On the basis of this experience he was recommended for silk on 23 June 1875. He selected to join Sir George Jessel's court, often appearing before the redoubtable Joseph Chitty. Quickly moved to the House of Lords, Davey had rapidly developed a reputation for argumentation at the bar. Viscount Alverstone called him "the most brilliant barrister." As counsel his well-known cases included: "Speight v. Gaunt" (1883), "Learoyd v. Whiteley" (1887), "Derry v. Peek" (1889). Lord Haldane, himself, the greatest intellectual philosopher-politician of his generation described Davey as "the finest advocate on pure points of law..." Lord MacNaughten believed that there was no one better at "arguing a point of practice."