FOIA Request Denied — Paid Consultation With a Federal FOIA Attorney
A paid consultation with Sherrod Seward, Esq. on a denial, a partial release, a "no records" response, or a refusal to confirm or deny.
A denial is not the end of the process, and it is frequently not the agency's last word. The question is a narrow one: does the exemption the agency actually cited fit the records you actually asked for. You will leave the call knowing what the response really said, which of the nine exemptions is in play, whether the agency released everything it was obliged to release, and what the next step is with the date it has to happen by.
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Request the consultation
Six fields. About a minute.
Bring the call one of these
- The agency withheld everything and cited an exemption you do not think applies.
- You got pages back, but the substance is redacted.
- The agency says it has no responsive records, and you have reason to doubt that.
- The agency will neither confirm nor deny that the records exist.
- The search looks too narrow to have found what you asked for.
This office has been the plaintiff, not only the drafter
Law Offices of Sherrod Seward, PLLC v. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
No. 3:25-cv-00057 (W.D.N.C.), filed January 2025
This office has been the plaintiff in a Freedom of Information Act case, not only the drafter of the request. When an agency declined to produce records, the firm filed suit in its own name under 5 U.S.C. 552 to compel production.
A pending matter is described here as a fact about this office's own experience. It is not a result, it does not predict anything about any other case, and every case is decided on its own record. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
How it runs
- Send the enquiryThe form below. Six fields, about a minute.
- Pay the consultation fee$500, on the firm's secure payment page. Credited in full against the fee for the engagement if this office is engaged on the matter.
- The consultationThe call itself. Bring the request, the response letter and the envelope — deadlines run from what the paper says.
- A written summaryWhat was decided, what the next step is, and the date it has to happen by.
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Questions people actually ask
What do I actually get for the fee?
The $500 is the fee for the consultation itself and for the written summary that follows it. It is not a retainer, and it does not include drafting or filing a FOIA request, an administrative appeal, a licence application, a delisting petition, a federal court complaint, a trademark application, a response to a USPTO office action, or a post-registration maintenance filing - each of those is separately scoped and separately quoted. Government, agency and court filing fees, any agency search, review or duplication fees, and any USPTO filing fees, are not included and are payable to the government, not to this office.
Is this legal advice?
The consultation is. This page is not — it is general information about federal practice, and reading it creates no relationship with this office. Sending this form does not create an attorney-client relationship. No attorney-client relationship is formed until this office and you have signed a written engagement agreement.
Can you tell me what my chances are?
You will get a candid assessment of what your record supports and where it is thin, which is the useful version of that question. What you will not get is a percentage. Every matter is decided on its own record by a government officer or a judge, and prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
What happens if you cannot help?
You will be told so on the call, and told where the matter actually belongs. That happens often enough to be worth saying out loud.
The agency cited an exemption. Does that end it?
No. FOIA has nine exemptions and they are read narrowly, against a presumption of disclosure. An agency has to show the exemption fits the specific records withheld, and it has to release any part of a record that can reasonably be separated from the exempt part. Whether it did either is exactly what the call examines.
They said they have no records. Is there anything to do?
Often, yes. A "no records" response is a statement about the agency's search, not about the world. What matters is where the agency looked, using which terms, and whether that search was adequate for the request as written. That is a reviewable question.