Wasting Your Days On The Phone? It’s Time To Invest In A Legal Virtual Assistant!

And now Answering Legal presents a short dramatization, which will showcase why there is a significant need for solo and small firm attorneys to invest in a legal virtual assistant. In the below story, we’ll focus on fictional attorney Tom Lawyer, who runs a growing solo practice, and at this time is unable to employ a full-time receptionist. At the end of this story, we’ll chime in with a few key takeaways and a much needed solution.

You know those mornings where you have a ton to get done, but are totally wide awake and up to the challenge. Well attorney Tom Lawyer is having one of those mornings. His morning coffee has already kicked in, and he has all the energy in the world to tackle his long to-do list.

As Tom sits down at his desk, the phone rings. It’s an existing client with a few questions about their case. These questions turn out to be far from urgent. The phone call initially seems like it will be brief, but once the client starts talking, they don’t stop. The conversation ends up going on for 25 minutes.

A few minutes after the conclusion of the first call, the phone rings again. This time it’s a prospective client interested in hiring Tom. Of course a new client is never bad news, but after conducting a full legal intake and answering some questions about his firm, another 25 minutes is gone from Tom’s day.

At this point, Tom is just trying to play catch up. Almost an hour of his day is already gone and he still has a full list of important tasks that need to be done. Just as Mr. Lawyer starts to get back into a working rhythm, the phone rings again. This time it’s a bothersome telemarketer. A fed up Tom immediately hangs up the phone and decides to let all his office’s calls go to voicemail for the rest of the morning.

After lunch, Tom checks in on his voicemail, and hear a message from an individual with a potentially significant case. The call came in a few hours earlier. This sounds like a case that could potentially make Mr. Lawyer’s year. He’s ecstatic and quickly goes to call the customer back. No answer. He later learns that the customer ended up going with another firm that provided them with an immediate live answer. Talk about pull out your hair frustrating.

After lunch, Tom checks in on his voicemail, and hear a message from an individual with a potentially significant case. The call came in a few hours earlier. This sounds like a case that could potentially make Mr. Lawyer’s year. He’s ecstatic and quickly goes to call the customer back. No answer. He later learns that the customer ended up going with another firm that provided them with an immediate live answer. Talk about pull out your hair frustrating.

Our Takeaways

A lot went wrong for our fictional friend Tom Lawyer in the above story. Not having any kind of receptionist to help him get through his busy morning, created several problems.

1. Without a receptionist to serve as a friendly buffer between Tom and his clients, Mr. Lawyer’s day got derailed in a hurry. If a receptionist was present, they could’ve picked up the call from Tom’s existing client, and let Mr. Lawyer know that their issue was far from urgent. The receptionist could’ve then taken a message, allowing Tom to call the client back at a more convenient time.
2. Not having a receptionist forced Tom to perform a legal intake on a first time caller himself. While Mr. Lawyer no doubt appreciates the opportunity to win over a new client, legal intake is a task that can typically be handled by a trained receptionist, which would allow Tom to stay focused on other big picture tasks and case work.
3. No one likes dealing with telemarketers, and in this example, Tom not having a receptionist to filter his calls allowed a pesky salesperson to provide an annoying interruption to his day.
4. Relying on voicemail to field client calls for just a few hours proved to be quite costly for Tom’s firm. In order to win over new clients these days, having a live voice answering the phone is a necessity. So when a potentially significant client called into Mr. Lawyer’s office, and was greeted by a voicemail machine, they quickly moved onto trying another firm. A live receptionist could have notified Tom of the client opportunity, and at least given him the option to jump on the phone and win over a game changing client. At the very least, a live receptionist would have been able to take the caller through a legal intake process, and let them know that Tom’s firm was willing and ready to take on their case.

Tom is clearly in desperate need of some kind of receptionist help. But, if hiring a full-time employee doesn’t fit into Mr. Lawyer’s budget, what can he do to get help?

The Solution: Using A Legal Virtual Assistant

If Tom was a real person, we’d tell him to call Answering Legal to help fill his phone answering needs. The legal virtual assistants at Answering Legal are not only highly trained, but can provide a live answer for all of the calls Tom can’t get to.

A few things to know about Answering Legal:

• Their virtual assistants carry plenty of experience in message taking and performing legal intakes, allowing them to effectively engage with a lawyer’s current clients and new leads. All client messages can be sent from the service directly to the lawyer’s smartphone via text and/or email.
• The service can keep telemarketers and any other unwanted callers away from interrupting your day, and you’ll never be charged for the minutes spent on their calls.
• If an important call comes in, an Answering Legal virtual assistant is able to try and patch the lawyer in mid-conversation. This ensures that you’ll always have a chance to capture that significant client.
• Answering Legal can help attorneys capture clients outside of normal office office, as their legal virtual assistant team remains active and answering calls 24/7/365.

Perhaps the best news about Answering Legal for solo and small firm lawyers is that they offer pricing packages that fit into every budget!

Click here to get a custom quote for your firm or Click here to see what real attorneys think of Answering Legal!