Why Your Contract Law Firm Needs an Answering Service

Contract law doesn’t get the same attention given to criminal law or even civil law. However, without contract lawyers, the world would look very different. Businesses would find it hard to work together. Unions and employers would never reach agreements. Organizations would find it challenging to comply with legal regulations and more. 

Contract law firms handle a wide range of legal matters. That includes drafting, reviewing, and negotiating contracts, as well as mediating disputes, protecting their clients’ interests by securing favorable terms, and representing their clients in court.

Each of these responsibilities requires the attorney’s utmost attention and focus. Missing a key element in a contract’s wording could cost the entire case. Failing to secure an agreement during negotiations could sour a working relationship that’s lasted for years. Typos, inaccuracies, and inconsistencies within a contract’s wording could have major unintended consequences, and even void the contract entirely.

You must bring your A-game to the office every single day. You and your team members cannot afford to let your attention slip by a single degree or it could be disastrous. But what do you think happens every time you must stop working on a client’s case to answer the phone or reply to an email? 

Distractions erode your attention to detail

The single most important thing for a contract law firm to practice is incredible attention to detail. That applies to virtually all situations you might face, from contract creation to negotiating between two parties. Distractions in the office erode that attention to detail, making costly mistakes more likely and adding time and stress.

Clockify reports that 79% of workers feel distracted during a regular workday and 68% of people feel that they don’t have enough uninterrupted focus in their day. Productivity and efficiency plummet with distractions, and errors multiply many times over.

What are the biggest distractions in a contract law office?  The most common offenders list looks like this:

• Email notifications

• Phone calls

• Web-based client communications

• Personal cell phone use

• Internet use (non-research related)

Of those interruptions, the three most significant factors can seem inescapable. After all, you have to answer the office phone, right? You also can’t ignore client or lead emails, and replying to questions sent through your website is also critical to your law office’s success.

The good news is that you can eliminate those distractions without having to stop answering calls or emails. The answer is to let a legal answering service handle them for you. With the right answering service, your team is freed from these time-consuming distractions and your clients benefit from improved attention levels and increased focus.

What can you expect from a legal answering service?

How can a legal answering service help your contract law firm operate more efficiently and deliver better client service? Here are just a few ways.

No more phone calls

We’ve already addressed the fact that answering phones is a major distraction and can lead to significant problems. But you can’t just let those calls go to voicemail, either. Being forced to play “phone tag” is a huge detractor for most leads and even current clients, and each missed touchpoint makes it more likely that they’ll contact a competitor. 

A legal answering service ensures that you never have to answer the phone unless you want to but also that your office never misses another call. Every call that comes in is answered professionally by a live virtual receptionist who acts like a member of your existing team.

Enhanced client intake

How much time do you spend communicating with a lead only for them to fail to convert into a client? It’s a frustrating situation when you realize that you could have been doing something productive for an existing client during that time. However, even onboarding a new client successfully isn’t the best use of your time or that of your team members. You should be focusing on tasks where your legal expertise and experience are required, not moving a lead further down the funnel.

A legal answering service can help with lead intake in a range of ways. That includes screening phone calls to eliminate leads who aren’t well-suited for your firm’s offerings, as well as scheduling appointments, and even accepting payments. That allows you to focus on serving your existing clients.

Call intelligence and metadata

At its heart, your contract law firm is a business. You must make decisions that foster growth, but that can be challenging without access to critical client-related data. The right legal answering service can help by providing access to call intelligence, metadata, transcriptions, and call recordings.

This information lets you create better images of your clients, but it does much more than that. You get access to information about what potential leads are calling about, allowing you to make more informed decisions about the services you offer, the types of clients you focus on, and more. It can help you pivot to a more lucrative area of the field, serve your clients better, and play to the strengths of your team, all while growing your law firm.

Get the support your law firm needs

As you can see, an answering service can do so much more than just answer calls and take messages. The right service can make the difference between a successful contract law firm and a team struggling with distractions or unable to handle communications effectively. 

At Smith.ai, our virtual receptionists can provide customized support when and where you need it. From around-the-clock service to overflow answering, email and SMS follow-up, call intelligence and metadata, appointment booking, and lead screening. 

To learn more, schedule a consultation or reach out to hello@smith.ai.

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