Thank you for your question.
Of course many lawyers, as you point out, use the legislation as a discovery tool. They may get a certain amount of information from traditional civil litigation rules involving document discovery or examination for discovery, but often when the government is a party, getting information from the relevant agencies is critical to the case. It serves as a check on what you might have received through the other sources I mentioned.
I haven't given any thought to the fees that should accompany that. If it were the lawyers themselves, you might treat them differently than if it were their clients, with the clients having a right to information.
I wonder if we would create an unnecessary barrier by subjecting the lawyers to a different set of rules from what their clients are subject to. It might be inefficient to regulate that.
However, I must say that's a question I've never put my mind to.