By Fadi Agour, J.D. · Updated November 13, 2026 · Facts last reviewed November 13, 2026
Key takeaways
- Hennessey Digital's 2025 study found a median law firm response time of 13 minutes to web inquiries; 26% of firms never responded at all.
- Clio's 2024 secret-shopper research, cited by the ABA, found only 40% of law firms answered the phone, down from 56% in 2019.
- The seven-point audit below takes an afternoon and uses data you already have.
- Intake is the one variable your firm fully controls. Fixing it raises the return on every lead source at once.
Why intake decides your cost per signed case
Every lead your firm pays for, whether through ads, referrals or a lead vendor, ends in one of three places: signed, properly rejected, or lost. Intake decides how many land in the third bucket.
The numbers show how large that bucket is. Hennessey Digital's 2025 study sent test inquiries through the web forms of 1,333 law firms. The median response time was 13 minutes, 25% of firms responded in under five minutes, 39% took more than two hours or never responded, and 26% never responded at all. On the phone side, an ABA Law Practice article citing Clio's 2024 secret-shopper research reported that only 40% of firms answered calls, down from 56% in 2019.
A firm in the slow group is paying full price for marketing and keeping a fraction of what it buys. Our cost per signed case guide shows how to put a dollar figure on the leak.
The 7-point intake audit
Score each point from 1 (poor) to 5 (strong). Use the last 30 days of leads.
| # | Audit point | What to measure | Target |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Response time | Minutes from lead arrival to first contact attempt | Under 5 minutes in business hours |
| 2 | Phone coverage | Share of inbound calls answered by a person | Over 90% |
| 3 | Script consistency | Do all intake staff ask the same screening questions in the same order? | One written script, used every time |
| 4 | Follow-up cadence | Contact attempts per unreached lead, across phone, text and email | At least 6 attempts over 72 hours |
| 5 | Attorney hand-off | Time from "qualified" to attorney conversation or signed agreement | Same call where possible, same day always |
| 6 | Outcome tracking | Share of leads with a recorded outcome (signed, rejected with reason, lost) | 100% |
| 7 | Source feedback | Do you tell each lead source what to stop sending? | Monthly, with rejection reasons |
1. Response time
Pull the timestamp of each lead and the timestamp of your first call or text. If you cannot find the second one, that is your first finding. Set a five-minute target during business hours and decide who covers nights and weekends.
2. Phone coverage
Count inbound calls and count the ones a person answered. Voicemail does not count. If coverage is below 90%, the fix is staffing or a call-answering partner, not a better script.
3. Script consistency
Ask three intake people to describe their first five questions. If you get three different answers, write one script. Our personal injury screening questions are a starting point.
4. Follow-up cadence
Most people do not pick up the first call. Decide in advance how many attempts a lead gets, over what period, through which channels, and make the system enforce it.
5. Attorney hand-off
A qualified lead that waits two days for an attorney callback is a lead that hired someone else. Where your rules allow, sign on the first call. Where an attorney must speak first, make it the same day.
6. Outcome tracking
Every lead should end with a recorded outcome and, for rejections, a reason. Without that you cannot compute cost per signed case, and you cannot do point seven.
7. Source feedback
Send each lead source a monthly summary of outcomes and rejection reasons. A good vendor adjusts the screening criteria. A referral partner learns what you actually take. Our note on lead quality versus volume explains why this loop matters.
A sample scorecard
Here is what a completed audit might look like for a mid-sized injury firm. The scores are an illustration, not data from any firm.
| Audit point | Score (1-5) | Finding | Next step |
|---|---|---|---|
| Response time | 2 | Median 40 minutes; nobody owns web leads before 9 a.m. | Route web leads to a phone, not an inbox |
| Phone coverage | 3 | 78% answered; lunch hour is the gap | Stagger breaks |
| Script consistency | 2 | Three people, three scripts | Write one script this week |
| Follow-up cadence | 1 | One call, then nothing | Six attempts over 72 hours, enforced by the CRM |
| Attorney hand-off | 3 | Next-day callbacks | Same-day rule |
| Outcome tracking | 2 | 60% of leads have no outcome | Make outcome a required field |
| Source feedback | 1 | Never sent | Monthly summary to each source |
Fix the lowest scores first. Follow-up cadence and outcome tracking usually move fastest and change the most.
When to bring in live call transfers
If phone coverage is the problem and hiring is not the answer this quarter, live call transfers put a screened caller on the line with your team in real time. The screening happens before the call reaches you, and the lead never waits in a form queue. They are an add-on to web leads, not a replacement for fixing intake.
How Best Case Leads fits
Best Case Leads sells exclusive legal leads on a pay-per-lead basis, screened to the criteria your firm sets and delivered in real time to your email, CRM or intake system. Every buyer gets lead-level conversion reporting and regular lead reviews with an assigned account manager, which is the source-feedback loop in point seven.
FAQ
How fast should a law firm respond to a new lead?
Within five minutes during business hours. Hennessey Digital's 2025 study found a median law firm response time of 13 minutes, and only 25% of firms responded in under five minutes.
What percentage of law firms answer the phone?
An ABA Law Practice article citing Clio's 2024 secret-shopper research reported that only 40% of law firms answered phone calls, down from 56% in 2019.
What should a law firm intake audit measure?
Seven things: response time, phone coverage, script consistency, follow-up cadence, attorney hand-off time, outcome tracking, and feedback to lead sources.
How many times should intake follow up with a lead?
Set a fixed cadence and enforce it. A common target is at least six attempts over 72 hours across phone, text and email, then a longer-interval sequence after that.
Why does intake matter more than the lead source?
Intake is the one variable the firm fully controls, and it applies to every source at once. A slow or inconsistent intake process raises the cost per signed case for ads, referrals and purchased leads alike.
About the author
Fadi Agour, J.D., is the founder and CEO of FadiLaw Marketing LLC, the Houston-based parent company of Best Case Leads, Real Performance Marketing, Masstortsco, and Redostar. His companies have made the Inc. 5000 list seven years in a row.
Sources
- Hennessey Digital: 2025 Lead Form Response Time Study
- ABA Law Practice Magazine: Law's new first impression (March/April 2025), citing the 2024 Clio Legal Trends Report
This article is general information, not legal advice. Best Case Leads is not a law firm.
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