have been avoided if two of Bermuda's top lawyers had been offered jobs.

Lawyer and MP John Barritt said prosecutor Brian Calhoun, renowned on the Island for his high success rate at getting criminals convicted, should have been told his contract would be renewed.

The Shadow Legislative Affairs Minister said: "I have really tried to avoid naming anybody in particular, but I do believe that Brian is a man who could have stayed on and helped to build up experience within the more junior team there.

"He should have been told his contract would be renewed.

"I would have thought we would have done all that we could possibly have done to keep him here and working at the DPP. He had years of experience and it would have meant these problems here now with lack of experienced staff would not have arisen.'' Mr. Calhoun left the DPP ten days ago, but is currently working through holiday and lieu time. His present contract ends this autumn.

Government MP Wayne Perinchief, a former Assistant Police Commissioner, also expressed hope that Mr. Calhoun could be kept on in an advisory capacity.

Mr. Perinchief asked the House of Assembly on Friday to send congratulations to Mr. Calhoun for his services to the people of Bermuda.

He said Mr. Calhoun was the first attorney in the AG's chambers who offered Police advice on investigating crimes before trials.

He said: "Brian was particularly good on some legal advice. Invariably he would answer the call and never fail to respond.

"I would hope that after his retirement he might be able to assist the AG's chambers in some sort of advisory role.'' Mr. Calhoun would not comment on Mr. Barritt's comments.

But another lawyer, who would not be named, also called into question why another experienced lawyer had not been hired at the DPP.

The legal source asked why experienced barrister Phil Perinchief, who has done 15 years in criminal law and 12 in civil law, had been unsuccessful in his application for a job at the DPP.

Mr. Perinchief, who is Bermudian and is well-known around the courts on the Island, confirmed to The Royal Gazette last week that he applied for the post of Senior Crown at the DPP earlier this year but was turned down.

He would say little on the subject other than he was disappointed at the time and had no idea why he had been brushed aside.

He has since transferred to work in civil law again at the Attorney General's Chambers and said he was very happy.

But the source said: "The Director, Mr. Tokunbo, wants to employ Bermudians in the senior roles. What was wrong with Phil Perinchief? He is Bermudian and he had years of experience, considerably more than Mr. Tokunbo himself.

"No matter how hard they look overseas, they will never find anybody who is as experienced in both criminal and civil law and at working in Bermuda as Mr.

Perinchief.

"This whole situation could have been avoided if he had been taken on when he applied.'' On Friday, Mr. Tokunbo would not be drawn as to why Mr. Perinchief had been unsuccessful in his application to the DPP.

He only said: "It would be very wrong of me to talk about personal cases with anybody. I do not want to go into it.

"What I will say is that Phil had an interest in civil law and that's where he has eventually ended up going.'' A vision of the future -- Page 5