This story appeared in today's Bermuda Gazette:


Judge ponders reporting lawyer to Bar Association

By Elizabeth Roberts

A judge is considering contempt of court proceedings against a lawyer for using the word �ass� about him.
Puisne Justice Carlisle Greaves is also thinking of reporting defence lawyer Craig Attridge to the governing body for lawyers, the Bar Association.
Outlining a number of occasions when he had taken exception to Mr. Attridge�s behaviour, Mr. Justice Greaves told a public hearing at Supreme Court yesterday �this is not his dressing room nor his plantation� adding that he is not the lawyer�s slave.
His comments came as he dealt with a case Mr. Attridge acted in. At a previous hearing earlier this month, Mr. Attridge asked the judge to take him off the case due to his client�s non-payment. The judge declined, and Mr. Attridge said he would seek a judicial review of the decision.
With Mr. Attridge unavailable to appear at court when the topic came up again yesterday, Charles Richardson, another lawyer from Juris Law Chambers, stood in for him to make the request again.
Mr. Justice Greaves allowed Mr. Attridge to be removed from the matter, but then told Mr. Richardson it seemed as though Mr. Attridge had �ducked the bullet by not appearing this morning�, adding, �you can tell Mr. Attridge I�m tired of his rudeness�.
He remarked that the lawyer seemed to have a problem with him dating from the time he was a magistrate, and cited several occasions when he had been displeased by the way he conducted himself in court.
The judge said last time he made a decision, Mr. Attridge referred to him with �a three letter word� in the precincts of the court. This, said Mr. Justice Greaves, meant he was considering contempt of court action or reporting the lawyer to the Bar Association. After remarking that he was not Mr. Attridge�s slave, the judge continued: �For more than 1000 years this institution has served with one central pillar. It�s called respect.�
He told Mr. Richardson he was considering whether Mr. Attridge should appear before him at all in future, continuing by saying he felt Mr. Attridge displayed behaviour �that seems rooted in some kind of complexity that he has�.
Returning to the topic of Mr. Attridge�s language about him in the precincts of the court, he said: �He may well find that I�m taking some serious action against him. I�m sick and tired of his antics.�
The judge later sent word through a court associate that he did not wish his remarks to be published, so this newspaper engaged lawyer Saul Froomkin QC to seek clarification of the situation.
In a further hearing that followed, Mr. Justice Greaves revealed that the three letter word in question was �ass� - but made it plain he did not wish his warning to Mr. Attridge to be published as it was not intended for media consumption and he had not seen media representatives in court at the time.
Mr. Justice Greaves added: �I don�t think Mr. Attridge wants people in Bermuda to know that he called the judge an ass and I don�t want people to think that�s what a counsel thought he should do when it�s a decision he didn�t like�.
He said he did not wish to hurt Mr. Attridge, and wanted the matter to remain in court, but went on to add that he was considering citing contempt of court �because certainly abusive language toward the judge in the precincts of the court must be contempt of court.�
The judge did not make a court order banning publication.
When The Royal Gazette called Juris Law Chambers to invite Mr. Attridge to comment, Mr. Richardson said he did not think his colleague would be doing so. He added: �The comments made this morning were in my professional opinion, completely inappropriate. End of story.�

Sounds like a very "ass-inine" reason to lodge a contempt charge.