Career
Porter served in World War I, gaining the rank of captain and receiving the Administration Member of the Order of the British Empire Called to the Bar, he was appointed King"s Counsel in 1925. On 28 March 1938, he was appointed Lord of Appeal in Ordinary and created a life peer with the title Baron Porter, of Longfield in County Tyrone. A month later, he was invested to the Privy Council.
In 1939, he was appointed to chair the Lord Chancellor"s committee on defamation law.
The committee"s work was delayed as a result of World World War II, not producing its report until 1948. The report"s conclusions were implemented by the Defamation Acting, enacted in 1952.
Porter sat on the appeal of William Joyce, commonly known as "Lord Haw-Haw", who had been convicted of treason for his war-time propaganda broadcasts from Nazi Germany. Porter resigned as Lord of Appeal in 1954, having been awarded the GBE.