A new law which will allow bankrupt lawyers to practise in Bermuda has been tabled in the House of Assembly — but it is scant on detail, according to Deputy Opposition Leader Trevor Moniz.

"It's the bare bones," said Mr. Moniz, of the Bermuda Bar Amendment Act 2008. "There is really nothing there."

The new legislation, if passed by Parliament, will allow bankrupt lawyers to be issued with practising certificates for the first time since 1984. The Bar Council, the governing body of Bermuda Bar Association, has backed the proposed change in the law in principle.

Members of the Bar Association, including Mr. Moniz, were asked to comment on the proposal last week but were not shown a copy of the draft law before it was tabled.

The Bar Council forwarded to them a letter from Attorney General Kim Wilson outlining why she was proposing the amendment and asked for responses within three days.

Opposition MP Mr. Moniz said if the legislation was ready to be tabled in the House last Friday, lawyers should have had the chance to read it first.

"If it already existed, why wasn't it shared with us previously?" he asked. "I was told by the Bar Council it didn't exist yet. It obviously did exist."

He described the draft act as a "very vestigial piece of legislation" and said a lot of lawyers would only support such a change if there was sufficient protection for the public.

"It's very short," he said. "It just doesn't meet any reasonable standard of oversight to protect the public. I would like to see them put in standards, such as in the Law Society in the UK, which has much more stringent regulations."

Ms Wilson said last week: "A draft amendment was not circulated to the (Bar) Council as the proposed changes were clearly set out in my letter to them. The proposed amendments as it relates to the undischarged bankrupts' ability to receive a practising certificate, subject to conditions stated in the said correspondence, are not major drafting changes."

Her letter to the Bar Council said conditions would be imposed when a practising certificate was issued to "ensure that the interest of the client is protected". She said a review of the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Ontario found that bankrupt lawyers there could carry on their professional business "subject to appropriate restrictions".

On Monday, the Bar Association sent the draft legislation to all members and asked them to "pass on your comments to us or directly to the Attorney General".

Bar Association president Rod Attride-Stirling told The Royal Gazette: "We share with members the drafts of all legislation provided to the association by the government.

"We always prefer to have as much time as possible to review draft legislation. Sometimes we don't have as much time as we would like to have for the review, in which case we do our best to review the legislation in the time allowed.

"In relation to the bankruptcy issue, our support for the idea of changing the law was stated to be 'in principle' and on the basis that the Canadian approach would be adopted. We and our membership are reviewing the proposed legislative amendments."

The amended act is likely to be debated in the House before MPs break for Christmas.