 At twenty-one, he was admitted to the bar and began practice in Stafford County, Virginia where he was shortly elected Commonwealth's Attorney.He was elected judge of Stafford and King George Counties in 1898, serving until 1904 when the county courts were abolished.Resuming practice at that time, he entered a law partnership with his brother in Fredericksburg until his appointment, in 1910, as judge of the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit.