Patching, Messages, & Intake

How Does Call Patching Work?

When someone calls into a law firm with a case, they’re looking to speak to a lawyer right away, and are likely to hire the first one they speak to. Call patching is what makes that possible for your firm, even when our receptionists are handling all your calls. Here’s how it works:

A prospective client calls into your firm, and their call is answered by one of our virtual receptionists. They record the caller’s personal information and determine that the caller is indeed a new client calling with a potential case. After our receptionist has recorded all that information, they will inform the caller that they’ll be placed on a brief hold while our receptionist tries to get you on the line.

Our virtual receptionist will then call you, give you the caller’s information, and ask whether or not you’d like to take the call. If you do, we’ll transfer the caller over to you, keeping your personal phone number confidential. We don’t charge for any of the time that you spend on the line with the caller. Once our virtual receptionist has patched the call, they’ll send you a message on your Answering Legal app with the client’s information so you can have it if you need it.

We recommend that attorneys try to speak to new client callers as soon as possible, since clients are likely to keep calling other firms until they speak to a lawyer. With call patching, we can connect you to prospective clients without you needing to worry about answering every phone call yourself.

What Makes Our Message Taking Service Exceptional?

At the end of every call, our virtual receptionists immediately send you a message on your Answering Legal app. Typically, that message has information about the caller’s identity, the kind of case they’re calling about, and any message they wanted to leave for you./p>

If the caller is an existing client, a judge, opposing counsel, or an insurance company, we will send you a message with the information that you’ve requested us to get. For an existing client, we’ll get their name, phone number, and the reason for their call. In the event we answer a judge’s call, we’ll get the judge’s name, the case number the judge is calling about, a phone number, and a detailed message from the judge. For an insurance company, we’ll get the case number, the representative’s name, and a callback number.

If the caller represents a new client and a legal intake was performed, you’ll receive the full contents of the legal intake in addition to the usual information you request from a message. You can read more about legal intakes below.

How Do We Handle Our Customizable Legal Intake Process?

Every firm has its own unique angle they bring to each case they handle. In the same way, every firm handles new clients slightly differently. Whatever your intake process is, we have designed our service to be flexible enough to handle it.

By default, whenever our receptionists answer a new client’s call, we capture their personal information: name, phone number, and email address. Then, we use your legal intake settings to guide the rest of the conversation. Our receptionists are trained to follow your scripts so we make sure you have all the information you need to decide whether or not to take a case, and to close the deal when you call them back.

Here are just a few examples of questions we can ask for different practice areas:

Criminal Defense Law

• What are the charges?
• What was the date of the arrest?
• When is your next court date?
• Which county/municipality did this occur in?

If the call is regarding an OVI/DWI:

• Did you consent to a field sobriety test or breathalyzer?

Personal Injury Law

• What type of accident has occurred?
• Were there any injuries sustained? If so, please list the injuries.
• What was the date of the accident?
• Are you missing work because of the accident?

Bankruptcy and Foreclosure Law

• Are you currently employed?
• Have your wages been garnished or are they about to be garnished?
• What is the approximate amount of debt?
• If your home in foreclosure?

Family Law

If the call is regarding a divorce:

• Are there any children between you and your spouse?
• Do you and your spouse own a home together?
• Do you have a prenuptial agreement?

Just like the rest of our features, your legal intake is 100 percent customizable. If at any time you want to change the information we gather, you can call, email, or send a ticket through the Answering Legal app to our support team, and we’ll make a change immediately..