Lawyer Julian Hall alleges that Chief Justice Richard Ground may have been biased in refusing to lift his bankruptcy status.

Mr. Hall yesterday claimed Mr. Justice Ground should therefore rescind his decision against him and have no further involvement in the proceedings.

The basis of his allegation is that the judge previously held behind-closed-doors "chambers" hearings under the Mental Health Act relating to one of his major creditors, elderly widow Betty McMahon.

Mrs. McMahon, Mr. Hall's former employer, has been deemed unfit to handle her own affairs under the Mental Health Act since 1996. Her estate — to which Mr. Hall owes $1,656,856 plus interest — is therefore administered on her behalf.

The lawyer is unhappy that the Chief Justice granted a request made in chambers from those administrators to assign his debt to a third party or protective trust without him having any input.

He only found out about the Mental Health Act ruling via references made to it by Mr. Justice Ground and Saul Froomkin QC, lawyer for the McMahon estate, during the ensuing bankruptcy hearing.

Mr. Hall complained he knows nothing about what was said about him during the Mental Health hearing, and does not know the identity of the third party to which the debt is now assigned.

He acknowledged that he had no right to be admitted to the chambers hearing, but expressed concern that his credibility may have been put at issue because of his history of legal disputes with those acting for Mrs. MacMahon.

Civil proceedings against him in 1997 led to a court order that he should pay Mrs. McMahon $1.6 million.

A Police investigation later resulted in Mr. Hall being charged in 2002 with stealing more than $500,000 from the elderly woman. He was acquitted after a high-profile Supreme Court trial in 2005.

During his bid to get his bankruptcy overturned last month, Mr. Hall accused attorneys from law firm Mello Jones and Martin (MJM) including Mr. Froomkin, who have represented the McMahon estate, of pressing for him to remain bankrupt. He claimed they acted with an "improper motive" — to prevent him becoming trustee and executor of Mrs. McMahon's estate when she dies.

Mr. Hall told the Chief Justice they want to keep him bankrupt for the full 15 years possible under the Bankruptcy Act because they believe him guilty of "great misdeeds" despite being cleared of theft.

Yesterday, he alleged that, in dealing with the Mental Health proceedings, Mr. Justice Ground "thereby created a real danger of bias" when it came to presiding over the Bankruptcy Act proceedings.

Nonetheless, he was at pains to tell the Chief Justice: "This is not a comfortable position for me to be in, I'll make that plain. I am not here to utter one word of disrespect to you or be drawn into any kind of discussion that would make us uncomfortable, but I am duty bound to advance this argument."

Mr. Hall was declared bankrupt more than eight years ago after racking up debts of $2.7 million. Besides the estate of Mrs. MacMahon, he owes large sums to the estate of his former employer Charles Vaucrosson and other entities including the Government and the Bank of Bermuda.

His debts currently stand in the region of $3.3 million including interest. The Chief Justice rejected his bid to lift his bankruptcy after hearing that he has failed to repay a cent.

Since bankrupts are unable to practice at the Bar, Mr. Hall claims he is stuck in a vicious circle, unable to work as a barrister to pay off his debts.

However, he has scored work as a legal consultant, and currently holds a $119,000 per annum contract with the Ministry of Works and Engineering.

His application was contested by the other parties to the bankruptcy proceedings. The Chief Justice will rule on it later this week.