[2] In 1896, French came to prominence, with James E. Cotter, as court-appointed junior counsel for Thomas M. Bram, who was successfully prosecuted by Sherman Hoar, with Justice Edward Douglass White presiding, then sentenced to hang, for a triple axe-murder committed aboard the Herbert Fuller on the high seas.

French and Cotter secured a second trial on writ of error, Bram v. United States,[6] but he was, again, found guilty.

Bram maintained his innocence, was released from prison in 1913, became a successful restaurateur, and was pardoned by President Woodrow Wilson, in 1919.

He was re-appointed by President William Howard Taft in 1910 and remained U.S. Attorney until November 1, 1914 when he resigned to enter private practice.

[10] In 1920, French was a counsel for the complainants in a $150,000,000 suit against William Rockefeller and other former directors of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad.