Francis quickly became an established barrister in the colony and became the leading practitioner at the Bar when T. C. Hayllar, QC the most prominent barrister in the colony left in 1882. In 1886, he became the third barrister in Hong Kong to be a Queen's Counsel. According to 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, although "his outspoken utterances estranged many person who would toherwise have employed him in Court," as the "Hong Kong Telegraph" commented. He was appointed acting in several judicial positions from 1878 to 1880 including Police Magistrate in September 1878 and 1880, Puisne Judge of the Supreme Court in April 1879 and presiding over the Criminal Sessions in February 1880. He was appointed member of the Commission to Revise the Laws and Ordinances of Hong Kong in 1887 and also examiner of candidates for admission as attorneys both when he was solicitor and barrister. However he was never appointed acting Attorney General and Chief Justice. Francis was a member of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, the China Association and the Navy League, and in 1895 accepted and presidency of the British Mercantile Marine Officers Association. He was involved with a number of organisations founded for the benefit of the Chinese. In 1878 a number of Chinese, concerned about the traffic in women and girls, petitioned the Governor for permission to form an anti-kidnapping association. The Governor John Pope Hennessy appointed a committee of four, including Francis, to investigate the matter. In the result the Po Leung Kuk, or Society for the Protection of the Innocent, was formed in 1880. Francis drafted rules and regulations for the running of the Society. Francis was also a member of the financial committee of the Alice Memorial Hospital founded by a prominent Chinese, Ho Kai, in 1886. With Ho Kai, Francis laid the foundation of the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese which later on became the University of Hong Kong. One of the two original students of the college was Sun Yat Sen. On the day Francis' death the college passed a resolution expressing appreciation of his services. He also acted as an examiner of the Catholic school, St. Joseph's College and a regular guest of the Prizegiving Day at the school. He joined the Hong Kong Volunteer Corps which was founded in 1862 but disbanded in 1866 and was revived under John Hennessy's governship.