Bermuda's top law firms have given a lukewarm response to the news that some of the UK's leading legal teams could be set to start up in business on the Island.

This follows an article which appeared in online legal publication The Lawyer, which reported that law firm Reynolds Porter Chamberlain (RPC) was sending a reconnaissance team to Bermuda to scout out the possibility of launching here.

The firm's initiative comes as a growing number of UK firms look to join UK-based insurance and reinsurance brokers that have relocated to the Island. In addition to RPC, other major insurance law firms such as Clyde & Co, Kennedys and Norton Rose have all indicated that Bermuda is on their radar.

Conyers Dill and Pearman (CD&P) said it was aware that UK and US law firms as well as some offshore competitors had been evaluating this scenario for several years now, but remained non-committal as to whether their competition would be a good or a bad thing.

A spokesperson for CD&P said: "We have extensive and very healthy relationships with these firms. We will continue to monitor the situation and see how it develops."

Jonathan Watmough, a corporate partner at RPC, claimed that such a move to be closer to his company's clients would make good business sense.

"With the migration of many insurers and reinsurers to Bermuda, it's only natural their lawyers will follow them," he said. "We certainly spend a lot of time there visiting our clients."

Kennedys chief executive Ric Martin said his firm was looking at Bermuda. But his immediate priority is Singapore, where the firm is planning to open in the second half of the year. Singapore is also attracting the attention of firms with strong insurance practices.

"Bermuda is an expensive place to set up," said Mr. Martin. "Some of the insurers are based there, but a lot are also based on the US mainland, so we're evaluating it.

"It is on the list, but it is a fair way down. We just opened at the beginning of this month in Manchester and are going to open in Singapore in July and that is probably enough to keep us going this year.

"Obviously, a lot of our insurer clients are there, so it is something we will look at, but it is not a priority. The clients are based there, but often the operational side is not in Bermuda."

Meanwhile, both Clydes and Norton Rose have indicated that, if the restrictions on foreign lawyers were lifted, they would set up on the Island.

Under current restrictions, according to the Bermuda Registrar of Companies that authorises new firms' launches, the only restriction is that firms must employ Bermuda-qualified lawyers, which also covers those who are dual-qualified.

Rod Attride-Stirling, president of the Bermuda Bar Association and senior partner at Attride-Stirling & Woloniecki, said: "At present, this a question of Bermuda immigration law and, under them, foreign law firms would not be able to set up in Bermuda."