"The number one rule is to protect the insolvency practitioner at all cost." - From the minutes of meeting between a PPB liquidator and Minter Ellison lawyers.

Rarely will a judge pierce the veil of legal professional privilege, that is, order that the cloak of secrecy between a lawyer and a client be removed.

But in an epic legal battle in South Australia - one that may prove to be a watershed case for lawyers and liquidators nationwide - the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Chris Kourakis, has done precisely that.

The correspondence is telling. It is grist to the mill for Senator John Williams, who heads the impending inquiry into the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, and others in Canberra who are calling for reform to what has become one of this country's most lucrative industries - insolvency.

In this case, the 12-year feud between PPB's Peter Macks and small businessman John Viscariello, things had run off the rails.