Three top UK lawyers ? including Cherie Booth QC, the wife of Prime Minister Tony Blair ? are due to arrive on the Island this week to take part in a high-profile appeal case.

In the case, to be heard on Monday, the Bank of Bermuda is appealing a decision taken last August that in 2001 the Minister of Community Affairs acted properly in appointing a board of inquiry into allegations of racial discrimination.

The court of appeal case is another chapter in years of legal wrangling between the bank and Bermuda businessman Harold Darrell.

In last year's trial the bank asked the court to quash a decision by then Community Affairs Minister Randolph Horton to refer a racial discrimination complaint to a Board of Inquiry, arguing that Mr. Horton was biased, that the complaint was time barred and that it had been dismissed previously by prior Minister Terry Lister.

The matter dates back to 2000 when Mr. Darrell filed a complaint with the Human Rights Commission saying that the bank had racially discriminated against him by failing to act on the results of an internal bank investigation which found in his favour.

Separately, Mr. Darrell has also taken legal action against the bank alleging breach of confidentiality. That matter is due to be heard by the Court in November.

The Bank is being represented by Queen's Counsel James Goodie, an administrative law expert who once counted both Mr. Blair and Mrs. Booth ? a well-respected QC noted for her human rights work and who practices law under her maiden name ? as pupils in his Chambers.

Government is being represented by noted academic, professor of Public Law and Queen's Counsel Jeffrey Jowell. Besides being a leading authority on public law, he is also an expert on administrative law, human rights and planning law.

Each of the parties involved hired their heavyweight legal counsels after Mr. Darrell upped the ante several years ago in hiring Mrs. Booth, a move that both the bank and Government followed.

Yesterday a legal professional said this was common practice. The development will mean hefty legal bills for each party with it not uncommon for QCs to command ?300 ($540) and up an hour.

Although the parties named in the appeal are the bank and the Community Affairs Minister, Mr. Darrell's spokesperson, Corey Butterfield, yesterday told Mr. Darrell had the right to representation as an affected party.

Mrs. Booth has represented Mr. Darrell previously but this will be the first time that Mr. Goodie acts for the bank on this matter, although he has previously acted in Bermuda on administrative law matters. It was not known yesterday if Mr. Jowell had acted on the Island before.

Mrs. Booth is due to arrive in Bermuda on Saturday. Her London law firm Matrix confirmed she was due here for the case.

The visit will mark her fifth trip to the Island for varying reasons since 2002, including a personal family holiday, an engagement to speak to the Bermuda Bar Association, as a speaker for the Women in Public Life conference and in her capacity as Mr. Darrell's counsel.

Mrs. Booth, who has courted controversy in recent years from wide allegations that she cashes in on her husband's position, was most recently the subject of negative news reports for reportedly taking a ?30,000 fee (about $54,200) for a 90-minute live audience conversation with CNN anchor Paula Zahn in the US capital last month.

Critics charge that she would never command such a fee as Cherie Booth QC and that profiting from her ties to the Prime Minister could be a breach of the ministerial code.

The Zahn interview, held at Washington's Kennedy Center and billed as Mrs. Blair discussing her life at 10 Downing Street, coincided with an official meeting between US President George Bush and Mr. Blair on American soil.

Whatever the latest controversy facing Mrs. Booth, she will be on the Island as a leading lawyer on a case that has attracted those equally respected for their legal expertise.

A source familiar with the case said: "It will be an interesting case. In terms of fire power James [Goodie is great, [Jeffrey Jowell is an academic and Cherie Booth brings her own attributes to the table."