He carried letters of recommendation from solicitor William Bartley, through which he obtained employment as a clerk in the office of Mann & Gwynne, to whom he was later articled.

He was admitted to the Bar in 1848 and taken into partnership with his former employer as Bartley & Bakewell, whose business as solicitors became one of the largest and best-conducted in the city.

Bakewell's first foray into public activity was in opposition to State aid to religion, acting as Secretary of the Australasian National League.

On 13 June 1857 Bakewell was appointed as representative of Barossa in the first House of Assembly (1857–1860), replacing Dr. Horace Dean[2][3] who was unseated on the grounds that he was an American citizen and had assumed a false name.

It was he who made the first speech before the Supreme Court on the motion for the original writ of scire facias which led to an appeal to the Privy Council.