 After leaving the university, he studied law in the office of William Freeman Vilas and was admitted to the State Bar of Wisconsin that year.Near the end of 1871, he began practicing law in Portage, Wisconsin, but within a year moved to Madison.While in Madison, he went through a series of partnerships, with Alden Sprague Sanborn, A. C. Parkinson, F. J. Lamb, and E. Ray Stevens.