New client intake on the phone
A prospective client rings having decided they need a solicitor and not much else. The firm that handles the next five minutes well usually gets instructed — and handling it well is mostly about collecting the right things in the right order, before anybody gives an opinion on anything.
What has to be captured first
Not just the caller. The names on the other side are what a conflict check actually needs, and asking later means ringing back.
Enough to route it — employment, conveyancing, family, probate. Not enough to advise on it.
A hearing, a deadline, a notice period, a limitation date. This is the field that turns a routine enquiry into an urgent one.
Cheap to ask, and the only reliable read you will get on which marketing works.
Including when it is safe to ring, which matters more in some matters than others.
The order matters because of conflicts
Names before facts. A caller who has described their situation in detail before anyone established who is on the other side has created an awkward problem if the firm already acts for them. Taking the parties first and the narrative second is a small discipline that avoids it, and a well-run intake does that as a matter of course rather than as a special step.
What must not happen on this call
No view on the merits, no indication of likely outcome, no suggestion about what they should do next beyond speaking to a solicitor. A prospective client will push for this, sometimes hard, because it is the thing they actually want. The correct answer is that a solicitor will look at it and come back — and the reason this matters is not politeness but that an off-hand opinion from whoever answered can be relied on.
Why the first call decides it
People instructing a firm for the first time have very little to judge on. They cannot assess your drafting, so they judge whether you seemed organised, whether somebody answered, and whether they felt taken seriously. A firm that answers at half six and takes clear details beats a better firm that rang back on Thursday, and it does so consistently enough that it is worth treating the phone as part of the practice rather than as an overhead.
Frequently asked
Full names of the caller and every other party, the kind of matter, any date with consequences, how they found you, and contact details including when it is safe to ring.
Conflict checks. A caller who has described their situation in detail before anyone established who is on the other side creates an awkward problem if the firm already acts for them.
No, and it should not offer a view on the merits or the likely outcome however hard a caller pushes. An off-hand opinion from whoever answered can be relied on.
A first-time client cannot assess your drafting, so they judge whether somebody answered and whether they felt taken seriously. A firm that answers at half six beats a better firm that rang back Thursday.