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in private practice. However he quickly became established and when Hayllar left Hong Kong in 1882 he was ready to step into his shoes. The Hong Kong Telegraph in its obituary observed “In the early part of his career he had an uphill fight but his eloquence and thorough grasp of the law quickly placed him in the leading ranks of the Bar and after the retirement of Hayllar he had no rival. No important case could come before the court without Francis being retained". The China Mail said “As a lawyer he had limitations but they were due to lack of early legal training rather than lack of ability. He had a ready grasp of the main points of a case and was unequalled as a reader of character, particularly Chinese character, and an expert cross-examiner". The speed with which he prospered may be judged from the fact that he took silk in 1886, being only the third member of the Hong Kong Bar to do so. In his letter to the Colonial Secretary requesting the Governor to recommend him to the Secretary of State for appointment Francis wrote "His Excellency is well aware that this is an honour which according to the recognised custom and etiquette of the profession is always asked for and when properly applied for is seldom refused”. The Chief Justice (now Phillippo) wrote "Mr. Francis is fully deserving the honour he seeks. On the retirement of Mr. Hayllar Q.C. he obtained the position of leading counsel at the Bar in conjunction with the Attorney General. In nearly every case he holds a brief on one side or the other, and as leading counsel when more than one counsel is employed”. Governor Bowen wrote "he has risen into leading and lucrative practice at the local Bar where he is making, as I am informed, some £4,000 annually. I have no hesitation in recommending that his application be granted". The newspaper reports of cases bear out the above observations. Only towards the end of his life when his health began to fail did anyone else challenge his supremacy. He died before the start of the Hong Kong Law Reports but one of his cases is reprinted from a newspaper: Tang Kai Shang v. Ng Pak To H.K.L.R. Vol. 6 for 1911 p.90.
Reading the newspaper reports of his cases Francis comes across as a forceful, and often pugnacious and outspoken, advocate who took every possible point for his clients and never gave up. He had many clashes with the bench, other counsel and witnesses. He admitted that he was "at all times very hot tempered" and more than once apologised for “the unjustifiable warmth” of