A new matter rings once.
If it goes to voicemail it goes to another firm. We take the enquiry properly, collect what your conflict check needs, and put existing clients through to the person acting for them.
Stated first
What we will never do.
Intake is the job. Advice is not, and the line is written into your plan.
Hard limits, written into your plan
We are not lawyers and we never act as though we are.
We do not give legal advice, express a view on prospects, estimate fees or hourly rates, or confirm that the firm can act before you have completed a conflict check. Our role is capturing the enquiry accurately, collecting the details your conflict check needs, and routing the call by your rules.
Why legal intake fails on the phone
Three predictable failures.
Competition
Callers ring several firms in one sitting.
Someone with a new matter works down a search results page. The firm that answers with a person, and takes the situation seriously, is usually the one they instruct. Being second to answer is the same as not answering.
Availability
The people who could take the call bill by the hour.
Court, client conferences, drafting. Protecting billable time and answering the phone are in direct conflict, and the phone always loses.
Risk
A half-taken enquiry creates conflict risk.
A message reading Sharon, family law, call back tells you nothing about the other party, and you cannot run a conflict check on it.
How a legal call runs
Route first, then take intake properly.
On answer
New matter, or existing client
Existing clients are transferred to the practitioner acting, or their nominated backup, per your routing table. No existing matter is ever discussed with anyone but the client.
Intake
Area of law, and a one line summary
Recorded in the caller's own words rather than paraphrased, so nothing is lost or coloured before it reaches you.
Conflict
Every other party, by name
Collected explicitly so your conflict check can be run before anyone calls back. This is the field most services never collect.
Urgency
Deadlines and custody
A caller in custody, or a court date inside seven days, goes to your duty practitioner immediately rather than into tomorrow's callback list.
Coverage
Areas we take intake for.
Intake questions differ by area and so do the urgency triggers. A criminal matter with a caller in custody and a conveyance settling on Friday are not the same call, and your plan will not treat them as one.
Personal and family
Family law, criminal, personal injury and compensation, wills and estates, migration.
Commercial
Commercial and contract, employment, building and construction disputes, insurance disputes.
Property
Conveyancing, property transactions, strata and leasing matters.
Questions
What firms ask.
How do you protect against conflicts?
We collect the identifying details your conflict check needs, including every other party the caller names, and we never tell a caller the firm can act. The check stays yours to run. Our job is making sure you have what you need to run it before anyone calls back.
Is what a caller tells you privileged?
Privilege is a question for your firm and we would not attempt to advise you on it. What we can tell you is how we treat the information: as confidential, under written agreement, recorded only in the fields your plan specifies, and never discussed with anyone but your firm. Have your risk or compliance lead review the plan before it goes live.
Can you quote our fees?
Only a fixed figure you have given us in writing, such as a fixed fee conveyance or an initial consultation cost, and only word for word. We never estimate a matter.
Can you take after hours calls only?
Yes. Many firms use us for evenings, weekends and the hours around court, and answer their own phone in between.
Stop losing new matters to voicemail.
Map your intake plan with us, have your risk lead review it, and go live when the firm is satisfied.