Long renowned for having more golf courses per square mile than anywhere else in the world, Bermuda could soon find fame in another sphere -- the Island harbours more lawyers per capita than almost anywhere else.

While Iceland was awarded the "golden gavel'' by the New York Times for its four lawyers for every thousand people, statistics compiled by The Royal Gazette show an impressive three for every thousand.

Of Bermuda's estimated current population of 59,380, provided by the Government Statistical Department, 192 are Bermuda Bar Association members.

That means one lawyer to every 309 people compared to one doctor to every 700 according to the 1993 Manpower Survey.

Accountants rate even higher with one accountant for every 70 people.

But this does not necessarily mean the Island is swamped with litigating legal eagles.

According to president of the Bermuda Bar Association, Mr. John Cooper, comparing Bermuda with other countries is unhelpful.

"I don't think comparisons are very useful,'' Mr. Cooper pointed out.

But he admitted: "There is a great amount of legal work for the number of people who live here.'' He put this down to the large proportion of offshore work channelled through local law firms.

"Offshore work largely does not concern the vast majority of people living here. At least half the lawyers here are involved in offshore business. And even those who are not normally concerned with it do work in that area from time to time,'' he said.

Mrs. Lynda Milligan-Whyte, senior partner of Milligan-Whyte & Smith agreed.

"A large number of attorneys in Bermuda deal with the corporate side which covers the 7,000 businesses registered here. So you have to have a fair-sized legal community to deal with the companies,'' she said.

The New York Times survey showed the United States has the largest number of lawyers in the world with 777,100 but Iceland has the most per capita -- 1,000 lawyers for a population of 259,742.

At the other end of the scale, Indonesia has virtually none with only 1,200 government-registered lawyers among a population of 193 million.

The survey, based on data gleaned from governmental sources and the US census, showed the majority of the world's lawyers were concentrated in western countries.

Southeast Asia and Africa have relatively fewer lawyers except where trade links with western countries are strong.