Joseph H. Pendleton, an eminent lawyer, and gained admission to the bar before the Court of Appeals of West Virginia in 1868.
Not favoring its Reconstruction policy, nor the impeachment of Andrew Johnson, nor the test-oath legislation enacted by West Virginia at the close of the war, he joined the Democratic party.
He quickly became dissatisfied with the East, and in 1874 returned to Seattle and resumed his partnership with Larrabee, which continued until 1877, when the latter moved to California.
In 1876, White was elected Prosecuting Attorney of the Third Judicial District, comprising all of Western Washington north of Thurston and Mason Counties.
In 1878 he was elected to the lower House of the Legislative Assembly of the territory, and there he served as chairman of the judiciary committee.
In 1885 he was appointed by President Grover Cleveland as United States Attorney for the entire Territory of Washington.