[1] He was a member of Gray's Inn, and on 16 June 1471 was appointed Attorney General, with full power of deputing clerks and officers under him in courts of record.
In Trinity term of 1478 he was made a Serjeant-at-Law, and on 7 May 1481 was appointed Chief Justice of the King's Bench, in succession to Sir Thomas Billing, at a salary of 140 marks a year.
This appointment was renewed at the ascension of each of the next three kings, and under Henry VII, he was also a commissioner to decide the claims made to fill various offices at the coronation.
[2] In the first year of this reign, he successfully protested against the king's practice of consulting the judges beforehand upon crown cases which they were subsequently to try.
[3] On 24 November of that year, Sir John Fineux succeeded him as Chief Justice.