Legal arguments will begin this morning in the trial of former lawyer Julian Hall.

Mr. Hall, a former MP and Shadow Minister of the Environment, was officially declared bankrupt and banned from practising law in January, 2000.

He was ordered in December, 1997, to pay a former client, Canadian widow Betty Lorraine McMahon, $1.6 million plus seven percent interest. As legal proceedings dragged on, he was charged with five counts of stealing a total of $551,044 from the elderly widow between 1995 and 1996. He has denied those charges.

Legal arguments are expected to conclude today in time for a jury to be empanelled tomorrow morning.

Previously one of the top defence lawyers in the country, Mr. Hall is representing himself.