How An Intake Receptionist Will Help Lawyer Parents Survive The New School Year

Law firm owners already have two full-time jobs: practicing the law and running a business. Law firm owners with children, however, get to add a third full-time job to their resumes: parenting.

Summer is a tough time to be a parent; with the kids out of school, it can be hard to find time to focus on your other full-time jobs. While the beginning of the school year brings much-needed time to focus on your work, the transition from summer back into the school year can be its own trial.

Between school supply shopping trips, new-subject homework help sessions, and the drama that comes with getting the kids back on the education grind, the start of the new school year can be a tough time to get work done. In this blog, we’ll discuss how hiring an intake receptionist for your law firm will help lawyer parents make the best of this challenging time of year.

You’ll Be Able To Work From Anywhere

Whether it’s taking the kids to school or picking them up from practice, being a parent means you’re always on the move, and often during normal business hours. And it can be tough to get work done on the run. For example, if school lets out at 3 P.M. and the kids don’t have any after-school activities, it might be difficult to be productive from 2:30 through the rest of the day.

The flexibility an intake receptionist provides will allow you to run your firm from anywhere. Sure, you could forward your calls from your office to your cell, but then your phone would be ringing twice as often. An intake receptionist will take calls to your firm off your hands, allowing you to do whatever else you need to do.

By “whatever else'', we really mean whatever. For example, if you’re stuck in traffic, an intake receptionist will only contact you with urgent business, like a new client who wants to speak to you before deciding to hire your firm. Otherwise, you can focus on the road. Need to make it to your kid’s baseball game? You can check your messages on your phone in order to keep up with your firm while making sure you’re there for them.

An intake receptionist will be able to handle every call that comes into your firm. Even if you’re not drafting contracts or filing motions on the go, you’ll be able to grow your business no matter what you’re doing.

You’ll Capture Clients While You Work

When it’s finally time to sit down in your office and put your nose to the grindstone, you want to be able to do it without interruption.

While there are plenty of other kinds of interruption, studies have shown that attorneys spend an average of 1.1 hours a day talking to clients on the phone.

Cutting down on phone time will make a big difference to your productivity over time. Even at just an hour a day, cutting that time in half will mean saving over one hundred hours on the phone a year. And for lawyers, time is often quite literally money; if you’re able to bill those hours instead of spending them on the phone.

An intake receptionist can help you stay focused on your work. By acting as your first line of defense against spam callers, time-wasters, and tire-kickers, you’ll know that when your phone does ring, it’s serious business.

The average American receives 3 to 4 spam calls a day.

Even just taking the time to look at the phone and recognize a spam call can cost you valuable time.

According to a study conducted by the University of California at Irvine, it takes 23 minutes to refocus on a task after interruption.

With an intake receptionist handling your calls, you’ll always know that when the phone rings, it won’t be a waste of your time. The calls that make it to you will only be callers you’ve already deemed important. Existing clients with important updates, new clients representing valuable new business, or family members with urgent requests for you to pick something up from the grocery store on your way home; any way you slice it, you’ll know it’s worth your time.

Your Firm Will Always Be In Good Hands

And, of course, there comes a time when you don’t want to work anymore. Uninterrupted time with your family should be your reward after a hard day’s work. Whether that’s a home-cooked meal, dinner out, or a movie night on the couch, you should be able to enjoy it without interruption.

Unfortunately, the idea of an evening alone with the family is a fantasy for many lawyers.

According to Clio’s 2022 Legal Trends Report, 56 percent of lawyers work after 5 PM, 42 percent of lawyers work Saturdays, and 32 percent work Sundays. Much smaller percentages of lawyers actually stated they wanted to work those days and times.

When you need to take some time to yourself, an intake receptionist working after hours can make sure your firm is in good hands. You can’t leave clients hanging forever, of course.

Clio’s 2019 Legal Trends Report found that 79 percent of clients expect a call back within 24 hours of leaving a voicemail.

But with an intake receptionist fielding your calls, you won’t have to worry about it. Anyone who calls overnight will leave a message you can respond to first thing in the morning. Speaking to a live receptionist and undergoing a legal intake will buy you plenty of goodwill with your clients; they’ll feel like they’ve already begun the process of hiring your firm.

Our Intake Receptionists Will Simplify The New School Year

Here at Answering Legal, we don’t just have an intake receptionist for your firm, we have a whole team. With our virtual receptionists working as an extension of your firm, you’ll have 24-hour coverage. Every caller will get stellar treatment, no matter when they call.

If you’d like to learn more about our receptionists, click here for more information. Below, we’ll give you a sneak peek at how our intake receptionist service works below. For this example, we’ll assume the firm in question is having all of its calls handled by our service.

How Answering Legal Works

When a call comes in, one of our highly-trained intake receptionists will answer immediately. Every caller gets a greeting custom to that firm. From there, most existing callers will be asked to leave a message. To learn more about our message-taking service, click here.

New client callers, however, will receive a custom legal intake. Our intake receptionists will collect all the information the firm needs to determine how best to secure the caller’s business. You can read more about how our legal intake works here.

Just like our custom greetings, each firm’s custom legal intake process is designed by the firm in question. They can change any of their settings at any time. All the information the firm will need to secure the caller’s business will be contained in a message sent immediately after the call’s conclusion. From there, the attorney can decide based on the caller’s message what course of action is needed.

Don’t let a new school year slow you down. Click here or call 631-686-9700 to sign up for our free trial. For a limited time, we’re offering firms that sign up for our service their first 400 minutes free.