He had a distinguished judicial career in Ireland, becoming Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas, although his enemies claimed his success was due to a complete lack of moral principles.
Sir Richard's reputation for long and loyal service to the English Crown was damaged by his adherence for a time to the cause of Mary Queen of Scots, although he managed to avoid permanent disgrace.
[4] Gerald succeeded to the role of legal adviser to the Earl, and followed his father-in-law as Attorney-General for Munster in 1621 and to the bench as Baron of the Court of Exchequer (Ireland) in 1628.
He accumulated money as well as land, and was able to lend James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde, £1000, a very substantial amount in the seventeenth century.
[1] In 1655, on account of his long experience, and good services to the Cromwellian regime, he was made Chief Justice of the Lower Bench (in effect the same office he had previously held) and a Commissioner of the Great Seal, and was much in favour with Henry Cromwell.
Lowther and Parsons had close ties: each served as MP for Tallow, as Attorney General for Munster and as a Baron of the Exchequer, and both were clients of the Earl of Cork.
He remained on good terms with Anne's family after her death: her mother, who died in 1646, appointed him one of the executors of her will, and left legacies to him and his second wife.
Smyth says "He acquired a large landed property by steering with unprincipled craft through the boisterous ocean of contemporary troubles".
[8] Wedgwood, on the other hand, states that while he may have owed his rise to high office to patronage and a certain lack of scruples, he was well qualified by legal ability and strength of character for it.