legal profession.

That was the message from Hamilton Lions speaker, barrister Mr. Michael Scott who warned the survival of small black law firms is crucial if young Bermudian lawyers returning to the Island are to find jobs.

And he warned that as more Bermudians enter the profession, law firms will come away with a smaller piece of a shrinking pie now estimated at $90 million from local and international business.

"What is the diagnosis of the regular check-up of the patient -- the law practices of this country?'' Mr. Scott asked.

"We need to ask: is the law profession a healthy one? Is it providing employment for newly trained lawyers coming into the profession? "And are there disparities in power between one segment of society and another? These ramifications remain unaddressed.'' Mr. Scott asserted the industry was healthy in some areas but not in others.

"Responsibilities are not being discharged as well as they could be,'' he claimed. "Disparities? Plainly there are.'' Mr. Scott said these existed between large firms which first blossomed in the 1950s and small independent law firms.

"The social arrangement continues to be a tale of two cities,'' he said.

"The disparity exists between earning power of them and between firms established by black lawyers.'' He said black firms remained in a undeveloped state and are likely to die with their founders.

"There will be no legacy left for new lawyers to be associated with,'' Mr.

Scott said. "If they die, there will be no legacy of legal practices to absorb the new lawyers into the country.'' Traditionally the Island's two large firms, Conyers, Dill & Pearman and Appleby Spurling & Kempe hire family first, elite academically qualified lawyers next and then the ethnic majority, namely black lawyers.

The outcome he predicted was that young black attorneys would fail to find job openings and would cease to practise.

"The knowledge and skill that could have been preserved will be lost.

Bermuda is a premier destination for international business and if there are disrupting influences then, as citizens, we ought to be concerned with seeking solutions to correcting the arrangement,'' he said.

To this end Mr. Scott proposed his own vision of how an independent law firm should operate, focusing on training for young lawyers while operating with minimum overheads.

A blend of attorneys would act independently while sharing operational costs and resources. And attorneys within the firm would be entitled to all earnings after deduction of expenses.