A top insurance lawyer with links to Bermuda has been fired after a UK TV rant about fans of Liverpool football club.

Clive O’Connell, who attended the ILS Convergence conference on the Island two years ago and is regarded as one of the world’s leading insurance and reinsurance lawyers, was sacked from his job at Goldberg Segalla Global in London after he was filmed by a fan website after London club Chelsea lost 3-1 to Liverpool at the end of last month.

Mr O’Connell called Liverpool fans “Scouse scum” after the Saturday, October 31 match and later continued his tirade in a tweet, which was later deleted, in which he wrote “crawl back to your horrible Merseyside home”.

In a video tweeted by Goldberg Segalla, Rick Cohen, managing partner at the New York-based law firm, said Mr O’Connell’s comments were “entirely inconsistent” with the company’s ethos.

He added: “His words are offensive, plain and simple.

“His conduct doesn’t rise to the standard to which we hold ourselves and for these reasons we have terminated our partnership with Mr O’Connell, effective immediately.

“We are extremely proud of the respectful and giving culture that we worked hard to build.”

Mr O’Connell, who was voted best insurance lawyer in the UK last year, apologised for his actions in the London Evening Standard newspaper.

He said: “I was very disappointed in the aftermath of Saturday’s game. I let my emotions get the better of me.

“I clearly regret this and any offence that I may have caused by my hot-headed and regrettable reaction, which is inappropriate whether or not caught on camera.”

Mr O’Connell qualified as a solicitor in 1982 and was described on his firm’s website as “one of the world’s leading insurance and reinsurance professionals”.

He had been a partner in Goldberg Segalla since 2012 and is listed as general counsel and board member of the International Insurance Society from 2010 to date.