Phoning back web-form leads at a law firm: two hours of a paralegal's day

For the executive who decides

• The customer acts
• The machine acts
• A person decides
• Nothing runs

An illustration built from the owner's numbers and the thread's replies. The times are examples. The value of a case is an estimate.

1The job

Phoning back web-form leads to book the consultation. At a law firm with a paralegal on the phones; the size is not stated. Volume is not stated either: the two hours of dialing work out to about 30 to 50 new leads a week (an estimate).

2The number today

I have my paralegal wasting like 2 hours a day just dialing numbers that go straight to full mailboxes or weird disconnected tones That is 520 hours a year: about $15,700 in paralegal wages, or $6 to $10 a lead. The owner loses time too: "I feel like I spend more time chasing people who explicitly asked me to call them than actually doing billable work lately." And the lost cases: an intake manager in the same thread says a same-day run of texts and calls lifted sign-ups at their firm from 7% to 13% of leads. At 30 leads a week and about $1,400 a new case, that is about $2,500 a week at stake.

Estimate. The owner never gave a lead count or the firm's fees. About 30 leads a week is worked back from the 2 hours (3 minutes a dial, 6 dials a lead). About $1,400 a case is 4 hours at the US average lawyer rate of $349. The 7% to 13% comes from one anonymous intake manager at a large firm. About $2,500 a week is a ceiling on what a faster reply could win back. The owner's own numbers replace all three.

3The verdict

Hand over the first text; keep the conflict check and the consult.

• Hand to the machine: the first text within a minute of the form, from the firm's number, saying it is automated and naming the firm and the paralegal; a link to open consult times; asking the names of everyone else involved; reminders before the consult; and a short run of texts that day for leads who do not book, then stop.
• Keep with a person: the conflict check (making sure the firm does not already act for the other side), before any consult is confirmed; every lead who ticks "urgent" or mentions a deadline, an arrest or a court date; every question a lead asks; whether the firm takes the case, and the fee.
• Not yet: letting software hold the conversation or answer questions about the law; asking for the facts of the case by text; recorded voicemails until the form's consent wording is checked.

What the paralegal is for now: the conflict check, the urgent leads and the people who answer back. The machine takes the dialing, and the lawyer keeps every judgment about the case.

4The bill

About $50 a month at about 130 leads a month, built from parts the firm has partly set up already: a workflow runner (Zapier, $19.99 to $29.99), a booking page (Calendly, $10 a seat), texts (Twilio, about $11) and a number ($1.15). Add the carrier registration fees for business texting, which were not confirmed, and someone's hours to keep it running.

The alternatives: practice software with intake forms and texting (MyCase Pro, $100 to $120 a user); Clio's intake AI at $25 for each lead it helps sign, on top of a plan Clio quotes privately; a staffed callback service (Smith.ai, $12 a lead with a $600 minimum and a $750 setup, about $1,560 at this volume).

Checking: the paralegal clears the conflict check on every booking, which is already the job. For the first four weeks the lawyer reads 10 text threads a week. The checking time is not known until it is counted.

Estimate. Every monthly cost here assumes about 130 leads a month, worked back from the 2 hours a day. The owner's own count replaces it.

5Owner and off switch

The paralegal owns it day to day: they see every booking and every reply. The lawyer answers for it, because the bar holds lawyers responsible for what their staff and services do. To switch it off, turn off the one workflow that sends the first text. The form emails keep arriving and the paralegal calls as before. It takes under a minute; try it once in week one.

6The brief to hand your builder

The job: text every web-form lead within a minute with a link to book a consult, chase the ones who do not book for one day, and hold every booking until the conflict check is done.

Today: the paralegal spends about 2 hours a day dialing leads who do not answer; a recorded voicemail goes out on day one.

Done when: for two weeks, every form gets a text within 5 minutes; no consult is confirmed without a conflict result; no automated text goes out before 8am or after 9pm; every STOP is honored; the share of leads booked beats the week before switch-on; and the paralegal dials for under 30 minutes a day.

It may never, on its own: answer a question about the law or say whether someone has a case; quote a fee; confirm a consult before the conflict check; ask for the facts of the case; text anyone who did not agree to texts or who said stop.

You get from us: the form and its consent wording; the consult times; the kinds of case we take; the conflict-check steps; 20 past form submissions; every text, written and approved by the lawyer.

We own: the texting number and its registration, the accounts, the form and the data.

We get back: a daily list of every lead: when the first text went, booked or not, the conflict result, and anything a person has to answer.

Ask whoever sets it up	A good answer	A bad answer
What does it say when a lead asks a legal question?	Nothing about the law. It says a person will reply, and the paralegal gets a task.	"It's trained on legal content, so it can answer most questions."
Can a consult be booked before the conflict check?	It can hold a time, but nothing is confirmed until the paralegal marks the names clear.	"It books straight into the calendar."
How do we know every text was allowed, and arrived?	The consent box is saved with each lead, STOP works on its own, the number is registered with the carriers, and failed texts show on the daily list.	"We just send them from your number."

For the operator who builds and runs it Paid layer

7The working set

• Trigger: a web-form submission.
• Steps: within a minute, send a fixed text from a registered business number: it says it is automated, names the firm and the paralegal, and links to open consult times. Ask the full names of the other people involved and the best time to talk; never the facts of the case. If the urgent box is ticked, alert the paralegal to call within 15 minutes. A booked time is held as pending. The paralegal runs the conflict check and confirms, or the lawyer declines with a text the lawyer wrote. A lead who does not book gets texts at once, after two hours and the next morning, 8am to 9pm only, then nothing; STOP ends it at once. Reminders go the day before and the hour before the consult.
• Data: one record per lead: name, mobile, consent box and the version of its wording, source, urgent flag, matter type picked, the other parties' names, time of the form, time of the first text, delivered or failed, booked time, conflict result (clear, conflict, ask the lawyer), confirmed or declined, showed or not, signed or not, opted out or not.
• Review step: no consult is confirmed until the paralegal marks the conflict result. The lawyer reads every decline, and 10 random text threads a week for the first four weeks.
• Alerts: no text within 5 minutes of a form; a failed or undelivered text; an urgent lead not called within 15 minutes; a consult on the calendar with no conflict result; a lead who replies with a question. The wrong-but-green count: consults that turned out to be a conflict or a matter the firm does not take, plus leads who say they never got a text.
• If it breaks: what you see: leads say nobody replied, or replies stop coming in. Check first: the link from the form to the workflow, then the texting number's carrier registration. The safe fix: switch the workflow off; form emails reach the paralegal as before.
• Cost per lead: about $0.35 to $0.40 in parts at 130 leads a month. For comparison, $12 a lead from a staffed service, or $25 a signed lead from the practice software's intake AI.
• Baseline, before switch-on: one week of leads in, minutes from form to first contact, the share reached, booked, showed and signed, and the paralegal's dialing hours.

Estimate. The cost per lead assumes about 130 leads a month (worked back from the 2 hours a day) and about 7 text segments and 5 workflow steps a lead. The money uses about $1,400 a new case until the owner gives the firm's own fees.