Is it not time that rule 12.13.4 of the Guide to the Professional Conduct of Solicitors should be altered?

This rule prevents solicitors from charging for retrieving draft papers from storage. Nowadays, owing to the vast amount of papers solicitors have to keep, it is impractical for most practices to store such papers on the premises and a lot of solicitors hire storage space, sometimes several miles away from the office, in which they can keep draft papers.


It is our practice to keep draft papers more than six years old stored in a unit some eight miles from the office. We received recently a request from a firm of solicitors, in which there was a dispute between joint proprietors, to forward a copy of the file. This necessitated someone leaving the office and being involved in a round trip of one hour to retrieve these papers. Yet under rule 12.13.4, no charge can be made for the inconvenience involved in collecting the papers.


Most firms of solicitors store draft papers for the sole purpose of refuting any possible later claim for negligence. They are not stored for the benefit of clients, who make no payment for the storage. Surely a distinction should be made in this rule that if the papers are stored away from the solicitor's office following completion of the matter, that the solicitors should be able to charge a reasonable fee for their retrieval.


Ray Patterson, Knapman & Co, Paignton, Devon