Upon graduation from Upper Canada College, he obtained a BA from Trinity College and an MA from the same institution and was called to the bar in 1850.
He was appointed a QC in 1863.
He twice represented the crown prosecution when Patrick John Whelan appealed his conviction for the murder of D'Arcy McGee and was the prosecuting attorney that prevailed in the trial of Louis Riel.
In his later career, he represented crown interests in the Bering Sea Arbitration of 1893 and was selected by Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier to represent the Canadian position in a dispute with the United States regarding the boundaries of Alaska.