From his father he inherited the manor of Steeton in North Yorkshire, where he built a castle.
He first appears in the year-books in Michaelmas 1463 as a serjeant and member of Gray's Inn.
He was raised to a judgeship of the King's bench and is first mentioned as a judge in Trinity term (around mid April to end of June) 1477.
In this office he won an honourable reputation, and on 8 October 1482 he received a grant of a hundred merks yearly in addition to his salary.
He was continued in his judgeship on each subsequent Demise of the Crown, and under Edward V became chief justice of Lancaster.