[7] At the time in New South Wales, the only legally trained persons were those with criminal backgrounds who had been transported to Sydney as convicts.
Attorneys such as George Crossley and others while permitted to appear in court as agents (and not lawyers), were not allowed to be admitted due to the English laws which precluded the admission of legal professionals with criminal backgrounds.
[1][7] It is probable that Garling was the first solicitor admitted to the second Supreme Court which was opened by the first Chief Justice of New South Wales Francis Forbes in May 1824.
[9] Whatever the merits of the argument, both Moore and Garling can be jointly considered as the first solicitors of New South Wales being appointed at the same time by the Colonial Office prior to their embarkation to Sydney.
Governor Macquarie offered Garling the office of Deputy Judge Advocate on an acting basis from 12 December 1815.
This was an important appointment in the colony, as at the time, a justice of the peace was in effect a local authority governing planning, liquor trading and employment regulation.
Additionally, one of the functions of the Deputy Judge Advocate as a justice of the peace was to sit as a court of petty sessions hearing less serious criminal charges.
Apparently Garling was also empowered to file informations in the name of the attorney-general,[1] although it is not clear whether this involved actually prosecuting criminals.
Garling's biographer describes him as "generous and public-spirited" and a member of many benevolent institutions in New South Wales.
The colony was still considered a backward outpost of the British Empire consisting largely of convicts and ex-convicts.
[9] This is a reference to the fact that at that time, most junior barristers earned their living in unfashionable circuits in country areas of England.
Garling, along with other practitioners, opposed the splitting of the bar in this manner when it was first mooted in 1824 by newly arrived barristers in the colony.
Garling was quoted in the Sydney Gazette on 16 September 1824 as observing that his instinct was to defer to gentlemen with the "higher duties of barrister".