with the Chief Justice, The Royal Gazette can reveal.

A check of the Supreme Court Registry's Roll of Barristers showed Mr. Peniston was "admitted to practice'' as a barrister on Monday.

But a date of "enrolment'' in the Supreme Court Registry's official list has not been entered, nor has Mr. Peniston's signature.

While the move is understood to be perfectly legal, the former United Bermuda Party Senator and shipping company owner is also understood to still be in receivership for debts.

Chief Justice Austin Ward is believed to have officiated. Mr. Justice Ward began annual leave this week and is currently abroad.

The call to the Bar puts Mr. Peniston, 56, one step closer to the pinnacle of his career after striking out on his own and starting his own shipping agency in the mid-1980s.

For nearly eight years from 1980, he was a Senator for the then governing United Bermuda Party before stepping down.

With his businesses crumbling around him, Mr. Peniston was placed into receivership in 1994.

He was tried and cleared on appeal in 1999 of concealing from the Official Receiver, lawyer Mark Diel, the proceeds of two pension policies.

Mr. Peniston used the more than $25,000 to fund legal studies.

According to a prosecutor in the fraud case, he left Bermuda in 1995 to attend Buckingham University to study law just as Mr. Diel was about to question him on his financial affairs.

The listing for the call to the Bar declares Mr. Peniston as receiving a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Buckingham and completed courses at the College of Law at Guilford, Surrey.

He also completed the Legal Practice Certificate "to the satisfaction'' of the Law Society of England and Wales -- meaning he has been called to the Bar in the country he studied.

Being in receivership is different from being declared bankrupt as one is thought to be able to pay one's debts, whereas a bankrupt person is declared insolvent and unable to pay.

The formality of being called to the Bar throws into motion the process of seeing if a person is fit to practice as a lawyer in the courts.

Objections can then be raised and the Bar Association will decide on the suitability of issuing the all important practising certificate.

That certificate entitles someone to practice "at the bar'' or in court on criminal and civil matters.

The section 10 (3) (c) of the Bermuda Bar Act 1974 law directs that a person who is an "undischarged bankrupt'' cannot be issued a practising certificate.

Both Mr. Peniston and Mr. Diel have declined to comment.

SPRUCING UP ST. GEORGE'S CLB Sprucing up St. George's Talented teams from the Friendship Garden Club, Hibiscus Garden Club and Garden Club of Bermuda will be hard at work in St.

George's today decorating historic buildings for the festive season.

They will decorate the Old Rectory, Tucker House and Globe Hotel for the Bermuda National Trust's annual Christmas celebration on Friday between 6.30 p.m. and 8.30 p.m.

Many other historic properties will also be open to the public and refreshments, entertainment, historic readings and music will be on hand.

Further information can be obtained from the Trust at 236-6483.