Even before the jury comes back with a verdict at the Conrad Black trial, lawyers are squabbling over what assets can be seized from the dethroned press baron in the event of a conviction.

Up for grabs might be the Canadian-born media mogul’s posh Palm Beach estate, as well as the $8.6 million in cash seized by the feds in 2005 when he sold his Park Avenue apartment and a $2.6 million diamond ring he bought for his wife.

Marc Martin, a lawyer for Black, argued in court yesterday that the Florida beachfront mansion was acquired long before Black’s alleged looting from investors in his Chicago newspaper empire took place, which means he shouldn’t have to forfeit the property.

The government is looking to seize nearly $70 million worth of assets from Black and his three co-defendants.

The largely blue-collar jury that’s deciding Black’s fate at the Chicago fraud and racketeering trial began deliberations last week.

The jurors spent at least part of yesterday reviewing audiotapes of two annual meetings held by Hollinger International in which Black defended lavish payouts to himself and other top executives. Their deliberations will resume today.

The former newspaper titan got a separate kick from Hollinger Inc., the Toronto-based holding company that owns most of Hollinger International. The company sued three Canadian banks, accusing them of securing loan repayments even though they knew Black, then chairman, was improperly siphoning money off to companies he controlled.

Hollinger sued the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Toronto-Dominion Bank and the Bank of Nova Scotia to recover $61.7 million that the company said the banks received from an improper repayment of debt. The money came from a $170.5 million Hollinger financing, part of which was diverted to Ravelston Corp., a company controlled by Black, Toronto-based Hollinger said in the complaint.