Some of the Island's top commercial trial attorneys are concerned that Bermuda's judges are "overworked and underpaid".

Currently there are four Supreme Court judges in Bermuda to hear the full range of family, criminal and commercial cases.

Back in the 70s when there was little if any international business and the Island's economy was based on tourism, there were approximately 70 lawyers and two judges of the Supreme Court.

Now international business accounts for more than 65 percent of Bermuda's gross national product and there are five times as many lawyers (approximately 350), yet the number of judges has merely doubled.

Narinder K. Hargun, a partner at Conyers Dill & Pearman, comments: "Whilst there have been improvements in basic infrastructure, roads, schools and telecommunications, the court infrastructure has been left behind."

Mr. Hargun stresses that the existing judges do a "tremendous job with limited resources" but he suggests there should be more judges to share the work load.

He also believes that there should be improvements to the physical court house and there should be a distinct commercial court with a judge who is able to to hear exclusively commercial cases.

Jan Woloniecki, a partner at Attride Stirling and Woloniecki, agrees: "I am in favour of specialist judges, but that is not a criticism of the present judiciary.

"They are very hard working and they are appallingly paid, and you cannot expect them to be doing criminal and commercial disputes at the same time."

David Kessaram, a partner at Cox Hallett Wilkinson, says: "It seems to be that the days when we could all be generalists both as lawyers and as judges, have come and gone. There is a need for a commercial judge who can deal with some of the very complex issues that arise."

The issue of expertise has arisen due to a "huge transformation" in Bermuda's legal profession, says Mr. Hargun.

Formerly, the profession was made up of general practitioners, but most of the Island's lawyers are now highly specialised.

Even within the subcategory of commercial litigators, some have specialised in particular areas such as insurance, banking, insolvency etc.

Mr. Hargun said that some of the commercial cases being heard in Bermuda would be considered "heavy weight cases" by London and New York standards.

All of the lawyers interviewed remarked that Bermuda's existing judges were very capable of handling complex commercial issues, but the general consensus is that a specialist commercial judge might be able to deal with them more quickly.

It's simply asking too much for a judge to be able to turn their hand to an insurance case one day and a family case the next.

Mr. Woloniecki says: "If you turn this Island into the world's leading centre of reinsurance, there is a need for a civil justice system which can deal effectively with complex commercial disputes."

As things stand, the prestige of the jurisdiction may be suffering because of a lack of resources to implement the laws set up to protect international business.

Mr. Hargun says he cannot comment on specific cases, but says that on occasion it has been impossible to get a hearing date for an urgent application.

"We've had situations where people have been able to get exparte orders and, for example, have bank accounts frozen. It should be possible to have a hearing on such an issue within one or two weeks, but instead it might take up to three months."

Mr. Kessaram adds: "It's not the fault of the registry, it all goes back to the demands on the time of the judges.

"I think it's also sometimes a factor where people are awaiting trial on criminal charges. Especially where the people are being held in custody, it's important to get expeditious trials for them. It's competing demands."

The huge demands on the judges' time leads, in turn, to further inefficiencies in the system.

Mr. Hargun points out that through no fault of their own, judges are frequently forced to move on to their next case before they have had a chance to actually write the judgment for the case they have just heard.

"Normally, a judge would take a week after the end of a two week civil hearing to consider and write his judgment.

"What generally happens here is that judges have to move straight on to their next case, with the result that three, four, five months later they are writing judgments when the cases are no longer fresh in their minds."

Mr. Kessaram says that he is also aware of cases where this problem had occurred.

Mr. Hargun says: "We are getting to the stage where unless this issue is addressed, it will adversely affect international business in the long run."

He says that if Bermuda were to appoint two more judges, this would significantly counteract the bad publicity surrounding the Thyssen case.

This high profile trust case concerning the 2.7 billion Thyssen fortune had to be aborted after over 105 days of evidence and millions of dollars of legal costs. Bermuda's reputation as a jurisdiction took a battering.

Controversial Puisne Judge Mitchell walked out of the Supreme Court civil trial in March 2000 saying he had "had enough" following a dispute with Governor Thorold Masefield over pay and his terms of employment.

Judge Mitchell apparently asked for $1500 a day to carry on trial, which for a four day working week, would amount to roughly $300,000 per annum.

To put this into context, top attorneys in private practice might earn double that at the pinnacle of their careers. While High Court judges have traditionally not made as much as lawyers in private practice, it is essential that they are able to afford a lifestyle that reflects the prestige and dignity of their position.

In Bermuda, a suitable residence could easily cost $100,000 per annum in rental.

A salary for a judge of $200,000 per annum would not be unreasonable says Mr. Kessaram, who sat on a subcommittee for the bar counsel which considered judicial appointments and subsequently levels of remuneration for judges.

Asked about the current salaries for Supreme Court, he says: "If I remember correctly, it's around $110 - $115 whereas in the Cayman, I believe it is $150 - $160. The Bar Counsel has done a study on the level of remuneration of judges in different comparable jurisdictions and we were near the bottom, even compared to the Cayman islands. I think the Cayman islands treat their judges much better than us."

Responsibility for appointing judges actually rests with the Governor. But as a practical matter, the Governor consults with both the government and the legal profession.

"There is no-one in the government who champions the cause of the judges and the court system, " says Mr. Hargun.

The attorney general's office was contacted in relation to the creation of a commercial court, but declined to comment.