Ladd was admitted to the bar in New Hampshire and
Massachusetts in 1889 and to the Supreme Court of the United States in 1892. Ladd practiced law in
Boston from 1889 to 1892, then returned to New Hampshire to become a member of the firm Ladd & Fletcher. When his father died, he joined practice of his uncle, Everett Fletcher.
As an Associate Justice In 1900, President
William Mckinley appointed Ladd as an associate justice of the
Supreme Court of the Philippines, where he served from 1901 to 1903.
Health and death Due to illness, Ladd was forced to resign in August 1903 and return home. He died four months later on December 12, 1903, in
Boston, Massachusetts at the age of 40. == References ==