69-Year-Old Law School Grad Envisions Long, Fruitful Career

Robert Trescott has big plans for his new law degree: a judgeship, some “big bucks” consulting work, and then retirement after 20 years.

A little ambitious, perhaps, but when you’re starting out at the age of 69 you have to work fast.

Trescott, a former Army major and retired executive from Brea, last month became one of the oldest men ever to graduate from a California law school when five years of study paid off with a diploma from Western States Universities College of Law.

Plenty of Time

Any skepticism that he might not see the end of his 20-year plan is met with a laugh.

“I always point out that I had a forebear who was in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War,” Trescott said. “He didn’t marry until he was 64, but had four wives and 28 children and died when he was 94.”

For the record, Trescott and his wife of 47 years were married just before he joined the Army Signal Corps prior to World War II. Starting in North Africa, Trescott was part of the American invasions of Italy and France and left the service as a major in 1946, none the worse for wear except for some shrapnel in the derriere.

He said his age was never a hindrance in law school. If anything, his younger classmates’ lack of life experience made it difficult for them at times to understand the way the real world works, he said.

Recalling a good-natured argument stemming from a case of malfunctioning tomato packing equipment, Trescott said his classmates couldn’t see his point of view because “they had never seen people in business try to cut corners and save money.”

“I got along very well” with both the post-collegiate crowd in day classes and the working people that predominate in the night and weekend classes.

“You forget about your age bracket,” except when the conversation turns to the latest music or dance, he said.

Rather than taking the fast track to a degree, with graduation after 2 1/2 years, “I took the leisurely route” and spent five years in school.”

Don’t think he was goofing off, though.

“My theory of education is you learn by doing, not just listening or reading a book. I spent considerable time as a clerk for several different attorneys. I started at the bottom, doing the gruntiest jobs and progressing up.”

Although “I certainly had no concern what my age was when I started or when I got out,” Trescott did inquire of the State Bar and got an informal opinion that “in all likelihood I was the oldest guy to graduate law school in California.”

Ahead lies the California bar exam, a formidable challenge that trips up more than half the students taking it the first time.

“It’s going to be a hurdle, but it’s just a matter of preparation. It’s not so much intelligence as memory and examsmanship,” he said.

Rather than take the upcoming July bar, Trescott is aiming at the next test in February. “I expect to pass the first time out,” he said.

Passing the bar will trigger Trescott’s 20-year plan: five years in private practice, five years as an appointed court officer such as a commissioner or trustee, five years as a judge and then “resign and go for the big bucks” for a final five years.

Retired 10 Years Ago

Trescott’s vision of his legal future is rooted in the career that ended in retirement a decade ago as an executive, first with companies making pesticides and agricultural chemicals, then makers of pumps and other hydraulic equipment.

Calling his proposed specialty “preventive law,” Trescott said he wants to help smaller firms through the tangle of bureaucratic and regulatory edicts and mandates from government.

“A lot of trouble small businesses get into could be avoided if they knew how to deal with the problem,” he said.

Using the toxics industry as an example, he said, “Some people pay no attention (to required safeguards) and are playing with fire. Then when someone gets hurt, it’s big bucks.

“Most (companies) are willing to follow the rules, if they know what they are.”

In fact, it was Trescott’s complaining to his daughter, an attorney, about businesses’ bureaucratic headaches that got him where he is now.

“We were discussing one company’s problems and she said, ‘Pop, why don’t you go to law school so you can do something about it?’

“The idea appealed to me, so I went,” he said.