Law firms - the long version
How long does an inquiry sit before someone answers it?
Answering speed is the cheapest variable in case acquisition and the one firms measure last.
For attorneys and firm administrators. Injured people should not use this page.
Reading time is about eight minutes. Nothing here quotes a price or promises a result.
The situation
Nothing about an inquiry changes between arriving and being answered. The facts are the same, the claim is the same. What changes is whether anyone else has spoken to the person first.
Firms rarely know their own figure. The impression is that calls go out quickly; the record usually shows a long tail of inquiries answered the next working day, at the weekend, or not at all. The tail is where the spend goes.
That matters before any source is judged, because a slow desk and a poor source produce identical numbers on a spreadsheet. Measure the desk first, and the source becomes readable.
What an unanswered hour actually costs
- A person who has already spoken to someone else has no reason to return your call.
- Volume bought at a pace intake cannot answer converts for whoever answers instead.
- Slow answering looks identical to a bad lead source on a spreadsheet, so the wrong thing gets cancelled.
- Staff who are behind start triaging by guesswork rather than by the written standard.
How response time is handled before a pilot
Pacing is set to the capacity you have, not to the volume you would like.
01 - Measure the current gap
Time from inquiry arriving to a human speaking, during the week and at the weekend, taken from your own records rather than an estimate.
02 - Establish who answers
Named cover for each part of the week, including lunch hours, court days and holidays, written down rather than assumed.
03 - Set the pacing
Weekly and daily delivery limits matched to that cover, so inquiries arrive at a rate the firm can answer.
04 - Agree the escalation
What happens when an inquiry is not reached on the first attempt, how many attempts follow, and when it is closed out.
05 - Review against the record
Response times recorded for the pilot and read back next to conversion, so the two are never confused.
If you already know your answering speed, the call is about pacing and criteria rather than diagnosis.
What you keep
What you keep from this exercise
- 01
Your real answering speed
Measured across the week rather than the impression of it, and comparable month to month.
- 02
A written cover schedule
Who answers what, when, and what happens when they cannot.
- 03
A pacing figure
The volume your intake can absorb without dropping inquiries, useful regardless of source.
- 04
A basis for judging any source
Conversion figures that are not quietly measuring your own delay.
Straight answers
The questions firms ask about this
- We answer everything eventually. Is that not enough?
- Eventually is a different product to promptly. Both are legitimate choices, but the economics differ, so the pilot is priced and paced against the one you actually run.
- Can you deliver only during our office hours?
- Pacing windows are part of the written scope. If you want nothing arriving after four o'clock or on a Friday, that is set before delivery starts.
- What if an inquiry is unreachable?
- The attempt sequence and the closing rule are written into the scope, and every attempt is recorded, so disputes are settled against the record.
- Will you tell us how to run our intake?
- No. We record what happens and pace delivery to it. How you staff the desk is your decision.
Your criteria
Send us your answering pattern
Tell us who answers, when, and what your criteria are. We come back with a pacing figure and a draft standard you can correct.
What happens next
- 01We reply within one business day and propose a time.
- 02We draft your criteria document and send it back for corrections. Nothing is delivered until you approve it.
- 03If we can meet the standard, we quote per billable inquiry. If we cannot, we say so.
We do not sell or share what you submit here, and we do not use it for anything other than responding to your enquiry.
Or take it to a call
Thirty minutes on criteria and economics
Bring the figures this article asked for. You leave with a draft standard either way.
Criteria and Pricing Call · 30 minutes
Discuss criteria, delivery needs, and pricing for MVA and workers’ compensation inquiries, live phone transfers, signed cases, signed commercial cases, and catastrophic commercial cases. No questionnaire is required before booking.
Book a CallBook within the next four days. The calendar opens in a new tab. Complete your booking to receive your confirmation and calendar invite.
Next step
Pace the volume to the desk you actually have
Thirty to forty-five minutes on answering cover, pacing limits and the criteria that sit behind them.