After hours answering service for law firms
A client who calls at ten past six is usually calling because something happened today. This guide covers what those callers need, what an after hours answering service for a law firm must never do, and how to have every after hours call written up and on the file before you sit down in the morning.
Why after hours calls matter more for a law firm than for most businesses
Most businesses lose a sale when they miss a call. A law firm loses something harder to get back. A new client who is frightened about an intervention order, a purchaser whose settlement is tomorrow, or an executor who has just been told about a caveat is calling several firms in a row, and Clio's 2024 Legal Trends Report found that only 40% of 500 secret-shopped firms answered the phone at all, with 48% unreachable by any channel. The firm that picks up, explains the next step and books the appointment is the firm that gets the matter.
The second reason is the file. A call that is answered but not written up is a call that did not happen as far as the matter is concerned. After hours calls are the ones most likely to be handled from a mobile in a car park, and the ones least likely to end up as a file note.
What callers actually need at 6pm
Very few after hours callers need a lawyer on the line that minute. Most need three things: to be answered by a person or a service that sounds like it belongs to the firm, to be told what happens next, and to be confident that somebody will call them back. An answering service for a law firm should be built around those three things rather than around "taking a message", which is what voicemail already does and what 39% of callers in Clio's earlier study got instead of a person.
There is a fourth group: existing clients with something urgent on an open matter. For them the question is whether the service can recognise who they are, know which matter they belong to, and get the right lawyer on the line if the rules say so.
What an after hours service must never do
The rules for an answering service on a legal line are stricter than for a plumber's line, and they should be written down before the service takes its first call.
- Never give advice. Not "you probably have time", not "that sounds like a breach". The service captures the question and passes it on.
- Never confirm or deny that someone is a client. The fact of a retainer is confidential. A caller who asks "is my husband a client of yours" gets the same answer whether he is or not.
- Never discuss a matter with a caller whose identity has not been verified. Caller ID is not identity. A greeting by name is fine; the contents of a file are not.
- Never take a payment or a document instruction. Those are for the lawyer, in the morning, in writing.
- Always disclose the transcription. Every caller is told at the start of the call that it is being transcribed.
After hours calls by practice area
What an after hours caller rings about depends on the work the firm does, and so does what the first call has to capture. In family law it is often a separation, an intervention order or a safety concern: anyone in danger has to be told to call 000 first, and the other party's name is needed for the conflict check. In conveyancing and property it is a settlement that is tomorrow, and the service must never take or read out bank details. In wills and estates it is a death in the family or a caveat. In criminal law it is someone who has just been arrested or charged, and the question is how quickly a lawyer can call back. A good after hours service is told which of these the firm takes, and asks for the date that matters on every call.
What after hours answering costs
Receptionist services charge by the call or the minute, and some add a surcharge to each call answered outside business hours: Virtual Reception's terms add $0.60 or $1.00 a call, on top of the per-call fee, which is when a law firm most needs the cover. AI receptionists price by the minute or the call, with an allowance each month. LEX Phone is A$79.99 a month per lawyer with GST included and charges nothing extra by the hour or by the call. The published rate cards are worked through at 30, 80 and 150 calls a month in the answering service cost guide.
Choosing an after hours answering service for a law firm
Ask these before signing, of any provider, including us:
- Who answers, and does it say so if the caller asks whether it is a person?
- Is there an after hours surcharge, per call or per minute, and on weekends and public holidays?
- Can a genuine urgent caller be put through to the lawyer on call, and what happens if nobody picks up?
- Is the caller told at the start that the call is recorded or transcribed?
- What is on the file by morning: an email to read and retype, or a file note on the matter?
- How many calls can it take at once when three people ring in the same minute?
- Where is the record stored, and who at the provider can see it?
- Can you keep your number, and leave without a contract?
How LEX Phone handles the line after hours
LEX Phone gives your practice a business number and an answering service that knows your firm and is connected to your systems. You choose how it handles the line, and you can change the mode in the app on the way out of the office.
support_agentUnavailable
The answering service takes every call.
What most lawyers switch to when they leave for the day. It answers as your firm with your practice areas, your hours and your rules about what it will not discuss. It qualifies the caller, books the consult into your diary if you allow that, or takes the message, and it never gives advice.
filter_altScreen
Genuine callers are put through, everyone else stops at the front desk.
For the lawyer who is on call. Every caller is greeted first. Real enquiries are put through with a one-line summary of what they want, and if you do not pick up they are booked or their message is taken. Cold callers and wrong numbers never ring your phone.
callAvailable
Calls ring straight to you, briefed.
For the evening you are expecting a particular call. The screen shows who is calling, which matter they belong to and the last thing they said to you before you answer.
What is on the file by morning
Every after hours call becomes a summary and a transcript within about a minute of the caller hanging up. If the firm is connected to Smokeball, the record files to the matter as a finished file note with the transcript underneath, and new callers are created so the enquiry has somewhere to live. On Microsoft 365, the same record becomes a document in your SharePoint library under the contact. Either way it is in the app with a push notification, so the lawyer on call can read it in bed and decide whether it waits until nine.
Bookings made overnight are confirmed to the caller by SMS and appear in your agenda. Where a caller asked to be called back, the message says so, with the number and the time they asked for.
Setting it up
- Port your existing number to LEX Phone, or take a new Australian number in the app. A ported number keeps working with your current provider until the day it moves.
- Tell the service your practice areas, your hours, and what it must not discuss. This is done on your setup call, once you have subscribed.
- Switch your mode in the app when you leave: Unavailable to have the service take every call, or Screen to have genuine callers put through to you first. It stays that way until you change it.
- Connect Smokeball or SharePoint once, for the whole firm, so the records file themselves.
After hours answering, the questions firms ask
No. It takes the enquiry, the caller's details and what they need, books a consult if you allow bookings, or takes a message. It tells the caller plainly when a question is one for the lawyer, and it never advises.
The service answers in your firm's name. It tells the caller the call is being transcribed, asks what the call is about, and books a consult, takes a message or arranges a call back. What it does depends on the mode you left on: in Unavailable it takes every call, and in Screen it puts genuine callers through to you first and takes the message if you do not pick up.
Yes. In Screen mode genuine callers are put through with a one-line summary of what they want. If nobody picks up, the service takes the message and files it, so the caller is never left with a dial tone.
Every call becomes a summary and a transcript. It files to the matter in Smokeball as a finished file note, or to your SharePoint library under the contact, with Clio filing in development, and it is in the app with a push notification the moment the call ends.
Not on LEX Phone. The service answers at every hour, including weekends and public holidays, for the same A$79.99 a month per lawyer. Some receptionist services do add one: Virtual Reception's terms add $0.60 or $1.00 to each call answered after hours.
No. Port your existing number to LEX Phone at no charge and callers never learn a new one. A dedicated Australian business number is also available in the app.
See one call go from ring to file note
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LEX Phone is the lawyer's phone system: a law firm phone system with a law firm answering service built in, which also works as a virtual receptionist for law firms and an AI receptionist for law firms. It answers when you can't, and files every call to the matter.