# Plan the response to a public records or FOIA request

A search plan, exemption review, fee estimate, and response letter for a public records request, built around your statutory deadlines.

- Topic: Legal & Compliance
- Framework: Few-Shot
- Level: Advanced
- Tags: Legal, Write, Plan, Fill-in Template
- Source: https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/prompts/plan-the-response-to-a-public-records-or-foia-request

## Prompt

```text
Help me plan and draft our response to a public records request.

**Governing law:** [e.g. "federal FOIA", "state public records act", "local open records ordinance"]
**Request text:** [PASTE the request exactly as received]
**Date received and statutory deadline:** [DATES, plus any extension allowed]
**Requester type, if relevant to fees:** [e.g. "media", "commercial", "individual"]
**Where records may live:** [email, shared drives, case systems, texts, paper files]
**Sensitive content I expect:** [e.g. "personnel records", "law enforcement investigation", "attorney advice", "personal data of residents"]

Work through it in this order:
1. Restate the request as a list of distinct record categories. Flag any part that is unclear or overly broad and draft a short clarification email to the requester.
2. Build a search plan: custodians, systems, date range, and search terms for each category.
3. List the exemptions that could plausibly apply under the law I named, what each requires, and what kind of record would trigger it. Describe them generally and mark each [CONFIRM WITH COUNSEL]; do not cite section numbers unless I provide them.
4. Note where redaction rather than withholding is required, and what a withholding log or index should record.
5. Outline a fee estimate approach and whether a fee waiver request needs a decision.
6. Draft the response letter: records released, records withheld or redacted with the basis, appeal rights and deadline, and contact person.

Rules: never invent statute citations, deadlines, or fee amounts; use [ADD] markers. Remind me that withholding decisions should be reviewed by our records officer or legal counsel.
```

## What to fill in

- PASTE the request exactly as received
- DATES, plus any extension allowed
- e.g. "media", "commercial", "individual"
- email, shared drives, case systems, texts, paper files
- CONFIRM WITH COUNSEL
- ADD

Free to copy and use. From ThinkWithPrompt (https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/), a library of 2,663 curated AI prompts.