Playbook, law firm
What happens between sending an enquiry and having a solicitor
People assume that instructing a firm is a decision, and that once they have made it the work begins. In practice there is a sequence, most of it invisible from outside, and none of the steps can be reordered to be helpful. Publishing that sequence is worth more than any reassurance a firm can offer, because the frustration in the first fortnight is almost always somebody waiting through a stage nobody told them about.
Why this is not the general answer
The handling pattern for setup and onboarding holds across every trade. What follows is the part that does not.
- Sending an enquiry does not instruct anybody, and the gap between the two is where clients believe time is being wasted, so the sequence is the answer rather than an apology.
- The conflict check comes before anything and can end the relationship before it starts, which means the honest material has to say that the firm might not be able to act.
- The client care letter and terms of business have to be signed and returned, and a matter can sit still for a week because that document is on somebody's kitchen table.
- On many work types the firm asks for money on account before starting, and a client who was not told that reads the request as a lack of trust rather than as the normal opening step.
How it arrives
- what happens after i send you an enquiry
- how long before you can start work on my case
- do i have to pay something up front before you start
- what is a client care letter
- why do you need to know where my deposit came from
- can you start while i get my id together
What has to be indexed for this to work
| Your onboarding sequence, written as steps with rough timings | Enquiry, triage to a department, conflict check, identity and source of funds, client care letter out and back, money on account, file opened. Naming the steps and roughly how long each takes converts most of the chasing messages in the first fortnight. |
|---|---|
| What the client care letter contains and what signing it does | Scope, who does the work, how charges arise, how either side ends it. Clients sign this without reading it and then argue with it later, so a short honest description of what they are agreeing to is worth the space. |
| Your money on account policy by work type | Whether it is required, roughly how much, and what it is applied to. Say plainly that it is held as client money, because the objection is usually about handing money to strangers rather than about the amount. |
| The identity and funds evidence needed, and why nothing starts without it | Which documents, whether originals are needed, and what evidence of the source of funds you require on transactional work. Presented as the gate it is, not as paperwork that can follow along behind. |
The reply
Sending an enquiry is not the same as instructing us, and there are a few steps before a file opens [1]. We run a conflict check first, because until that clears we cannot say whether we are able to act for you. Then we verify identity, and on transactional work the source of the funds. After that a client care letter goes out setting out the scope and how charges arise, and work starts once that is signed and any money on account is with us [2]. Nothing can be brought forward, but the timings above are what to expect. Leave your name, an email and the type of matter and we will start the first step.
It corrects the assumption in the first clause, because everything else on this page only makes sense once the client knows the enquiry did not instruct anybody. Each step carries the reason it exists, which stops the sequence reading as bureaucracy. It says plainly that nothing can be jumped, since that is the request that follows every explanation of this kind.
Where it stops
The trigger. The visitor asks how far along their own onboarding is, says they have sent documents and heard nothing, or asks the firm to start before a step is complete.
I cannot see whether anything of yours has arrived or where it has got to, and no step here can be brought forward. Leave your name, an email and the type of matter and the team will check and come back to you.
It stops answering before it guesses, says who will pick it up, and asks for the one thing that makes a reply possible. Nothing about it reads as a dead end.
Never say this here
Out of bounds
- Never say the firm will act, or is acting, before the conflict check has cleared.
- Never suggest work can begin while identity or source of funds evidence is outstanding.
- Never confirm that documents have been received, or that a file has been opened, since none of that is visible here.
- Never give a date by which a matter will be underway, because the sequence depends on steps outside the assistant's sight.
Questions
- Does publishing the sequence put people off?
- It puts off the person who wanted work to start tonight, who was going to be disappointed anyway. Everybody else gets an accurate picture of the first fortnight, which is the period that generates the most avoidable contact.
- Can it collect the identity documents to save a step?
- No. It takes a name, an email and a message and sends that to your address, and nothing else. Identity evidence goes through whatever route your onboarding uses, and a chat window is not it.
- Can it tell a client where their onboarding has got to?
- No. It has no view of your systems, cannot look anybody up and cannot confirm that a document arrived. It describes the sequence, which answers the underlying question of whether the wait is normal, and hands the specific one to your team.
Keep reading
- Everything for a law firmFee structures, consultation terms and onboarding checks are answerable. Anything applied to a caller's own facts is legal advice.
- Handling setup and onboarding in generalMost product material is written for somebody who already understands it. A first run guide has to be ordered, not merely complete.
- What a law firm can say about cost before anybody is a clientHourly grades, fixed fee ranges and conditional fee terms are publishable. A figure for somebody's own matter is not, and here is the wording.
- Costs estimates, and why one cannot begin in a chat windowA costs estimate is a document with duties attached, not a number. What the assistant explains about how one is produced, and where it stops.
- The first appointment at a law firm, explained in advanceIdentification, source of funds, whether the first meeting is chargeable and what actually happens in it, answered before anybody has to ring.
Try it on your own material
Upload a document or point it at your site, paste one line of HTML, then ask it something only your business could answer.