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

From referrals, search and reviews, and almost all of them end in a phone call or form. The marketing gets someone to contact you; intake decides whether they hire you.

• Referrals from past clients, other lawyers and professionals such as accountants and financial advisers.
• Search: people typing their problem and city into Google, then comparing the firms on the map and in the results.
• Reviews, which shape which of those firms they call first.
• Paid search and directory listings, for practice areas where people are actively looking.

All four depend on the same thing at the end: a first contact that goes well. In Clio's study, 73% of shoppers who reached a firm said they were unlikely to recommend it (Clio), which shows how much a poor first contact can undo.

Complete your Google Business Profile, list your practice areas as services, and make your website explain how to hire you. In Clio's 2024 study, only 30% of shoppers could easily understand the process of hiring a firm from its website, and just 14% could find pricing information (Clio).

• Fill in every field of your Google Business Profile: practice areas, hours, address and a phone number that is answered.
• Add each practice area as a service. Google says services may be highlighted on your profile when local customers search for them (Google Business Profile Help).
• Give each main practice area its own page on your website, written for the person with the problem, not for other lawyers.
• Explain the next step on every page: how to book a consultation, what it costs, and what happens after.
• Publish the fees you're comfortable sharing, such as consultation fees and flat fees for routine work.
• Make sure your hours online match when your phone is actually answered.

Your marketing must be truthful and not misleading, you can't pay people for recommendations except in narrow cases, and you can't solicit by live person-to-person contact for gain except in narrow cases. These come from ABA Model Rules 7.1 to 7.3; your state's version may differ.

• Rule 7.1: no false or misleading communication about the lawyer or the lawyer's services. The comment warns that past results can mislead if presented so as to create unjustified expectations, and that unsubstantiated comparisons with other firms may be misleading.
• Rule 7.2: you may advertise through any media and pay the reasonable costs of advertising, but you can't give anything of value to a person for recommending your services, apart from listed exceptions such as qualified lawyer referral services and nominal thank-you gifts. Every communication must include the name and contact information of at least one responsible lawyer or firm.
• Rule 7.3: no live person-to-person solicitation of a specific person known to need legal services when a significant motive is pecuniary gain, except for other lawyers, people with a close personal or prior professional relationship, and people who routinely use that type of legal service for business.

Reviews fall under the same rules, plus the FTC's rule on consumer reviews. Our guide to getting more Google reviews as an attorney covers what you can and can't do.

Because people compare firms on the map before they call, and reviews are the main thing they can compare. Google itself recommends asking customers for reviews with a link or QR code and replying to them (Google Business Profile Help).

For a law firm, the ask has to fit the rules: no incentives for reviews, no asking only the happy clients, and replies that never reveal anything about a client's matter. The reviews guide goes through each.

Name and contact details, practice area, a short description, the other parties for your conflict check, any urgent dates, and a booked next step. A call that ends with "we'll get back to you" and no time is half an intake.

Keep it short. Under ABA Model Rule 1.18, a caller who consults you about possibly hiring you is a prospective client, and what they tell you generally can't be used or revealed even if you don't take the case.

1. 1Answer in the firm's name.
2. 2Take the caller's name, phone number and email.
3. 3Ask the practice area and a short description of the matter.
4. 4Take the names of the other parties, for your conflict check.
5. 5Ask about urgent dates, such as a court date or a closing.
6. 6Book the consultation, or give a callback time.

In Clio's study, just 41% of firms offered rate information on the phone and only 36% could explain the process and next steps (Clio). A script that covers both puts you ahead of most of the firms your caller is comparing you with. Our guide to legal answering service options has a practice-by-practice set of intake questions.

Answer calls live where you can, and respond to messages and forms within the same business day. In a 2019 Clio survey of 2,000 US consumers, 79% expected a response within 24 hours (Clio).

Speed matters most for the inquiries that shop around: injury, family, criminal and flat-fee work. The firm that books the consultation first usually wins, so after-hours calls matter too. Our guide to after-hours calls for law firms covers how to answer them without a night rotation.

Missed calls are the most expensive gap, because callers rarely leave a detailed voicemail. What missed calls cost a law firm shows how to put a number on yours.

Answer more of them, give useful information on the first contact, and book a next step every time.

• Answer every call, including overflow, lunch and after hours.
• Give callers the fee information you're happy to share, such as the consultation fee.
• Book the consultation during the first call, not in a callback.
• Send a confirmation with the date, time, address or video link, and what to bring.
• Follow up with anyone who doesn't book, once, within a day.
• Ask every satisfied client for a review when the matter closes.

Five numbers, monthly: calls, missed calls, consultations booked, clients signed, and where each one came from.

If calls rise but consultations don't, the problem is intake, not marketing.

Ringzel is an AI receptionist for law firms that answers every call 24/7 from $99 a month, so the inquiries your marketing pays for get answered.

• It answers in your firm's name and asks the intake questions you set.
• It can ask how the caller heard about you, so you can track your marketing.
• It is set up never to give legal advice.
• On Professional and Premium, it can book consultations into your calendar during the call and transfer calls to an attorney.

Plans are $99, $179 or $299 a month, with a 14-day free trial and no card to start.