Editing Zebulon Vance (section)

=== Attorney ===
[[File:Zebulon Baird Vance first law office Asheville NC.jpg|thumb|Vance's first law office, Asheville, North Carolina]]
On January 1, 1852, Vance was admitted to the [[North Carolina Bar Association|North Carolina Bar]] and received his county court license in Raleigh.<ref name=":11" /> He returned to Asheville where he practiced law.<ref name=":7" /> Vance said, "I went out to Court horseback, and carried a pair of saddle bags with a change of shirts and the North Carolina Form book...."<ref name=":30" /> Almost immediately, the Buncombe County magistrates elected Vance as Solicitor of the Court of Pleas.<ref name=":7" /><ref name=":30" /> He was admitted to the state's superior courts in 1853.<ref name=":7" /> In 1858, he became partners with attorney William Caleb Brown.<ref name=":39" />

Although he did not always prepare fully for cases, Vance was skilled at reading the jury and remembering every detail of testimony.<ref name=":30" /> However, his success in court "was usually the result of wit, humor, boisterous eloquence, and clever retorts, not knowledge of the law."<ref name=":7" />