[1] He was educated at Charterhouse School and Corpus Christi College, Oxford, of which he was a scholar and where he took a First in Honour Moderations in 1921 and a Third in literae humaniores in 1923.

[1][2] Called to the bar by Lincoln's Inn and the Middle Temple in 1925, he practiced in the King's Bench and Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Divisions of the High Court.

[2] Exempt from military service on medical grounds, Pearce continued to practice at the bar during the Second World War; he was appointed King's Counsel in 1945.

[1][2][7] In his capacity as a member of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, Pearce sat on the case of Madzimbamuto v Lardner-Burke, concerning the constitutionality of Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence.

He dissented from the majority decision of Lord Reid, who held that the Unilateral Declaration was unconstitutional and the detention orders in issue were therefore unlawful.

The four-person commission reported in May 1972: it described white, coloured and Asian Rhodesians as in favour of the terms by 98%, 97% and 96% respectively, and black citizens as against them by an unspecified large majority.