Much of his life was played out in public but on Saturday the most touching tribute to Julian Hall was a deeply personal one delivered by one of his daughters.

Liana Hall, 24, spoke at the Celebration of Life service at New Testament Church of God Heritage Worship Centre on Union Street on Saturday and told mourners of the legacy she believed her father had left.

Known as a colourful and outspoken figure, Mr. Hall acted in many of Bermuda's highest-profile legal cases of recent decades.

In addition to being famed in the courtroom for his formidable intellect and eloquent manner, he was also one of Bermuda's best-known political activists who began his career in the United Bermuda Party but went on to become a Progressive Labour Party Member of Parliament.

Mr. Hall died on July 18 after a lengthy illness, surrounded by his close family.

One by one his friends, including Premier Ewart Brown, former Premier Alex Scott and Ministers Michael Scott and Derrick Burgess, climbed the stairs to the lectern to extol the virtues of a man they described as a having razor sharp intellect, a true entertainer and the ultimate legal advocate.

But it was a speech given by his middle, Liana, herself a lawyer, that best summed up the man who was many things to many people.

Calling it the most important speech she would ever make, Miss Hall noted that her father's one request about his funeral was that his coffin not be draped with the Union Jack.

She said that despite being a former MP and entitled to an official funeral, which requires the Union Jack be laid over the coffin, her father told her he wanted the Bermuda flag over his casket.

"He said, 'not the Union Jack, not the English flag, but the flag of our new nation'," she said. "Sadly, he died before Bermuda's independence."Miss Hall spoke of his time at Mount Allison University in Canada, where he excelled and was elected as President of the College Student Union, and felt included despite being in a largely white environment.

She said her father hoped Bermuda would evolve into a similar community where people "recognise the need to maintain a Bermuda for all our benefit".She noted his time at London School of Economics where he received a law degree and sat his final bar examinations and had the honour of coming ninth out of 800 candidates and was admitted to the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple and to the Bar of England and Wales.

Soon after he returned to Bermuda and was called to the Bermuda Bar.

Miss Hall said:"Julian's dashing around the courts with his robes billowing behind him would become a frequent sight in the years he spent at the Bermuda Bar.

As a black person employed at a professional level at Conyers Dill &Pearman Julian felt he was breaking new ground."

With pride she spoke of "the largest musical event Bermuda has seen", the three-day Summerfest music festival he organised which featured Al Green, Peter Tosh and others.

"One in five of every person resident on the Island at the time was present, over 10,000 people,"she said.

The impact of assisting Dame Lois Browne Evans in the Tacklyn and Burrows trial and appeals was huge, according to Miss Hall.

Her father participated in the appeal of a special jury, which he argued was unconstitutional, which found the two men guilty of committing five murders in seven months, including the murder of former Governor Sir Richard Sharples, and sentenced them to death.

"Their execution, the UBP's failure to prevent it and the riots that followed proved to be a catalyst for him," she said. "He would rise to the position of deputy chairman of the UBP by the time of his dramatic resignation in February 1979."

Her father became a "true life member"of the PLPin 1980 she said and he "remained faithful to the party until his death".

She noted that a case in which Mr. Hall successfully won the rights of education in the Bermuda public school system for a Jamaican child was still taught in law schools today.

Miss Hall also spoke of how an amendment to legislation which prohibited lawyers declared bankrupt from practising would go on to affect her father's life. She noted that her father was declared bankrupt in 1983 and the UBP Government passed the legislation in 1984.

"It was obvious to all, these two events were more than just a coincidental crushing of a young outspoken PLPactivist who was set for a meteoric rise," she claimed.

He went on to become a PLPMPin 1989, which his daughter said "only served to further mythologise this great man as he crushed more seasoned and prepared parliamentarians with his commanding wit and natural ability to debate.

He still holds the record for the longest speech in the House of Assembly at over seven hours long.

"Whilst hearing him speak brought delight to many, his epic speech was for more than mere pleasure, he spoke as a tactic to carry a bill over to the next Parliamentary session.

"The headline in The Royal Gazette the next day was 'Hall Speaks while Bermuda Sleeps', and most impressive of all was that the entire speech was completed with no cues, no notes, or bathroom breaks."

Miss Hall spoke of her father's legal troubles as well.

"His decision to represent multi-millionairess Betty McMahon was to prove disastrous," she said. "He was again determined bankrupt and as the earlier unjust law had not yet been repealed, his practising certificate was again taken away.

"An outdated, draconian Bermuda Bankruptcy Act brought many injustices and as a result Julian began spending more and more of his time away from Bermuda...

"In 2005 my father was tried on fraud charges and after representing himself so stunningly after nearly a decade outside of the courtroom he was unanimously acquitted on all charges.

"Ever the performer and a man of faith, upon hearing the verdict Julian burst into the second verse of 'Amazing Grace'.

"In February 2009 after 10 years his practising certificate was returned following an amendment to the Bermuda Bar Act, the return of his practising certificate was immensely important to him.

"The fact that he died a lawyer, the profession he so excelled at, should provide great comfort to us all."

But she noted that for herself and her sisters Nadia and Claudia her father's legacy as a great advocate of the law and political activist would provide little comfort in the coming years when he would not be there to encourage them and walk them down the aisle on their wedding days.