Here's his final summation.

Love it or hate it, the Bermuda Fire civil suit was a landmark case for Bermuda which, alongside the neighbouring Thyssen-Bornemisza trial, required a custom-built courtroom for its army of roughly 40 lawyers to play in.

The legally innovative case required more improvisation from its plaintiffs than is commonly realised.

At its core was the allegation that Bermuda Fire's directors knew or suspected their company was insolvent at the time of its 1991 split-up.

Aside from the obvious problem of time -- witnesses could be questioned on events dating back to the mid-Eighties -- one of the suit's most torturous procedures was the battle to establish exactly what was in the directors' minds.

How comfortable were they with their financial advice? Were they treating their actuarial figures as a "best estimate'' or a "range''? These and other semantic issues could eat up hours at a time, running both sides ragged in the process.

Was it fair to call Bermuda Fire auditors Cooper & Lines "financial advisors''? While Ian Croxford QC bitterly disputed his client had such a role, other defendants just as vociferously insisted that they did.

Or what, precisely, did former director Donald Lines mean when he described the "moral obligation'' of a subsidiary to its parent company? Mr. Lines kept up a spirited presence in witness testimony, ironically before he ever got the chance to define "moral obligation'' on the stand for himself.

Reading Mr. Lines' mind lays bare the case's most objection-prone tactic, in which defendants such as former director Gregory Haycock were called upon to conjecture what might have been in the minds of fellow managers.

Unsurprisingly, "I have no idea'' and "I can't remember'' became mantras for the defence -- to which lawyers could just as often fire back, in classic London style: "I suggest you do.'' Representing liquidators Ernst & Young, Clare Montgomery QC was particularly tenacious in suggesting that they did. Fresh from the legal battlefield over the extradition of General Pinochet, Ms Montgomery's bulldog perseverance made for some of the most dramatic cross-examinations -- although Bermuda Fire evidently failed to endear her toward civil cases.

No witnesses cracked under pressure, but psychological strain was sometimes evident. The wife of one defendant said her husband had a tough time sleeping as he struggled to remember the exact whos, whens and wheres.

Ultimately it was the personalities involved who redeemed an otherwise laborious court battle.

Theatrical silk Ian Croxford QC and the no-holds-barred former Bermuda Fire director William Cox helped leaven the dry, dry material of pro forma documents, Tillinghast reports and decade-old meeting minutes.

At the end of the day, however, one can't help but wonder what the taciturn Puisne Judge Vincent Meerabux made of the fiercely contentious sessions he presided over.

If the settlement proceeds as both sides would evidently like, that question will be permanently deferred -- along with another year of prodigiously expensive trial-time.

One of the stars: Lawyer Ian Croxford QC.

BUSINESS BUC