Former Senator Llewellyn Peniston is facing criminal charges alleging that he practised illegally as a lawyer without a certificate.He was disbarred and struck off the roll of barristers and attorneys in January after being found guilty of improper conduct by a disciplinary tribunal in relation to multiple complaints from clients.The tribunal also found him guilty of failure to maintain accounting records and issuing threats, and Mr Peniston admitted to a charge of practising while he was suspended over an earlier complaint against him.According to information laid before Magistrates' Court yesterday, Mr Peniston, 67, practised as a barrister without a valid certificate between February 1 and April 3 this year. He is also charged with being employed in legal practice despite being a disqualified person, and practising without liability insurance between the same dates.The criminal case was initially dismissed by Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner on Wednesday after Mr Peniston's lawyer, Eugene Johnston, argued that the charges should have been laid within six months of the alleged offences.However, new information was laid and Mr Peniston summonsed to court yesterday after the Director of Public Prosecutions gave official sanction for the matter to proceed.Mr Peniston did not enter a plea and the matter was adjourned at his request since his lawyer wishes to argue again for the matter to be dismissed. Mr Johnston was unable to attend yesterday's hearing because he was at the Court of Appeal.He said afterwards: “We have to make important arguments about whether or not the charges should be laid at all.”Mr Warner adjourned the matter until November 30.Mr Peniston, a former UBP Senator who ran the law firm Peniston and Associates, has a history of woes dating back to before he was called to the Bar in 2000. He used to run his own shipping company which was placed into receivership in 1994. According to a prosecutor in a 1998 fraud case, he left Bermuda in 1995 to attend Buckingham University, England, to study law just as the Official Receiver Mark Diel was about to question him on his financial affairs.Upon his return he was tried and cleared on appeal of concealing the proceeds of two pension policies.After beginning work as a lawyer, Mr Peniston was punished by the Bar disciplinary panel in January 2007. He was given a one-year suspension from all work involving real estate law after he “acted in a verbally abusive and intimidating manner” and “failed to abide by the terms of his professional undertaking”.In August 2008, a Supreme Court judge told Mr Peniston he could end up behind bars if he didn't pay two former clients almost $10,500 owing to them. He paid off the debt to Terry Philpott and Desmond Richardson, who brought a civil action against him, a day after the judge's warning.In December 2008, he was suspended for a month after admitting failing to produce his accounts for the Bermuda Bar Association. In December 2010 he was banned from practising anything other than criminal law for two years after a disciplinary panel probed complaints about his financial activities.Mr Peniston spoke out after the case via Mr Johnston, claiming that people in the legal world were trying to scupper his career.In May 2011 he was declared bankrupt and ordered by the Supreme Court to hand over any assets of value, such as his home, income and possessions, to help pay off his debts.He declined to comment on the latest case yesterday, referring questions from this newspaper to his lawyer.