Legal Career
Gibbs's unpleasant voice, disagreeable temper, and jejune pedigree presented formidable handicaps at the start of his career. He initially employed himself as a special pleader, in which capacity he developed a good professional reputation, and was called to the bar in 1783. He proved successful, if acidulous, as an advocate, and powerful in marshaling evidence. He unsuccessfully defended William Winterbotham for sedition in 1793, but so impressed John Horne Tooke that he was retained as junior counsel to Erskine in the successful defense of Tooke and Hardy in autumn 1794. Gibbs' abilities were already being courted by the government, leading to his appointment as recorder of Bristol that February. His efforts during the trial of Tooke and Hardy impressed Sir John Scott, the prosecutor, and Gibbs took silk in December.
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