Bankrupt lawyer Julian Hall has been ordered to pay his creditors up to $6,000 a month, after it was revealed his Government consultancy salary has almost doubled.

The court order was made yesterday morning at a hearing before Puisne Justice Carlisle Greaves.

"It's a victory for the creditors," said a source.

"This is the first bit of money the creditors will receive from Mr. Hall for ten years or so".

Mr. Hall was adjudged bankrupt in January 2000. He currently owes more than $3 million including interest to his creditors.

They include Betty McMahon, the estate of Charles Vaucrosson and the Bank of Bermuda.

The lawyer is fighting to get the bankruptcy discharged in the Supreme Court but this is being contested by the Official Receiver and his creditors.

Yesterday, Mr. Hall came to an agreement to pay an initial $3,000 to his creditors next month and then $6,000 a month until further order of the court.

The court heard that his contract as a legal consultant to the Minister of Works and Engineering was amended in December to an annual $200,000 from $119,000.

A source said: "The judge disclosed to the court that Mr. Hall has a steady income from Works and Engineering which has increased since the last hearing in April from $119,000 to $200,000 a year.

"As a result of that information the judge ordered that at the end of this month the Accountant General will divert $3,000 of Julian Hall's pay to the Official Receiver, to be applied to his debts and bankruptcy.

"The following months he will then divert $6,000 a month, until further order of the court."

In November Mr. Justice Greaves criticised Mr. Hall's "obvious bad behaviour" in his slowness to disclose his finances in the bankruptcy case.

The Official Receiver's former lawyer Kulandra Ratneser had called for him to be jailed for contempt of court after missing a deadline to answer questions about his finances.

But Mr. Justice Greaves said Mr. Hall could only have been in contempt if he had wilfully disobeyed the court.

Last night Mr. Hall said he had come to the amount of $3,000 followed by $6,000 in an agreement with Paul Harshaw, lawyer for the Official Receiver.

"It was a deal I worked out with Mr. Harshaw, I agreed to make it the terms of $3,000 and then $6,000 until the substantive hearing on the section 32 application (discharge from bankruptcy under section 32 of the Bankruptcy Act 1989) has been finalised," he said.

"Since last year we've been trying to get a final ruling on section 32.

"Under section 32, on the application of the Official Receiver the court may discharge the bankruptcy absolutely or on conditions to be agreed with the bankrupt."

Mr. Hall is also waiting to hear the results of his application for a new practising certificate from the Bar Council. He applied on January 16 following legislation passed in December The Bermuda Bar Amendment Act 2008, which allows undischarged bankrupt lawyers to continue to practice, with conditions.

"I'm just waiting for the certificate. I feel quite relaxed about it right now," he said yesterday.

Mr. Hall has been declared bankrupt twice and has said the previous ban on him practising meant he was stuck in a vicious circle, unable to work as a barrister to pay off his debts.