This article is part of our Law Firm Marketing Guide: how clients find lawyers online, what the advertising rules allow, and how to choose the right help. Want to know where your firm's site stands? Get a free 20–30 page website audit within 24 hours.
Lead response time decides who gets the case because a person who needs a lawyer can contact several firms in a few minutes, and a firm that never answers cannot be hired. Marketing brings in the inquiry. Intake turns it into a client, or loses it.
The gap is bigger than most firms think. Clio's secret shopper studies, run in 2019 and again in 2024, found that many firms never answered emails or calls from people posing as prospective clients. This guide covers what those studies found, then how to fix the phone, form, chat and after-hours parts of intake, including the conflicts check. It is part of our Law Firm Marketing Guide.
Ethics rules shape parts of intake. They vary by state, so confirm details with your state bar or ethics counsel.
Key Takeaways
- In Clio's 2024 secret shopper study of 500 firms, only 33% responded to emails and only 40% answered phone calls.
- Fast replies were not enough in 2019: Clio judged 7 in 10 firms' email replies unsatisfactory against criteria drawn from a consumer survey.
- Responding to someone who asked for information is not solicitation under the ABA Model Rules, so prompt callbacks are allowed.
- Collect only what you need for a conflicts check before you hear the full story, because prospective client information carries duties.
- Intake needs an owner, a written script, after-hours coverage and a way to measure missed calls and slow replies.
What the data shows
Clio hired a research firm to test how law firms respond to new inquiries. The results are blunt.
| Measure | 2019 study | 2024 study |
|---|---|---|
| Firms that responded to email | 40% | 33% |
| Phone calls answered | 56% answered by a person | 40% |
| Reachable by phone at all (answered or called back) | Not reported in same form | 52% |
Sources: Clio's 2019 press release and its 2024 Legal Trends Report highlights. According to Clio, the 2024 secret shops covered 500 firms from June 20 to July 5, 2024.
The 2019 release adds detail on quality. Clio surveyed 2,000 consumers to set the bar for a good reply. An adequate email had to arrive within 24 hours, answer at least one question about the issue or the lawyer's ability to help, give some information on rates or booking a consultation, and not be confusing. By that standard, 7 out of 10 firms gave unsatisfactory email responses, and more than half didn't return voicemails within 72 hours.
Clio also found that of the firms that did reply to email in 2019, 82% did so within 24 hours. Its takeaway was that firms tend to respond within a day or not at all. So the first fix is not speed. It is making sure every inquiry gets a reply.
Phones: still the front door
For many people in a legal crisis, the first move is a phone call. If the call goes to a full voicemail box or rings out, the next firm on the list gets a chance.
Do this:
- Answer live during business hours, with a backup person when the main line is busy.
- Send overflow to a trained answering service rather than voicemail.
- Return voicemails the same business day, and log the time.
- Use one main number on the site, your Google Business Profile and directories, so callers reach the same place.
Not this:
- A phone tree with five options before a human.
- Letting the person who answers start giving legal advice.
- Calling back from a blocked number that the caller won't pick up.
A short call script
Your intake person needs a script that gathers basics without drifting into the case:
- Greet with the firm name and your name.
- Get the caller's name and a callback number first, in case the line drops.
- Ask the type of matter and the county or court, if it matters.
- Ask for the names of other people or businesses involved, for the conflicts check.
- Explain the next step, such as a scheduled call with a lawyer, and when it will happen.
- Say clearly that the firm has not yet agreed to take the matter.
Forms, email and chat
Web inquiries are where Clio found the weakest results. Fixing them is mostly process.
- Route every form to a shared inbox or intake tool, not one lawyer's email.
- Set an auto-reply that confirms receipt, repeats that no attorney-client relationship exists yet, and says when someone will reply.
- Reply with substance: answer one question, explain how a first meeting works and what it costs, and offer a booking link or time.
- Keep chat scripts narrow. Collect contact details and matter type first, not "Tell me what happened."
Your form and chat wording should warn visitors before they share sensitive details. Our guide to website disclaimers and contact forms has sample text.
Is a fast reply "solicitation"?
No, not when the person contacted you first. Comment 1 to ABA Model Rule 7.3 says a communication is not a solicitation if it is "in response to a request for information." The same comment says a website directed to the general public is not solicitation either. Prompt callbacks to people who reached out are allowed under the Model Rules. Check your own state's version of Rule 7.3.
After-hours coverage
Legal problems do not keep office hours. An arrest, an accident or a served petition can happen at night or on a weekend.
Options, from lightest to fullest:
- Clear after-hours messaging on the site and voicemail: when you will call back, and what to do in an emergency.
- An answering service that takes contact details and matter type using your script.
- Chat with a human or a scripted bot that books a callback slot.
- An on-call lawyer or intake lead for practice areas where hours matter, such as criminal defense.
Whoever covers after hours works for you. The ABA comment to Rule 7.2 points to Rule 5.3, which covers lawyers' duties for the conduct of nonlawyers they work with. Train vendors on your script and review their notes.
The conflicts check belongs at the start
Intake is also an ethics step. Under ABA Model Rule 1.18, a person who consults a lawyer about possible representation is a prospective client. Even if you don't take the case, you may not use or reveal what they told you, except as Rule 1.9 would permit. If you learned information that could be significantly harmful to them, you may be barred from representing the other side in a related matter, and that bar can extend to the firm.
The comments to Rule 1.18 give practical guidance:
- Comment 3: lawyers often must learn some information to check for conflicts, and the duty applies "regardless of how brief the initial conference may be."
- Comment 4: limit the initial consultation to information that reasonably appears necessary to decide whether to take the matter.
- Comment 5: a lawyer may condition a consultation on the person's informed consent that what they share will not prevent the lawyer from representing a different client in the matter.
In practice, intake should run in this order: contact details, matter type, other parties' names, conflicts check, then the substantive conversation with a lawyer.
Measure what you can't see
Most firms don't know how many inquiries they miss. Start tracking:
- Calls answered live vs. missed or sent to voicemail.
- Time from form submission to first human reply.
- Inquiries that never got a reply.
- Inquiries that became booked consultations, then signed clients.
A simple test is to secret shop your own firm. Call after hours, submit a form on a Friday evening, and send an email from a personal address. Note what happens. For tools that log calls and automate follow-up, see call tracking and intake software. For connecting intake to your practice management system, see software integrations for legal practice management.
Next step
Once intake is reliable, you can measure what each marketing channel actually produces. Read law firm marketing KPIs to track cost per signed case. Get a free 20–30 page website audit within 24 hours.
Frequently asked questions
How fast should a law firm respond to a new inquiry?
There is no single rule, but Clio's 2019 criteria for an adequate email reply included responding within 24 hours. Faster is better when the matter is urgent. The bigger problem in Clio's studies was firms that never replied at all.
What did Clio's 2024 secret shopper study find?
According to Clio, a research firm contacted 500 law firms between June 20 and July 5, 2024. Only 33% responded to emails and 40% answered phone calls. In total, 52% either answered or called back, so 48% were essentially unreachable by phone.
Can our intake staff call back someone who filled out a form?
Under the ABA Model Rules, yes. Comment 1 to Rule 7.3 says a communication in response to a request for information is not solicitation. State versions of Rule 7.3 differ, so check yours.
What should intake collect before a lawyer talks to the person?
Contact details, the type of matter, the location or court if relevant, and the names of other parties for a conflicts check. Comment 4 to ABA Rule 1.18 says to limit initial information to what is needed to decide whether to take the matter.
Should we use an answering service?
For many firms, an answering service beats voicemail after hours. Give them a written script and make sure they don't give legal advice. You remain responsible for supervising nonlawyers who work for you under Rule 5.3.
