The Supreme Court (three) was packed to the rafters during a double call to the Bar on Friday from the law firm of Appleby, Spurling & Kempe.

More than 100 family, friends, and colleagues watched from the dock, jury box, the gallery, aisle, and even in the hallway as Puisne Judge Vincent Meerabux welcomed to the legal field Bermudian Loretta Stoneham and Briton Arabella Di Iorio.

Mrs. Stoneham, formerly Fraser, choked with emotion as she told of her long journey to becoming an associate on the insurance team in the companies division of AS&K last September.

A Warwick Academy graduate, she has been a project manager for the Abu Dhabi Oil Company and worked at Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre in New York.

She is a former executive secretary and later vice-president for administration at Pinehurst which was absorbed by Jardine Matheson Ltd., before starting her legal training.

Mrs. Stoneham gained her legal degree with first class honours from Buckingham University while receiving a bursary from AS&K, the Fessenden Trott Scholarship, and a Bermuda Government further education award. Senior Partner at AS&K John Campbell said: "She has a congenial personality and has been able to put past working experience to her work.'' He said the company had been fortunate in attracting many people who want to be the best they can be.

"Loretta Stoneham is one such person,'' Mr. Campbell added.

Her niece, Crown counsel Nicole Stoneham, extended her best wishes and called her "my role model and source of inspiration''.

Lawyer Richard Hector said AS&K and the Island would be well served by Mrs.

Stoneham.

Arabella Di Iorio was born in Italy and raised in the UK, and has a bachelor's degree in jurisprudence from Oxford University in 1986.

She completed her pupilage at Lincoln's Inn, worked at SJ Berwin and later was the senior assistant in the litigation property unit of Europe's biggest law firm, Linklaters & Paines (now Linklaters).

She was called a "rising star'' in the legal profession in the 1996-1997 edition of the Chambers Directory -- the most prominent guide to English and Welsh lawyers.

Married to Ricky Di Iorio, she is an associate in the litigation department where she practices general commercial litigation.

AS&K partner Kelvin Hastings-Smith commended Mrs. Di Iorio on her support of young Bermudians pursuing a career in law.

He added: "She is talented and experienced and can only enhance Bermudian law. A rising star has settled in the Appleby, Spurling, and Kempe chambers.'' Mrs. Di Iorio said she was honoured to be called to the Bar in Bermuda and pledged to do her best for the Island.

Mrs. Stoneham thanked her mother, husband, and the many people who helped her through the years and thanked AS&K for recognising her abilities.

Mr. Justice Meerabux welcomed both women and praised all of the people who "supported, nurtured, and encouraged'' them in their legal journey.

He commended Mrs. Di Iorio on her broad experience in the UK, but added: "Beware, because if something is different it is not necessarily wrong.'' Mr. Justice Meerabux told Mrs. Stoneham that being called to the Bermuda Bar was not the end of her legal education, adding that the law was so much more.

"You will have to taste it,'' he said. "And then you can say you have really experienced it.''