Will there be a war between lawyers and Big4?

Lawyers may have won an even bigger victory than they thought when, on 24 September 2024, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) handed down a long-awaited ruling in a Luxembourg case between the law firm Clifford Chance, supported by the Ordre des avocats, and the Luxembourg Inland Revenue. The European judges strengthened and clarified their case law on the status of lawyers and, in particular, the extent of their professional secrecy – i.e. the confidentiality of their dealings with clients. They have established that this confidentiality covers all the lawyer's activities, whereas the Administrative Court had not taken the same line: in the Panama Papers judgments, it had considered that lawyers could invoke their professional confidentiality in tax matters only if they considered that their clients were at risk of criminal prosecution.

The Administrative Court therefore reviewed its own case law in the light of the CJEU's interpretation and on 18 December 2024 ruled on this Luxembourg case, which is being followed with interest by other European countries – much to the delight of lawyers and the Luxembourg Bar, as the Journal has already reported.