insulting a senior attorney in court.

And his judgment has also been called into question after the Chief Justice yesterday quashed his decision to convict a Southampton woman of driving without due care following a trial in April.

Lawyer Keren Lomas told The Royal Gazette how Mr. King said `shut your mouth woman' to her during a civil case in court last Wednesday afternoon. "I have it in mind to refer his conduct to the Bar Association,'' Ms Lomas said.

"He said to me `shut your mouth woman'. I expect the same sort of respect given to me as I would display to any member of the judiciary because I believe it's important for the public to perceive the system as one in which both parties are heard in a dispassionate manner.

"It's the first time any member of the judiciary has spoken to me like that and I have been a lawyer for 23 years. I know other lawyers are dissatisfied with his conduct -- it brings the legal system into disrepute and it turns the whole courtroom process into a farce.'' Another lawyer who was in the courtroom at the time of the incident, confirmed Ms Lomas' version of events.

"I heard what he said to Keren although he denied it instantly, saying that he was talking to himself,'' the lawyer, who does not wish to be named, said.

"He then said that he said something like `shut up man' which didn't really fit into the context of what he was saying at the time.

"We just looked at each other in shock and disbelief -- it's a very disrespectful way to speak to a senior attorney.'' In a separate incident yesterday afternoon lawyer and former Attorney General Saul Froomkin said that Mr. King was "rude, aggressive, intemperate, intimidating and unfair'' when he conducted a trial in April in which Southampton woman Calmae Smith was convicted of driving without due care and subsequently fined $450.

Mr. Froomkin presented 15 grounds of appeal against conviction, including the fact that "during the course of proceedings the learned magistrate made comments which were unfair and prejudicial to the appellant''.

King in hot water over `rudeness' Mr. Froomkin said that Mr. King intimidated defence attorney Juliana Jack by telling her: "I know that people are talking about me -- and I know who they are.'' And when Ms Jack asked him to make a note of a ruling on a point of law he retorted: "I find that very rude. I am not writing. If you have a problem you can take it upstairs''.

"That's not the sort of response that should be coming from the bench,'' Mr.

Froomkin said.

"It is unseemly and unbecoming and unjustified.'' After hearing the appeal Chief Justice Austin Ward overturned Mr. King's original decision and quashed Ms Smith's conviction, saying that the case "was not being presented before an impartial tribunal''.

After the appeal Ms Jack said: "It's a very fair judgment and I'm relieved.

My faith in the system has been restored. I was surprised that it was dealt with so quickly which speaks for the strength of the grounds of appeal. It was clear that my client was not getting a fair trial and the Chief Justice obviously agreed.''