From 1935, he was a barrister and a partner in the legal firm Earl, Kent, Stanton, Massey, North and Palmer in Auckland, replacing Erima Northcroft who had been appointed judge.

[1] When the Court of Appeal was reconstituted in Wellington in 1957, North was one of its founding members and relocated to the capital city, where he lived in Wadestown.

[3] Between 1976 and 1978, North conducted a commission of inquiry into an alleged breach of confidentiality of the police file on Colin Moyle.

[7][8] For the respective Auckland branches, North was president for Rotary and chairman of the New Zealand Crippled Children's Society.

[9] On 31 December 1924, North married Thelma Areta Dawson (1902–1991) at Oxford Terrace Baptist Church in Christchurch, with his father officiating the ceremony.