Working with a criminal code nearly 100 years old and under a Premier who has pledged a root and branch re-assessment of the legal system, new Attorney General Phil Perinchief has his work cut out.

But the veteran lawyer is already mulling over some radical proposals as he gets his teeth into the top legal job in the country.

They include smaller juries and introducing juries for civil cases which he said could help ?bring the fairest amount of justice to the country?.

Asked if this wouldn?t put more demands on an already stretched jury pool, he said: ?I don?t think so. Civil jurors dealing with commercial cases could be pooled from a very different group of citizens.

?We have to explore these things because we are an international business community. It?s prudent to bring the greatest degree of justice to these areas.?

Sen. Perinchief said civil jurors were used in Ontario, Canada. ?We are not reinventing the wheel. We will explore these things. Having explored them we might not carry them out.?

Defence lawyers might get the ability to reject more than three jurors from the jury pool before a trial commences.

Currently the Crown has no such restrictions and Senator Perinchief said he wanted more fairness.

?I am not just looking at where we can improve the laws. I am looking at the entire criminal justice system.

?We also be looking at the jury selection pool as see whether we can widen the net there in terms of getting the most competent selection there.?

It will mean getting rid of some of the more arcane restrictions on those who can serve on juries which currently bar marine pilots, doctors, dentists and vets and anyone working at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.

?We want to see if we can achieve that without upsetting the professional services they provide,? Mr. Perinchief said.

A public defender system giving the poor access to lawyers might also be brought in.

?There have been jurisdictions where they found that system sped up cases and cleared court backlogs. They worked out to be cheaper than the traditional legal aid scheme.

?A wider section of society will have a greater access to these services ? it might be they have to pass a stringent means test.?

Currently Bermuda has one publicly-funded defence lawyer who also does administrative work.

But private defence lawyers are few and far between, which sometimes causes a case backlog.

?There will be the argument public defenders might make it difficult for defence counsel but any really, really good and experienced defence counsel will get the major cases in any event.?

A continuing lack of prosecutors is also a concern with the Department of Public Prosecutions again about two or three prosecutors short.

Staff in the DPP?s department have long complained they are not paid enough considering the hours they put in and the vast sums available in the private sector.

A pupil in the prosecutions department starts at $50,000 while a junior crown starts at around $60,000 and reach $80-90,000.

But, by swapping to the private sector, lawyers can easily earn twice as much.

?I am having a look with my technical officers and Permanent Secretary at a re-grading of positions. That?s the Attorney General?s chambers as well as DPP?s.

?We do think they ought to be at a level where they can attract the best and the brightest and retain the best and the brightest.

?We also have mind to put into place a succession plan which will achieve the expertise needed for international best practice.?

He said it might be needed to up the rates by two or three PS levels.

Sen. Perinchief has yet to meet with Director of Public Prosecutions Vinette Graham-Allen who has been criticised for not allow Bermudians to rise in the department.

And said he didn?t know if there was any truth behind the claims Ms Graham-Allen is set to leave next year.

?We will be looking at Bermudianising, but it will not be at the cost or price of experience and expertise,? he said. ?I am not a person who Bermudianises at all costs.?

A defence lawyer for 16 years, Sen. Perinchief worked in the AG?s office for close to six years where he reached the level of Principal Crown counsel and occasionally acted as Solicitor General.

But despite his longstanding PLP connections, Sen. Perinchief, 62, said the offer to become AG, made the day before his appointment, came out of the blue.

?I had no indication at all. I had to do a lot of quick thinking about whether I wanted to move from the relative secure position of the civil service to the relatively less secure position of a politician.

?But having made that very quick choice I don?t regret it. It?s quite an awesome job which I take very seriously. In this position I tend to think more deeply before I take legal positions.?

He said it was time to update the Criminal Code of 1907 which has such antiquated laws as ?failure to give a good account of yourself?.

?My major concern is, as a country, we bring the maximum degree of justice to all citizens.?