English while continuing political science — “so essentially I had a double major.” B.A., Columbia College, 1989. No honors.

The J.D. — the hard-won one (SMU, 1993)

The law degree took the scenic route:

Quit in frustration in Spring 1990 after starting in fall 1989; returned in January 1991, flunked a course in spring 1993, had to make it up, and didn’t get J.D. until Dec. 1993. Gap year of sorts in NYC, yes, for several months in 1990. Very unsettled. No honors. Ranked 172/229 (bottom quarter).

Three bars, no practice

Passed the Nevada Bar exam (1993), California Bar exam (1994), and the Alaska Bar exam (1995) all on the first attempt.

He hasn’t actively practiced law since early 1998, but remains an inactive member of the State Bar of California — and he is particular about the name: “not the ‘California Bar Association.’ The State Bar of California is an official regulatory agency.”

LL.M. (McGeorge, 1996)

Master of Laws in business and tax law, University of the Pacific–McGeorge School of Law, 1996. “Undistinguished grades.”

M.A. (SDSU, 2005)

M.A. with thesis — European history with a focus on modern Germany, San Diego State University, 2005. The last degree he finished, and the hinge into his German chapter.

The two he didn’t finish

  • UC Davis, Ph.D. — “abandoned after completing a full but miserable year, 2005/06.”
  • California Maritime Academy — he first went to sea in 2007, ignoring early bouts of iritis. By 2012 the eye trouble was “getting much worse, to the point at which I could no longer function and was risking my eyesight.” He quit CMA and returned to Germany for good on 28 August 2012.

Diploma in Translation (2021)

From the Chartered Institute of Linguists in London — “supposedly the equivalent of a master’s degree.”

This qualification has a lot of prestige but hasn’t really, eh, translated into much coin. Still, another certificate for the burgeoning Wall of Respect in our apartment.

A pedant’s footnote (his own)

A J.D. is a Juris Doctor, not, as some people erroneously call it, a “Juris Doctorate.” An LL.M., or Master of Laws, has no period after the first L.