Donald Findlay QC, one of Scotland's top criminal lawyers, was yesterday cleared of offending Roman Catholics by telling jokes at a Rangers supporters club.

He had faced a disciplinary tribunal after allegations that his quips about the Pope and a nun during an after-dinner speech had given lawyers a bad name.

If the verdict had gone the other way one of the most colourful figures at the Scottish Bar could have been fined thousands of pounds or struck off.

After complaints to the Faculty of Advocates - the professional body which governs Scotland's courtroom lawyers - a tribunal was set up, headed by retired judge Lord Coulsfield, to try Mr Findlay on a charge of professional misconduct.

A former headteacher of a Catholic school in Falkirk said Mr Findlay had been acting like "an uncouth moron" and a former businessman said his behaviour was "racist and bigoted".

Mr Hugh Lynch, 65, of Burnhead Road, Larbert, Stirlingshire, said: "If I had done that as rector of St Mungo's High School I'd have been run out of the job."

Mr Thomas Minogue, 62, a former managing director of a steel fabricating business, of Victoria Terrace, Dunfermline, said: "I find Mr Findlay's disrespect for me and others like me to be objectionable."

Mr Findlay denied setting out to cause offence, or bringing his profession into disrepute by his jokes but offered Mr Lynch and Mr Minogue an unreserved apology.

Advocate Frances Connor, called as a witness to back Mr Findlay, said she came from a large Catholic family in Motherwell with relatives who were nuns. She condemned the complaints for portraying Catholics as "humourless and narrow minded".

After considering the matter the tribunal concluded that "the complaint should be rejected".

"It is clear that the two particular jokes complained of do not amount to conduct which either did or would reasonably be expected to give rise to offence to a significant proportion of the Roman Catholic community in Scotland."

The row dates back to a Rangers supporters' event in Larne, Northern Ireland in May, 2005.

Mr Findlay's after-dinner speech made headlines in a Sunday newspaper which described his speech as "a foul-mouthed sectarian tirade".

But the journalist who wrote the article under a nom-de-plume did not give evidence to the tribunal. Neither Mr Lynch nor Mr Minogue were at the function - but based their complaints on what they had read.

Mr Findlay told how he began his 45-minute performance by puffing on his trade-mark pipe, wafting the smoke around and asking whether another Pope had died.

The target of his humour, he told the tribunal, was the way the announcement of the election of a Pope was announced by sending smoke from the Vatican chimney.

He also said that in order to avoid crude language he would substitute the word "turnip" for any swear words - and went on to describe a nun as having the biggest turnip you have ever seen.

Mr Findlay claimed that to take action against him infringed his human right to free speech. He denied the Pope and nun remarks were offensive or sectarian.

He also said he took great care to separate his legal work from his after-dinner speaking and comedian engagements.

"My after-dinner activities are really the only hobby I have now. Outwith my work it is a good diversion."

In the wake of complaints about his Larne speech Mr Findlay had to give up his role as chair of Faculty Services Ltd, the business arm of the professional association.

It is the third time he has faced discipline. In May 1999 he was told off for saying he was "appalled" that jurors could only spare half an hour to convict a client of murder.

He was fined 3500 and had to quit as vice-chairman of Rangers after singing sectarian songs to celebrate a cup final victory over Celtic.

Mr Findlay was represented at the hearing - the first such hearing the Faculty of Advocates has held in public - by fellow QC Paul Cullen.

The Faculty of Advocates might now consider a recommendation from the tribunal that they should think about laying down guidelines for "proper conduct" of off-duty lawyers.