A TOP lawyer is backing allegations that the island's legal system is riddled with racism.

But the organisation that regulates the conduct of lawyers has hit back, saying that the claims are "without merit".

Last week the Mid-Ocean News reported concerns raised by one attorney who said that "Mr. and Mrs. Poor Bermuda" are being denied justice because of racial bias within the courts ¿ and that the same biased, anti-black, "pro-establishment" mindset is also rampant in watchdogs, administrative bodies and other authorities such as the Bermuda Bar Association.

Those allegations were made after a criminal complaint was filed against lawyers representing the Bank of Bermuda. Businessman Harold Darrell said the bank's attorneys tampered with documents and deliberately misled a court judge during a bid to get him to pay nearly $1.5 million on a $600,000 loan.

And yesterday, leading lawyer Julian Hall said that he strongly supported "the overall conclusion that the organisation of the Bermudian legal profession is severely tainted with racial bias on an institutional scale".

In a statement to this newspaper, Mr. Hall wrote: "I am increasingly convinced that the real criticism to be made against the Bermuda Bar Association / Council is that they are unprogressive, unimaginative and entirely insular in their outlook.

"It's all about making money and stopping others from making more than you and has less and less to do with pursuing the ends of true justice in the interests of justice.

"My own saga ¿ the true facts of which have yet to be properly published ¿ bears witness.

"It is a tale deeply rooted in racism at its most vile and, if you will, at its most institutionalised. It also clearly illustrates the differential treatment accorded in Bermuda to white and black Bermudian practitioners by 'the system'.

"While those of my former professional brethren who would dare to speak out against this injustice remain few and far between, I am in no way deterred in my determination to fight this thing through to the very end, even if I do so alone. Justice will be served however long the process may take. To believe otherwise would be surrender ¿ clearly, not an option.

"I have now spent almost a decade trying to secure my reinstatement as a legal practitioner in Bermuda and the discharge of an eight-year old bankruptcy adjudication, despite having been unanimously acquitted over three-and-a-half years ago of serious criminal charges.

"I have made it plain that the bankruptcy process has been unnecessarily and unproductively prolonged as the result of a refusal by the appropriate authorities to simply follow the law. For the first five years of this bankruptcy nothing was done to progress it on the part of those responsible for its administration on the ground that there were criminal proceedings pending.

"The current bankruptcy law requires, upon the expiration of five years, that the Official Receiver move the court for a hearing to see whether the bankruptcy should be discharged and, if so, on what terms. This was not done until after eight years has expired; and I have, since the Chief Justice Richard Ground recused himself on the basis of bias, been simply waiting and waiting ¿ with considerable economic loss ¿ for a new hearing before another judge.

"I have, in fact, lost the opportunity to earn millions of dollars over these past eight years because of a bankruptcy that could and should have been discharged years ago for the benefit of my creditors, my family and myself, not to mention the many prospective clients who continue to seek my services.

"I have even been forced to put the Minister of Finance on notice that she bears legal responsibility for the actions ¿ or inactions ¿ of the Official Receiver, and that I may have to institute proceedings against her. To this, the Official Receiver has now informed me, through his 'consultant' and adviser Kulandra Ratneser ¿ who was also my prosecutor ¿ that neither will speak with me 'for so long as [I] threaten to sue'.

"Through it all, the Bermuda Bar has simply watched and has appeared to do nothing to inquire into:

*My publicly made charges, in open court, of racial motivation on the part of certain white Bermudian lawyers who caused me great distress and a period of incarceration in Canada by Immigration authorities on the basis of false representations regarding me.

*Similar charges against the same white lawyers who, in association with others in authority, misused their influence and position to railroad UK Bar Disciplinary Charges against me in order to secure some kind of prosecutorial advantage at my criminal trial.

*The open and public admission by Chief Justice Richard Ground, at the most recent hearing, that having regard to private 'in chambers' hearings between himself and my adversaries in the bankruptcy proceedings with no notice to me and at which I was not represented, he ought not to have adjudicated upon the bankruptcy discharge hearing in the first place.

*The fact that I have now, in vain, waited for almost four years and continue to wait for a proper hearing on the discharge of this bankruptcy, as is clearly required by law. As I write this letter, two further judges have recused themselves from involvement in my case, and I have been given no idea whatsoever of when and before whom the matter will be re-heard. I lose potential income daily.

"Many black Bermudian lawyers ¿ and I remain one of that 'fraternity' ¿ simply do not feel either represented or protected by the Bermuda Bar Association or the Bar Council.

"Speaking entirely for myself, I strongly believe that the influence of the Bermuda Bar Council is too great to have no lay representation anyway. Alternatively the Bermuda Government needs to stop affording to the Bar Council so great a degree of unchallenged authority, particularly when it comes to legislating the conduct and organisation of the profession and on matters of discipline.

"It costs a lot of money to study law, and black Bermudians are still being (for want of a better word) 'screwed' by white colonials who enjoy a disproportionate share of what our economy has to offer.

"The anonymous source of last weekend's article appears to have laboured under a few, reasonably innocuous, historical inaccuracies. For example, he wrongly asserts that black Bermudians have always been denied top spots on the Bermuda Bar Council, the executive and governing body of the Bar Association because 'key positions . . . are held by an old boys' network of lawyers'. This certainly appeared to be the case when I was, in 1975, admitted to the Bermuda Bar and, but for the dogged determination of the likes of the late Dame Lois Browne Evans, would have remained true to this day. But while those times have changed, they have only changed to an extent."

Earlier this week, the Bermuda Bar Association responded to last week's Mid-Ocean News report, which it described as "sloppy journalism . . . filled with false accusations of such an inflammatory nature".

In a letter to its members, association president Rod Attride-Stirling refuted claims that the body did not investigate complaints made against white lawyers.

He also pointed out that many of the organisation's senior posts were held by black attorneys.

"Bermuda has a history replete with examples of racism and discrimination, and no area of Bermuda life was immune from this, including, regretfully, the legal profession," Mr. Attride-Stirling wrote.

"To say that racism continues to be a problem in Bermuda is correct, but it is important to recognise where things have improved and also where things have improved massively."