A CMA, FCA or SFO request
A worked CMA, FCA or SFO request: scoping the notice, preserving and collecting at speed, privilege review and staged production, with a timeline, indicative costs and the questions counsel ask.
A compulsory notice arrives with a four week deadline covering three business units, six custodians and two years of email, chat and pricing data. The regulator has specified formats and expects a rolling production with a clear privilege log.
This page sets out what happens at each stage, what it costs and the questions counsel ask before instructing. The figures are indicative and exclude VAT.
§ Timeline
What happens, and when
- Day 1
Hold and notice analysis
Issue the hold, suspend deletion policies, and break the notice into a schedule of what is actually being asked for, with the questions to put back to the case team.
- Day 2 to 4
Scope agreement
Propose custodians, date ranges, search terms and formats to the regulator in writing, so the scope is on the record before collection starts.
- Week 1 to 2
Collection
Tenant side collection of mail and chat, structured extract of the pricing data, and imaging of any device the notice reaches, with chain of custody throughout.
- Week 2 to 3
Review and privilege
Responsiveness review against the notice schedule, with a separate privilege workflow and a log in the form the regulator expects.
- Week 3 to 4
Rolling production
Produce in tranches in the specified format, with a production log tying each item to the paragraph of the notice it answers.
- After production
Follow up requests
Keep the data set live and indexed so supplementary requests, interviews and any dawn raid follow up can be answered from the same evidenced position.
§ Costs
What each stage costs
Indicative ranges for a matter of this shape, excluding VAT, court fees and your own review time. Every instruction gets a written stage by stage budget after the first call, and we do not move to the next stage without approval.
| Stage | Indicative fee | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Notice analysis and scoping | £1,500 to £4,000 | Schedule of requirements, custodian map and written scope proposal. |
| Collection | £2,500 to £7,000 | Mail, chat, structured data and any devices the notice reaches. |
| Processing and hosting | £12 to £25 per GB, then hosting | De-duplication, indexing and hosting for the response period. |
| Responsiveness review | £4,000 to £12,000 | Review workflow, search term testing and quality control against the schedule. |
| Privilege review and log | £2,000 to £6,000 | Separate privilege workflow and a log in the regulator's format. |
| Production | £1,000 to £3,500 | Rolling tranches, specified formats and a paragraph by paragraph production log. |
§ FAQs
Questions counsel ask
- The deadline is impossible. What do we do?
- Go back in writing within days with a measured scope and a phased proposal. Regulators grant extensions to parties who show volumes and a credible plan, and refuse those who go quiet.
- How do we protect privilege at speed?
- Run privilege as a separate workflow from responsiveness, with a fixed reviewer group and an automated log. Clawback terms should be agreed with the regulator before the first tranche goes out.
- Can you work to the regulator's specified format?
- Yes. We produce to CMA, FCA and SFO specifications including load file structure, metadata fields and native formats for spreadsheets and chat.
- What does responding to a notice cost?
- A six custodian response typically runs between £15,000 and £40,000 depending on volume and how many tranches are required. Budget is agreed against the notice schedule before collection.
Competition and antitrust →Financial services →Production →
§ From the Case Builder blog
- Scoping extended disclosure so it does not run away
A working method for Practice Direction 57AD: agree the issues, sample before you promise, and keep the search narrow enough to defend.
- What a judge expects from a disclosure witness statement
The statement supporting your search, collection and review decisions is the document that gets tested. Write it for the court, not for the file.
Bring us in early.
Defensibility is built, not retrofitted.
Whether you are responding to a regulator, preparing for disclosure, or scoping an internal investigation, start the chain of custody with a short, confidential conversation.