Featured · Intake
The first ninety seconds of a legal call
Choosing a provider is procurement, and it is the part firms spend their time on. The part that determines whether the arrangement works is the call itself — what happens in the ninety seconds after somebody frightened and unpractised dials your number.
That call has to do four things at once, in a particular order, without ever doing a fifth. Most scripts handle two of them.
What the call has to accomplish
In order, because the order is the part most scripts get wrong.
Reassure. The caller is often distressed and frequently has never instructed a lawyer. Before anything else, they need to hear that they have reached somewhere that handles this.
Confirm relevance. Say plainly that the firm does this kind of work — or, if it does not, say that quickly and kindly rather than collecting details nobody will use.
Gather what is needed, and no more. Enough for a conflict check and a call back, not a full instruction taken by somebody who cannot advise.
Commit to a next step with a time attached. Not we will be in touch, but a named person and a window.
And never the fifth thing: any answer that could be taken as advice, however reasonable the question and however easy the answer seems.
The order matters because reassurance first buys the patience for everything else. A call that opens by asking for a postcode and a matter type loses people who were on the point of trusting somebody.
It is also why per-minute pricing is quietly corrosive. The conversation that most needs a slow, calm opening is the one the pricing model punishes.
How these calls go wrong
Listen to a dozen recordings of your own and most of these will be present.
Opening with data collection, so the caller feels processed rather than heard.
Reading a script audibly, which tells a distressed person they are talking to a form.
Asking for information the firm will ask for again, which makes the first conversation feel wasted.
Vague commitments — someone will call you back — with no name and no window, which is where most callers quietly resume their list.
Straying into advice because the question was easy and the operator wanted to help.
And failing to record the source, so the whole call is invisible in every report the firm runs.
Writing a script that works
You write it, not the provider. It is short, and it is worth an afternoon of a fee-earner's time.
Write the opening two sentences verbatim, and let everything after that be prompts rather than lines.
Put the reassurance and the confirmation of relevance in those first two sentences.
List only the fields genuinely needed for a conflict check and a callback. Cut the rest.
Write the decline script too — the polite, quick, kind version for matters you do not take. It is used often and is almost never written.
Specify the commitment: a named person and a time window, with the diary access to make it real.
Write the never-say list explicitly: no view on prospects, no timescales, no estimate of value, no comment on another firm's advice.
Then listen to ten real recordings a month with whoever answers, and change the script from what you hear rather than what you imagined.
And measure the one thing that matters afterwards: how many of those callers were spoken to by a fee-earner, and how quickly.
A good script is about a page. The work is not in the writing but in listening to what actually happens on the calls, which almost no firm does and which changes the script every time.
FAQs
What does a legal call need to achieve?
Four things in order: reassure a distressed caller, confirm the firm handles this kind of work, gather only what a conflict check and callback require, and commit to a next step with a named person and a time window. And never stray into anything resembling advice.
Why does the order matter?
Reassurance first buys patience for everything else. A call opening with a request for a postcode and matter type feels like processing, and loses people who were on the point of trusting somebody.
Who should write the script?
The firm, not the provider. Write the opening two sentences verbatim and leave the rest as prompts, list only the fields genuinely needed, and include the decline script — the polite quick version for matters you do not take, which is used constantly and almost never written.
What should never be said?
Anything that could be taken as advice: no view on prospects, no timescales, no estimate of value, no comment on another firm's advice. Write this as an explicit never-say list, because the pressure to be helpful is what causes it.
How do we improve the calls over time?
Listen to about ten real recordings a month with whoever answers, and change the script from what you hear rather than what you imagined. It is the single most effective thing available and almost no firm does it.
End Note
Firms choose an answering provider carefully and then never listen to a single call it handles. The provider is a smaller variable than the ninety seconds it delivers on your behalf.
Write the opening two sentences, cut the questions to what a conflict check needs, name the never-say list, commit to a person and a time, and listen to ten calls a month.
Key Takeaways
Reassure, confirm relevance, gather minimally, commit with a name and a time.
Opening with data collection loses people who were about to trust you.
Write the decline script — it is used constantly and almost never written.
Make the never-say list explicit; helpfulness is what causes advice.
Listen to ten real recordings a month and rewrite from what you hear.
