ICAEW mulls another foray into legal privilege battle

ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY for the ICAEW to argue in court in favour of extending legal professional privilege could arise, after a landmark case was allowed to be heard by the Supreme Court.

After Prudential was yesterday granted leave to appeal in the Supreme Court over its assertion that tax advice it received from PwC was protected by legal professional privilege (LPP), the institute said it would like the opportunity to help the insurer.

The ICAEW presented to the Court of Appeal last year in the Prudential case, arguing for LPP to be extended beyond lawyers, to tax advisers.

Ian Young (pictured), ICAEW tax faculty technical manager, said the institute would "welcome the opportunity to present to the courts".

"If LPP is a common law right then it should be for the courts to decide."

However, it was still too early to say definitively whether the ICAEW would be involved, and would require further discussion. "It is an expensive venture," Young added.