His stepfather secured Clay employment in the office of the Virginia Court of Chancery, where he showed a skill for law. There he became friends with George Wythe. Wythe chose Clay as his secretary. After Clay was employed as Wythe's faculty for four years, the chancellor took an active interest in Clay's future; he arranged a position for him with the Virginia attorney general, Robert Brooke. Clay received no formal legal education but, as was customary at the time, "read the law" by working and studying with Wythe, Chancellor of the Commonwealth of Virginia (also a mentor to Thomas Jefferson and John Marshall, among others) and Brooke. Clay was admitted to practice law in 1797.