This practice note considers the solicitor's role and duties on disclosure, and the key pieces of advice regarding disclosure which should be communicated to the client, in cases subject to the disclosure regime under Civil Procedure Rule (CPR) 31, Practice Direction (PD) 31A and PD 31B. It is essential that, from the initial instruction onwards, you provide your client with timely and appropriate advice in relation to their disclosure obligations.

Disclosure in the B&PCs: a mandatory (save for limited exceptions) Disclosure Pilot Scheme (DPS) (PD 51U) operated in the Business and Property Courts from 1 January 2019 until 1 October 2022. PD 57AD ("Disclosure in the Business and Property Courts") took effect on 1 October 2022, replacing PD 51U, and implementing, on a permanent basis, the procedures that applied under the DPS. PD 57AD sets out express duties for parties and their legal representatives, and sanctions for failure to comply. For details of our materials considering the approach to disclosure under PD 57AD (and its predecessor, PD 51U), see Disclosure in the B&PCs toolkit.

Changes to CPR 28.2 and CPR 31.5 under the Civil Procedure (Amendment) Rules 2024 (SI 2024/106): Changes to CPR 28.2 implemented on 6 April 2024 appear to have been incorrectly applied on the justice.gov.uk website. Further, the apparently intended changes to CPR 28.2 and CPR 31.5 have led to a lack of clarity regarding the approach to disclosure. We have sought clarification from the Civil Procedure Rule Committee and will update our materials once the position has been clarified. For more details, see Legal update, Disclosure: potential confusion regarding changes to CPR 28.2 and CPR 31.5.