He began working for The Evening Sun in 1910, first as a court reporter, and then as City Editor from 1913–1917.

Leaving newspaper work in 1917, Perlman began many years of public service, interspersed with private law practice.

In the 1920s, Perlman was City Solicitor of Baltimore and established a private law practice; in the 1930s he served on a commission to revise city zoning laws and on the first Maryland Water Resources Commission; in the 1940s he advised Governor William Preston Lane, Jr. on issues such as the Chesapeake Bay Bridge construction and highway improvement.

At the time of his death, Perlman maintained a law practice with the firm Perlman, Lyons and Emmerglick in Washington, D.C., was president of the board of trustees of the Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore, and a member of the Maryland Historical Society.

A bachelor, he had a home on Park Heights Avenue in Baltimore, and a suite at the Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C.