 He served as an attorney in the Office of the Solicitor for the U.S. Department of the Interior in Washington, D.C., from 1961 to 1967.He was the chairman of the Oil Import Appeals Board (representing the Department of the Interior) from 1967 to 1969.He served as the attorney in the Solicitor's Office, Department of the Interior, assigned to the Muskogee, Oklahoma field office (from 1969 to 1972).