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Re: Abbey Solicitors Docs ref Compass Debt Counsellors
If anyone has come to the end of their retainer with Abbey then I'd suggest requesting a full copy of your file from them.
If they have done the relevant work there should exist a file with all letters to your creditors and responses from the creditors, and you'd hope, notes on the reasons for creditors being marked as 'unenforceable' or 'enforceable' in the final advice.
Something like this should be fine;
Abbey Solicitors
Brighton House
273-275 Wilmslow Rd
Manchester
M14 5JQ
DATE
Your name
Your address
Your address
Your postal code
Dear Sirs,
Client Reference: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Thank you for your letter dated xx/xx/2017. In light of your final advice and having settled any final invoice you provided I now request that you provide me with a full copy of my file including any papers or documents held by Abbey Solicitors relating to my matter providing your final advice.
For the avoidance of doubt this should include, but not be limited to, any correspondence sent to third parties with my authorisation and all correspondence and documents sent by third parties to Abbey Solicitors relating to my case.
Documents should be sent to my home address as detailed above.
Kind regards
signature
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
for reference this is the Law Society Practice Note on what docs belong to who - the BOLD UNDERLINED bits are those that belong to the client and should be included in the file.
1. Introduction
1.1 Who should read this practice note?
All solicitors.
1.2 What is the issue?
The issue of which parts of a file are owned by the client and which by the solicitor is a live one for many firms. This practice note brings together information which has previously been distributed among several practice notes.
2. Who owns the file?
Should you receive a request from a client to supply them with documents, you will need to consider the ownership of those documents, in particular which belong to the client and which belong to you. Documents which come into existence during the retainer are in one of two categories:
(a) where the solicitor is acting as professional advisor
(b) where the solicitor is an agent of the client.
The second category is usually correspondence with third parties where the solicitor is sending or receiving correspondence on behalf of the client. On the normal principles of agency, these documents belong to the client. Where the solicitor is acting as professional advisor, ownership of documents depends on the purpose of the retainer and whether the production of the document was a stipulation of the retainer (see Leicestershire CC v Michael Faraday & Partners [1941] 2 KB 205, Chantrey Martin v Martin [1953] 2 QB 286 and Gomba Holdings v Minories Finance [1989] BCLC 115).
2.1 Categories of document.
In consequence documents on the file generally fall into the following categories:
• Original documents sent to the firm by the client will continue to belong to the client (except where title was intended to pass to the firm).
• Documents sent or received by the firm as the agent of the client belong to the client (for example, communications sent to the firm by third parties, and the firm's communications with third parties as agent for the client; this would include correspondence with a counterparty or the giving or receiving of instructions to/from the client's other advisors).
• Final versions of documents, the production of which was the object of the retainer, belong to the client (for example, agreements or written representations).
• Final versions of documents prepared by a third party (including the client's other advisers) during the course of the retainer and paid for by the client belong to the client (for example, opinions of counsel and experts' reports).
• Documents prepared for the firm's own benefit or protection, or prepared as the means by which the firm discharges its function belong to the firm (for example, file copies of letters written to the client, notes regarding time taken, or made for protective purposes regarding advice to the client, drafts and working papers generally).
• Copies of internal emails and correspondence created during the course of the retainer, and all emails and correspondence written by the client to the firm belong to the firm.
• Accounting records, including vouchers and instructions, belong to the firm.
Note that where a document belongs to the client, you may nevertheless be entitled to retain it in circumstances where you can properly exercise a lien in respect of unpaid fees. This also applies to documents which plainly belong to the client because they were created before the retainer and provided to the solicitor by the client.
There is no distinction between hard copy and electronic documents. Whether a document has always existed only in an electronic medium, such as a portable document format file (PDF) stored electronically, or has been scanned into electronic form from an original hard copy, or has always and only existed as a hard copy, it will still be capable of being allocated to one of the categories referred to above.
Remember that the guidance set out above is on the basis that there is no contractual arrangement with the client covering the ownership of documents. Your firm's terms and conditions of business may set out, as a matter of contract, which documents belong to the client and which to the firm. Your terms and conditions may also provide for the circumstances in which you will destroy documents or in which a charge may be made for search, retrieval and return of documents to the client.
Careful thought will need to be given where there is more than one client each with their own interests in the file. There are many situations in which this might arise. Further information on one of those situations is provided in Lender requests for files.
From the Law Society Practice Note 28/06/17
Also for ref this thread http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...mination/page3
If anyone has come to the end of their retainer with Abbey then I'd suggest requesting a full copy of your file from them.
If they have done the relevant work there should exist a file with all letters to your creditors and responses from the creditors, and you'd hope, notes on the reasons for creditors being marked as 'unenforceable' or 'enforceable' in the final advice.
Something like this should be fine;
Abbey Solicitors
Brighton House
273-275 Wilmslow Rd
Manchester
M14 5JQ
DATE
Your name
Your address
Your address
Your postal code
Dear Sirs,
Client Reference: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Thank you for your letter dated xx/xx/2017. In light of your final advice and having settled any final invoice you provided I now request that you provide me with a full copy of my file including any papers or documents held by Abbey Solicitors relating to my matter providing your final advice.
For the avoidance of doubt this should include, but not be limited to, any correspondence sent to third parties with my authorisation and all correspondence and documents sent by third parties to Abbey Solicitors relating to my case.
Documents should be sent to my home address as detailed above.
Kind regards
signature
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
for reference this is the Law Society Practice Note on what docs belong to who - the BOLD UNDERLINED bits are those that belong to the client and should be included in the file.
1. Introduction
1.1 Who should read this practice note?
All solicitors.
1.2 What is the issue?
The issue of which parts of a file are owned by the client and which by the solicitor is a live one for many firms. This practice note brings together information which has previously been distributed among several practice notes.
2. Who owns the file?
Should you receive a request from a client to supply them with documents, you will need to consider the ownership of those documents, in particular which belong to the client and which belong to you. Documents which come into existence during the retainer are in one of two categories:
(a) where the solicitor is acting as professional advisor
(b) where the solicitor is an agent of the client.
The second category is usually correspondence with third parties where the solicitor is sending or receiving correspondence on behalf of the client. On the normal principles of agency, these documents belong to the client. Where the solicitor is acting as professional advisor, ownership of documents depends on the purpose of the retainer and whether the production of the document was a stipulation of the retainer (see Leicestershire CC v Michael Faraday & Partners [1941] 2 KB 205, Chantrey Martin v Martin [1953] 2 QB 286 and Gomba Holdings v Minories Finance [1989] BCLC 115).
2.1 Categories of document.
In consequence documents on the file generally fall into the following categories:
• Original documents sent to the firm by the client will continue to belong to the client (except where title was intended to pass to the firm).
• Documents sent or received by the firm as the agent of the client belong to the client (for example, communications sent to the firm by third parties, and the firm's communications with third parties as agent for the client; this would include correspondence with a counterparty or the giving or receiving of instructions to/from the client's other advisors).
• Final versions of documents, the production of which was the object of the retainer, belong to the client (for example, agreements or written representations).
• Final versions of documents prepared by a third party (including the client's other advisers) during the course of the retainer and paid for by the client belong to the client (for example, opinions of counsel and experts' reports).
• Documents prepared for the firm's own benefit or protection, or prepared as the means by which the firm discharges its function belong to the firm (for example, file copies of letters written to the client, notes regarding time taken, or made for protective purposes regarding advice to the client, drafts and working papers generally).
• Copies of internal emails and correspondence created during the course of the retainer, and all emails and correspondence written by the client to the firm belong to the firm.
• Accounting records, including vouchers and instructions, belong to the firm.
Note that where a document belongs to the client, you may nevertheless be entitled to retain it in circumstances where you can properly exercise a lien in respect of unpaid fees. This also applies to documents which plainly belong to the client because they were created before the retainer and provided to the solicitor by the client.
There is no distinction between hard copy and electronic documents. Whether a document has always existed only in an electronic medium, such as a portable document format file (PDF) stored electronically, or has been scanned into electronic form from an original hard copy, or has always and only existed as a hard copy, it will still be capable of being allocated to one of the categories referred to above.
Remember that the guidance set out above is on the basis that there is no contractual arrangement with the client covering the ownership of documents. Your firm's terms and conditions of business may set out, as a matter of contract, which documents belong to the client and which to the firm. Your terms and conditions may also provide for the circumstances in which you will destroy documents or in which a charge may be made for search, retrieval and return of documents to the client.
Careful thought will need to be given where there is more than one client each with their own interests in the file. There are many situations in which this might arise. Further information on one of those situations is provided in Lender requests for files.
From the Law Society Practice Note 28/06/17
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