Solicitor is charging me €500 + VAT to give me a copy of my file.

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pillowtalk

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Hi

I have requested a copy of my file from my solicitor (electronically), he has requested €500 plus VAT, this expensive?

Thanks in advance
 
Have you paid them for work carried out already? So this charge is strictly/specifically for giving you your file?

This might be of interest.

Charging clients seeking their files

www.lawsociety.ie www.lawsociety.ie

Charging where a firm is still trading​

A Guide to Good Professional Conduct for Solicitors (3rd edition) provides as follows at para 10.8: “Where a solicitor is required to make a search for papers and documents, or to schedule documents of a former client, he may charge a reasonable administration fee for the work involved” and “when a file is being transferred, if the solicitor wishes to copy the file to comply with the Solicitors Accounts Regulations, or for other administrative purposes, this must be done at the solicitor’s own expense.”

If a former client of a firm wishes to take up their file, an administration fee may be charged by the firm where there are costs incurred by the firm in the transfer of the file. The client has chosen to leave the solicitor. The solicitor incurs administration costs as a result of this decision by the client.
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Thank you. The case is complete and I have paid in full. But I wanted a copy of my file. So they have transferred it onto a usb and looking for €500 plus VAT which I thought was very expensive and I don't have it. Thank you both for the feedback, appreciate it
 
That is outrageous. I would certainly not pay that.
You will have to confirm this, but my understanding is that you are entitled to this free of charge under GDPR (or perhaps they are allowed to charge you a maximum of €6.35 as an admin fee).
 
Offer them €50 incl VAT and tell them you'll supply your own USB and collect it from the office. Crazy pricing, scandalous in fact.

€50 inc VAT is about 2 hours work for on someone minimum wage or 5 mins in total for someone on higher wages.
 
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Will a data subject access request actually yield the full client file or just personal data held by the client/requester? Has anyone here actually successfully used such a request to obtain their full file thus bypassing the solicitor's normal process and charges?
 
Surely the data needs to be scanned in order to get it all in a digital format ?
So the paper file has to be retrieved from storage, scanned, checked, organised for the Usb, put back in the file and returned to storage.
50 Euro as suggested would not be reasonable for that.
Solicitor may also have to go through file to ensure nothing not relating to the client got filed there incorrectly. It happens.
 
pillowtalk said:
Thank you. The case is complete and I have paid in full. But I wanted a copy of my file. So they have transferred it onto a usb and looking for €500 plus VAT which I thought was very expensive and I don't have it. Thank you both for the feedback, appreciate it
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You’ve paid the solicitors fees and should be entitled to your file. Do you not already have a copy of the ongoing case? Are you requesting something else electronically? My files were destroyed if out of date, or returned to me when deemed necessary, because storage costs money. What’s in vague terms, was the matter at hand, conveyancing, probate, district court matter for TV licence…?

I certainly wouldn’t expect my solicitor to photocopy a file and scan the lot to me? Basically why do you want a copy?
 
What size is the file?

If it was a dispute going on for a number of years and so was a very large file, it might be reasonable.

If it was just making a simple will, it shouldn't be charged at all.

Brendan
 
JoeRoberts said:
Surely the data needs to be scanned in order to get it all in a digital format ?
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Do you think all the papers originated on IBM Selectric typewriters with interleaved carbon sheets to make copies? Surely even legal practitioners have advanced to IBM PCs booting from 5.25 inch floppy drives in this the 21st century and are running WordPerfect or some other high-tech word-processor? If they haven't it's no wonder the turn-around times for legal work are measured and tracked on calendars that span years.
 
mathepac said:
Do you think all the papers originated on IBM Selectric typewriters with interleaved carbon sheets to make copies?
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Well i know my solicitor has a paper file for me. If i want it on usb someone has to go through it page by page many of which are stapled together. Then scan them and staple them back.
 
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