 Upon learning that he could save almost half of the cost of a Harvard law degree by working and studying in a law office for a year, Brown returned home to the law offices of John James Marsh.Brown entered Harvard Law School in 1853, receiving a Bachelor of Laws in late 1854.Armed with introductions from a Harvard professor, in December 1854 Brown arrived in New York City, New York (whose burgeoning business community Brown found more promising than opportunities in his native small-town northeast Massachusetts) and began work as a clerk for the firm of Brown (unrelated), Hall (then-New York's mayor), and Vanderpoel.