The Supreme Court has given its judgment on extending Legal Professional Privilege (LPP) to chartered accountants ruling that it should not be extended to clients of non-legally qualified tax advisers but that the matter should be looked at by parliament.

The long awaited judgement has garnered much interest from parties with vested interests, including the Law Society, the Bar Council, the Legal Services Board, the ICAEW and HMRC.

The significance of this appeal rested on the fact that if it was allowed, it could protect from disclosure tax law advice given by accountants and further blur the line between tax lawyers and accountants.

The appellants, Prudential plc and Prudential (Gibraltar) Limited ("Prudential"), appealed against the Court of Appeal's unanimous decision in 2010 to uphold the first instance decision that, at common law, LPP does not extend to non-legally qualified tax advisers.

The full judgment is available from the Supreme Court HERE