Lawyer Julian Hall is making a high-profile return to Bermuda's legal scene by representing Andre Curtis on business charges.

Curtis appeared in Magistrates' Court yesterday for a brief hearing over charges relating to his company Harvest Investment Holdings. Lawyer Rick Woolridge, representing Curtis yesterday, told Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner he was holding the matter for Mr. Hall. Previously, Patricia Harvey was Curtis' lawyer on the matter.

Mr. Hall was recently given permission to practise at the Bermuda Bar for the first time since he was declared bankrupt in January 2000. The law banning bankrupt lawyers was changed in December, after Mr. Hall claimed Bermuda was the only Country in the world to have imposed such an automatic and blanket ban.

Last month, an announcement in the Official Gazette revealed he had been granted a practising certificate by the Bar Association. Curtis, 44, of Whale View Lane, Warwick, is charged with operating an investment company without a licence between March 2007 and December 2008.

He is also charged with making a statement, promise or forecast which he knew to be false between August 2008 and December 2008. He has not been required to enter a plea because the case will be heard at Supreme Court. Yesterday, he was bailed to reappear at Magistrates' Court on Tuesday, April 7.