A "warning shot" was said yesterday to have been fired to Government over a new law which will allow bankrupt lawyers to practise in Bermuda.

Fifty attorneys attended a special general meeting of the Bermuda Bar Association and passed a resolution stating that they did not approve of the Bermuda Bar Amendment Act 2008, as drafted and passed in the House of Assembly last Friday.

Deputy Opposition Leader Trevor Moniz, who requested the meeting along with 12 other barristers, told The Royal Gazette: "I think it's a warning shot certainly to the Government that there needs to be more protections and that the bill, as drafted, is not sufficient to protect the public."

Bar Association president Rod Attride-Stirling told this newspaper there were votes on two resolutions. The first stated that the Bar Association was in favour in principle of allowing bankrupt lawyers to practise, subject to conditions; 49 lawyers voted for this, none were against and one person abstained.

The second motion read: "The Bar Association is against the proposed bill as presently formulated on the basis that it does not sufficiently protect the integrity of our profession and the members of the public."

On a show of hands, 35 members voted in favour, six voted against and five abstained.

Mr. Attride-Stirling explained that some people may have left during the meeting or not raised their hands when abstentions were called for, hence the difference in totals for the two motions.

He said: "As you will see, the total in attendance at the meeting was a little more than half the number who participated in the Bar's e-mail poll vote (on the same issue), where 90 members participated."

The controversial Act was passed by MPs last week and will be debated in the Senate tomorrow (Friday).

If approved there, it will become law and bankrupt lawyers in Bermuda will be able to get practising certificates for the first time in almost 25 years.

If there is a tie vote or a majority of senators against the legislation, it will be sent back to the House of Assembly to be amended. Mr. Moniz said: "It will be interesting to know what views the Independents have on it."

He added that yesterday's "productive" meeting went well. "The group that had concerns about the bill were well represented," he said. "There were not a large number of people who supported the thing as it was. There was no substantial support for the Government's position."

High-profile defence lawyer Charles Richardson said he was disheartened by some of the responses from the legal community to the new law.

He said many commented on the need for provisions to make bankrupt lawyers pay a certain amount of their earnings direct to their creditors — but that was beyond the Bar's remit.

"I have had a look at the statutory and regulatory regimes elsewhere and whilst they all seem to contain some restriction on the types of property which a bankrupt can handle unsupervised, none of them appear to attempt to regulate how and at what rate he/she repays their creditors," he said.

Mr. Richardson added: "Once we have ensured that such a member is allowed to practise, and that he/she is practising subject to conditions which protect the service consuming community from loss or harm, the question of how, whether or what rate the bankrupt pays his debts is none of our business. That is a matter which is amply provided for by the laws governing bankruptcy."

It is understand that Attorney General Kim Wilson, an ex officio member of the association's elected Bar Council, was not at yesterday's meeting. She did not respond to a request for comment.