From 1906 to 1910, he studied at the Faculty of Law in the University of Saint Petersburg and graduated with honors. In 1916 he was appointed a lecturer at this university. In 1917, after February revolution, he joined the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Provisional Government. In 1920 he left the Soviet Union and returned to Latvia, where he became involved with the movement Ceire-Cion. He taught at the School of Economics and the Russian university in Riga.