"Can you just tell me if I have a case?"
Every professional practice fields these. Somebody wants the answer without the engagement — a quick view, an off-the-record opinion, just a steer. Refusing badly makes you look evasive and mercenary; agreeing is worse, because an opinion given casually can be relied on and you have no file, no facts and no retainer.
Why it is hard to refuse well
Because the caller is not being unreasonable from where they are standing. They do not know whether their problem is a five-minute question or a six-month case, and paying to find out feels like being charged to ask a question. Meeting that with a flat "we cannot advise you" is technically right and sounds like a door closing, which is why so many enquiries end there and instruct someone else who handled the same moment better.
What you can say without advising
Completely safe and genuinely useful. Half of these callers are in the wrong place entirely.
Steps, rough timescales, what tends to be involved. Describing a process is not advising on a matter.
A range with its caveats. This is very often the question underneath the question.
And what they should bring, which turns a vague enquiry into a prepared meeting.
Offer the paid version as a real thing
A fixed-fee initial appointment with a stated length, a stated price and a clear description of what they will leave with converts far better than an open invitation to instruct. It reframes the request rather than refusing it: they wanted to know where they stand, and that is exactly what they are being offered — at a price they can see in advance, which removes the fear of an open-ended bill that made them ask for it free in the first place.
Be straight when the answer is no
If it is not work you do, or not worth doing, say so plainly and point them somewhere better. It takes twenty seconds, it costs you nothing you were going to earn, and it is remembered — people come back years later to a firm that told them honestly they did not need one.
Frequently asked
Refuse the advice without refusing the person — say whether it is work you do, describe the usual process and typical costs, and offer a fixed-fee first appointment as a real product.
Whether it is your kind of work, what the process usually involves, what it typically costs, and what happens in a first appointment.
Because the caller does not know whether their problem is a five-minute question or a six-month case. "We cannot advise you" is technically right and sounds like a door closing.
Say so plainly and point them somewhere better. It costs nothing you were going to earn and it is remembered.