An enormous amount has been written and said about Julian Hall in the short time since his passing; in spite of the fact that he held no office at the time of his death, he had enormous influence on Bermuda. In personality, he was Bermuda's rock star.

It has been noted that he was an enigma – a man of extraordinary abilities who was also capable of making extraordinary personal mistakes.

Part of his charm was in being able to admit to those errors; he had that gift, rare in Bermuda, of being able to laugh at himself.

That was part part of his charm – which was nearly irresistible when turned on the recipient. He could be forgiven for almost anything.

It may be that Julian Hall was simply too big for Bermuda, which can be as small in mind as it is in scale. But like many other clever Bermudians, he had an almost irrational passion for this Island which kept him here.

Certainly, as a barrister, he would have succeeded anywhere; tributes tend to hyperbole, but there was no better lawyer before a jury in Bermuda in at least the last four decades. The Michael Meredith case and Mr. Hall's own personal defence in the McMahon case proved that. Having said that, Mr. Hall was at his best when he had a powerful legal researcher working with him. That was demonstrated in the early 1990s when he and Delroy Duncan formed a team that was literally unbeatable.

A good deal has also been said about Mr. Hall's political abilities, and there was no question that he was a superb political speaker, both within the House of Assembly and without.

But he was not a natural politician, and as much as he enjoyed debate and argument, he genuinely disliked the divisiveness that the Westminster system engendered in as small an island as Bermuda. Then too, the necessity for compromise, for back scratching and the like, which is such a part of small town politics did not suit him entirely.

What has not much been mentioned, however, is what a fine literary stylist Mr. Hall was. In one of his forced hiatuses from the law, he wrote a column for the Bermuda Sun at the invitation of then-Editor Keith Blackmore which did a tremendous job of skewering the all-conquering John Swan administration of the day.

Even if you disagreed with Mr. Hall's views in his columns, you could not help but admire the way in which they were put.

This is not as simple as it seems. What makes a good speech does not always translate well to the page, and the opposite is even more true.

But Mr. Hall was a master of both arts, and that was surely because he had an absolute love of words and language, and a respect for both.

Similarly, Mr. Hall had a searching intellect which was not satisfied with received wisdom or the status quo. And, as Tim Hodgson of the Mid-Ocean News noted yesterday, while Mr. Hall could put his skills as an advocate to almost any point of view, there were principles on which he was unshakeable, most notably his desire to strip away inherited and unearned privilege in Bermuda.

One other thing about Julian Hall is certain – he had an absolute and unconditional love for his family, and to them this newspaper offers its heartfelt condolences on their loss.