[3] He moved to Manistee, Michigan, in October 1871, and immediately entered the practice of the law with Colonel S. W. Fowler.
After the dissolution of that firm, McAlvay opened an office in Manistee and practiced alone until 1886, when he formed a partnership with the late John H. Grant, the firm name being McAlvay & Grant.
This firm continued until McAlvay was appointed to a seat on the circuit court vacated by the death of Judge Harrison H. Wheeler.
McAlvay was again appointed to the circuit court in 1901, to a seat vacated by the death of Judge Beardsley, serving until elected to the Michigan Supreme Court in November 1904.
[3] Soon after he became a member of the Supreme Court, McAlvay moved to Lansing, where he lived with his family until his sudden death in 1915.