Rising quickly through the legal profession, his career climaxed when he was made Lord Chancellor of Ireland in 1767, a post he held until his death in 1789.

Even the Government which chose him, while praising him as a good lawyer and an honest man, was rather doubtful that he had the necessary strength of character to be an effective Lord Chancellor, while the English Bench reacted to his appointment with general ridicule.

[1] They were quickly proved wrong: within two years of his arrival in Ireland, Lord Lifford was earning the highest praises as a judge.

[1] Barristers who practised in his court, like John Philpot Curran, fondly recalled "the great Lord Lifford" after his death, and cited him as a model for other judges to follow.

Rhys (or Price) Williams of Stapleford Abbotts, Essex, Archdeacon of Carmarthen, in 1749, by whom he had four sons, including James, his heir, John, Dean of Cloyne, and Joseph Hewitt (1754–1794), justice of the Court of King's Bench (Ireland).