How law firms get more clients: intake, speed and the phone

Mostly from trust that already exists: past clients, their families and people they've told about you. The rest come from people comparing firms, usually online and usually on price, reputation and specialism.

The Legal Services Consumer Panel's 2026 tracker survey asked 3,802 people in England and Wales who had used legal services how they chose a provider:

• 21% chose a provider they or a family member had used before.
• 18% followed a recommendation from family or friends.
• 42% shopped around before choosing.
• Of those who compared providers, 57% compared price, 52% compared reputation and 36% compared office location.
• 91% said it was important that their provider was regulated.

Two lessons follow. Look after the people who already know you, because they bring the next client. And when a stranger is comparing you with two other firms, make sure your prices, reviews and regulation are easy to see, and that your phone gets answered.

Keep your Google Business Profile complete, build a clear page for each area of law you want work in, and publish your prices where the rules require it.

• Google Business Profile. Google says local results are based mainly on relevance, distance and prominence. Fill in your categories, opening hours, services and photos, and keep them current.
• Website pages by area of law. Someone looking for help with a dismissal searches for employment solicitors, not for your firm's name. A page per area, written in plain English, gives them something to find.
• Prices. The SRA Transparency Rules require firms to publish cost information for certain services, such as residential conveyancing, estate administration and unfair or wrongful dismissal claims at the Employment Tribunal. The same rules require authorised firms to show their SRA number and the SRA's digital badge on their website. With so many people comparing on price and regulation, these pages do marketing work as well as compliance work.
• Directories and referrers. Professional directories and local referrers such as estate agents, accountants and financial advisers can send steady work, if you look after the relationship.

Because reputation is one of the main things people compare, and reviews are where they look for it. Of those in the panel's survey who compared providers, 52% looked at reputation.

Ask every client at the end of a matter, with a direct link to your review form. The SRA's guidance on engaging with online reviews says you can reply to reviews as long as you don't reveal confidential information, and that you shouldn't put pressure on clients or review sites to take reviews down. Our guide to getting more Google reviews as a solicitor covers how to ask and how to reply within the rules.

A good first call gets the caller's name and number, the matter type, urgency and enough detail for a conflict check, books or promises a clear next step, and never gives legal advice on the spot.

The first call is often where the price conversation starts. In the panel's 2026 survey, 63% of people first found out the price by talking to the provider, so a caller who can't get through can't even begin to compare you.

1. 1Answer in the firm's name, promptly. A caller who has to try three times is already less sure about you.
2. 2Take who they are, whether they're calling for themselves or someone else, the area of law and a short description in their words.
3. 3Take the names of other parties your firm asks for, so a conflict check can happen before anyone gives advice.
4. 4Ask whether there's a date coming up, such as a hearing, a completion or a deadline in a letter.
5. 5For services where you publish prices, point them to your figures. For anything else, say who will explain costs and when.
6. 6Tell them when they'll hear back and from whom, and keep that promise.

The person or service answering should never give legal advice or tell a caller whether their deadline has passed. That's a solicitor's job, and saying so clearly builds trust rather than losing it.

The same working day, and the same morning for anything that came in overnight. Speed is one of the few things that sets you apart before the client has met anyone.

The Legal Services Consumer Panel lists reputation, price, specialism and speed among the main factors people weigh up. In a separate 2026 survey of 2,000 UK adults, 75% said they'd give a business three call attempts before giving up on it. Three attempts is generous, but a worried caller on their third try is also ringing your competitors.

Evenings and weekends need a plan of their own. Our guide to out-of-hours calls for law firms covers how to take those enquiries without putting a solicitor on a night rota.

Make the step from enquiry to instruction short, clear and personal.

• Call back with someone who can talk about the matter, not just book a further call.
• Follow up in writing with what you'll do, who will do it and what it's likely to cost. The SRA Code of Conduct requires clients to get the best possible information about pricing, at the time of engagement and as the matter goes on (paragraph 8.7).
• Make the paperwork easy to complete, so a client who has said yes doesn't stall at the forms.
• Follow up once if someone goes quiet. People often mean to reply and don't.
• Ask every new client how they heard about you, and record the answer.

Five numbers tell you most of what you need to know about intake.

Put the first three together and you can see what missed calls cost. Our guide to what missed calls cost a law firm shows the sum, and our legal answering service guide compares ways to answer more of them.