night to take up the post of Attorney General.

Mr. Mottley is due to be sworn in today at 11 a.m. at Government House before starting his new $107,876-a-year job.

The 54-year-old Barbadian, who continued working in his private practice in Bridgetown right up until last Friday, told The Royal Gazette he was reserving any comment on the appointment until after he had arrived.

But his colleagues in Barbados said they viewed the appointment as an "honour'' for their Island's legal fraternity.

"The Bar Association wishes Mr. Mottley well in his new undertaking and views it as an honour that he has been so chosen for an important post in Bermuda,'' Barbados Bar Association president Ms Beverly Walrond said.

Mr. Mottley is a former president of the Barbados Bar Association and he served as an MP in the Barbados House of Assembly.

Bermuda lawyers have welcomed his appointment, saying his vast courtroom experience will be an asset.

Mr. Saul Froomkin, a former Attorney General who went into private practice, said Mr. Mottley was a "first-class lawyer''. He had recently worked with him on a case in Anguilla and found him to be "very experienced with a very good reputation in the Caribbean''.

Mr. Mottley was hired by Government after only two applicants on the Island expressed interest in the post.

Bermudian Solicitor General Mr. Barrie Meade has been acting Attorney General for the last few months following Mr. Walter Maddocks' early retirement last July after a rash of Crown Counsel departures from his chambers and amid reports of disaffection among private lawyers.

Mr. Mottley, whose daughter Mia is the Education Minister under the new Barbados government, served as a member of Parliament representing the Bridgetown constituency for the Barbados Labour Party from 1969 to 1976. In 1976 he was appointed Barbados Consul General in the United States.

"Mr. Mottley has wide experience in the Caribbean and has appeared on behalf of the governments in cases in Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands and Montserrat,'' a Government spokesman said at the time of his appointment. "He has extensive experience of criminal law.''