Established for over 45 years, this award-winning law firm is known for its success across the UK. With 145 Partners spread across three locations, maintaining seamless communication between solicitors and clients, as well as between practices, is critical. The firm’s ethos of excellence ensures no telephone call is ever missed. Despite managing heavy phone traffic, the team required a more efficient solution to cope with their workloads. Downtime should have been a given, but it wasn’t always the case.
Telecom Solutions Lifted Legal Strains
About the Legal Firm
The Challenge
Partners were receiving calls on both personal and work mobiles at all hours—early mornings, late evenings, and even while traveling in their cars. While most partners felt compelled to answer, these calls often occurred at inconvenient times. Additionally, these calls could not be logged, processed, or billed. This not only created inconvenience but also posed a risk of missing important conversation details that needed to be added to case files.
The Solution
Each Partner was provided with an inbound 03 number to manage calls on both their work DDI and mobile devices.
How it worked:
Call times were restricted to pre-set hours using time/day/date plans. Outside of these hours, calls were either redirected to a colleague, assistant, or a customized audio message requesting the caller to email their query.
A ‘Missed Call Alert’ was sent to Partners, detailing the call time and originating number.
Additionally, an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system was introduced, allowing callers to choose to speak with the Partner, Secretary, or Accounts Department, ensuring that irrelevant calls were avoided. All phones, including mobiles, office, and home lines, were programmed to ring simultaneously, ensuring no call went unanswered.
The firm also implemented a secure ‘call recording’ solution, which recorded calls and automatically sent them as WAV files to both the Partner and their assistant. This ensured that all conversation details could be added to case files and billed where applicable.
Flexible 03 Numbers
03 numbers offer great flexibility, as they can be activated or deactivated at any time, and can be redirected to alternate numbers (e.g., in case of a lost mobile or during holidays). Since the 03 number belongs to the practice, it can be reassigned to a new Partner if necessary, with no additional setup required beyond updating the contact information.
No Downtime, No Big Bill
There was no significant financial investment in new equipment, no onsite engineering visits, and no downtime—making this solution both cost-effective and hassle-free. Tailored to meet the firm’s specific needs, the solution will continue to grow alongside the practice. With new features being developed regularly, the simplicity and flexibility of the solution allow for quick adjustments.
Outcome
The implementation was smooth and efficient, with over 50 numbers activated within 24 hours. Feedback from the Partners has been overwhelmingly positive, particularly regarding the ‘Call Recording’ feature that ensures important information is captured, logged, and in many cases, billed for.
Partners also appreciated the Time/Day/Date plans, which allowed calls to be stopped at 6 pm and restarted at 9 am, ensuring they weren’t disturbed during non-office hours or weekends. As one Partner put it, “We used to feel compelled to answer calls no matter what time they came through—it was really annoying!”
