Lincoln’s legal career boomed. He handled admiralty, criminal, and patent law cases, while also representing several railroad companies in the Midwest. He sometimes sat as a special judge or prosecutor for local courts. He even handled cases that went before the U.S. Supreme Court. For example, he and Herndon successfully represented a railroad company in a damages action brought by a displaced property owner in The Alton and Sangamon Railroad Company v. Carpenter (1852).