[2] During his time at the bar McCardie represented large organisations such as railway companies and banks, and was a popular barrister.

On one occasion he and the QC he was working with, Edward Marshall-Hall, walked out of court in the middle of a case; it was felt that such a popular and effective junior barrister McCardie must have been in the right in doing so .

[2] As a judge, McCardie used common language to make his judgements easier to understand, but at the same time, he also made them very long and detailed.

[2] He was noted for his tendency to rebel against the opinions held by the rest of the judiciary and much of society as a whole; as early as 1931 he was supportive of the legalisation of abortion, saying that "I cannot think it right that a woman should be forced to bear a child against her will".

[2] His decisions and his differing opinions from that of the judiciary as a whole led to criticism from the Lord Chancellor and Lord Chief Justice, as well as several members of the Court of Appeal,[2] particularly Scrutton, whose increasingly bitter attacks suggest that he cherished a personal antipathy, which became so extreme that the two men ended by shouting at each other in open court.

While on circuit in 1933 McCardie caught influenza, and the illness and lack of sleep that resulted from it drove him into a deep depression.