after law school he served in the army for two years. following his discharge, he went to work in the administration of republican new jersey governor william t. cahill as a deputy attorney general and, later, assistant counsel to cahill. later in the decade, after cahill's two terms had ended and democrat brendan byrne was elected governor, he would serve as counsel to the republicans, then the minority party, in the state senate. outside of government, he ran the trenton office of the morristown law firm riker, danzig, scherer, hyland & perretti, lobbying state government on behalf of the firm's clients.