He attended the common schools and Philadelphia College, studied law, and was admitted to bar in Norristown prior to 1800.
[2][better source needed] In 1805, he moved to Rogersville, Tennessee, and practiced law.
He was a law mentor to future attorney and state politician John Netherland.
[1] After departing Congress, Powell resumed the practice of law, and he was again a judge of the first circuit court of Tennessee from 1819 to 1841.
[1] Powell died in Rogersville, Tennessee, on August 2, 1841, at age 65, and is interred at the Old Presbyterian Cemetery.