After service in the US Navy he began his legal career at Crummy & Consodine and later became a partner of the firm, which incorporated his name into its title.
After retiring, Gibbons returned to his original firm and worked on human rights cases, in commercial arbitration and intellectual property disputes.
The firm responded by sending cars full of lawyers to courthouses to speed up the processing of bail applications and reduce jail overcrowding.
[5] Gibbons was nominated to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit by President Richard Nixon on December 5, 1969, to a seat vacated by Judge Gerald McLaughlin.
[6] He also worked as a mediator and arbitrator in commercial disputes between large corporations and in litigation in the fields of antitrust, intellectual property law and securities regulation.
[4] He was a member of the American Bar Association's house of delegates and was chairman of its Committee on Fair Trial and Free Press.