She is feisty, direct and to the point and would be a lethal adversary.

And these attributes are what have taken Dianna Kempe to the top of the legal profession in Bermuda, and to break into the top echelon of a male dominated partnership of Appleby Spurling and Kempe.

But now the grand dame of Bermuda's legal world is stepping down as managing partner and taking early retirement at the age of 51.

And while she will stay on as senior partner in Bermuda's largest law firm for a year, she plans to take life a lot easier and spend more time with her family and go sailing with her husband in the boat they keep in Florida.

“For the past 30 years I have worked very hard, and very long hours,” she told The Royal Gazette on Thursday, her last day as managing partner. “Now I want to take some time and relax.”

At the age of 21, a young Diana, bright-eyed and bushy tailed, landed in Bermuda for the first time. Little did she know that by taking a job with AS&K in 1971 she would start on the path which would lead her to one of the highest legal posts on the Island and in charge of an enormous law firm with over 400 employees.

She now calls Bermuda her home, and would never dream of going back to England over he much loved Island.

Her trailblazing career started in England when she was called to the Bar of England & Wales in 1970 and then, later called to the Bermuda Bar in 1973.

She made a name for herself in the courts of Bermuda and specialised in insolvency - one of her most well known cases was the collapse of Mentor.

And in 1990 she took over the helm of AS&K's day to day running and became the first woman to make it to the top in the law firm.

In 1992 she got another one of her many “firsts” and was appointed Queen's Counsel, and became the first woman in Bermuda to be appointed to this post.

Mrs. Kempe made another first when she was elected President of the International Bar Association - the first woman to hold this coveted job, and while she will carry on her duties in this, her term will finish at the end of this calendar year.

“I think I have been blessed” said Mrs. Kempe. “I haven't quite finished yet, but I have effectively had three careers in the law.

“The first career was as straight lawyer, a litigator, and then I moved to specialising in insolvency - international cross-border insolvency - and then about 12 years ago, the then managing partner of AS&K Jeffrey Bell decided he wanted to have a change and I became managing partner. I have often observed that it was a bit like starting all over again, I was reasonably at the top of the rung as a professional lawyer and then starting as a businessperson went back down to the bottom.

“I think that I managed to climb up reasonably well. I got involved in international business with the service providers here, particularly through BIBA and I became vice chairman of BIBA for about eight years and sat on the executive and so that was my sort of second career as an owner of a business and a managing partner.

“And then my third career - actually strictly speaking I did before I became managing partner I became a bar leader (President of the Bermuda Bar Association) and started to work in the more pro bono (free legal work) within the context of the International Bar Association, and then I started my third career as a bar leader.”

She said she wanted to specialise in doing work in developing countries and has worked in war-torn Croatia, Africa and the Caribbean.

And she has done pro bono work in the Caribbean for about 12 years now and the Caribbean Bar has made her an honorary Bar member of their association as a thanks for her work.

She added: “Today is my last day as a managing partner. It will be strange. It is surprising, you know, there will be times this year when I go, ah! Then actually you say to yourself, which is why I want to come out, I have worked quite long hours for the last 30 odd years.

“Sometimes on average, at least 60 to 70 hours a week. What I do now works out as being nearly seven days a week because most bar meetings are at the weekend. And I go to Bar meetings all over the world, or I am in a seminar, or I am giving a speech or I'm whatever. So I've worked a lot of hours and haven't had that much of an opportunity over the last 30 years to play a great deal, so I have decided I am coming out.

“I am not going to stay on counsel, I am not going to be a senior or whatever or a consultant. I am going to take at least a year off and then see what happens next.

“I'm going to spend more time with my husband and family. I can spend more time travelling with my husband as opposed to travelling on my own. We are also very fortunate, we have a boat in Florida, so we can do some sailing.”

Mrs. Kempe is also a member of the American Law Institute and has been an Adviser to its two international projects (Insolvency NAFTA and Transnational Rules and Civil Procedure).

She received the National Association of Women Lawyers' 1998 Outstanding Member of the Year Award as well as the American Bar Association's Section of International Law and Practice Mayre S Rasmussen Award (the first non-American to be given these awards).