AUTOMATIONS · ANALYSIS
The missed-call text-back, written for a law firm
It is the single most valuable automation a firm can turn on, and the one most often copied from a template written for a plumber. A law firm’s version has to survive Rule 4-7.13, work in Spanish, and know the difference between a caller and a client. Here is the message, word by word.
We are not attorneys and this is not legal advice. The wording below is a template a firm reviews and approves; whether it fits your firm’s practice is your Bar counsel’s call.
What it is
A person calls the firm. Nobody picks up, or the voice agent is not on, or it is 6:15 PM and the line rolled to voicemail. Within a minute, a text goes to the number that called: the firm saw the call, can help, and here is how to book a time or call back. The person who was about to dial the next firm has a reason to wait.
THE TEMPLATE
What is not in it, and why
- No "free consultation, call now" tone. It offers a time; it does not push. Rule 4-7.15 is written for the person who just called a criminal defense firm from a parking lot.
- No mention of the practice area. The text lands on a lock screen, and "Westside Injury Law" on a shared phone tells a story the person did not choose to tell. The firm name is enough, and for family and criminal matters some firms use the number alone.
- No promise. Not "we will fight for you," not "we win cases like yours." A text that has not heard the facts cannot say anything about them without a Rule 4-7.13 problem.
- No claim that a relationship exists. "We can help" is an offer. "We are on it" reads as though someone has been engaged.
Which language
The caller has not written anything, so there is no language to detect from the text. The system uses what it has: the language the voice greeting was answered in, if the agent picked up; a prior contact’s language, if the number is known; otherwise the firm’s default, with the second language one line below. A two-line bilingual text-back is longer than ideal and better than an English text to a Spanish speaker.
Whose number
The text goes from the firm’s number, the one the person called, so the reply lands in the shared inbox and on the pipeline card, not on an attorney’s personal phone. That is also why STOP works: it is applied to the contact across every sequence, not to one staff member’s thread.
It is a response, not a solicitation
The person called the firm. The text answers that call. That is what keeps it on the right side of Rule 4-7.18, including the 30-day restriction for accident matters: the firm did not reach out to a stranger, it replied to someone who reached out to it. The consent question is real too, and the text is the first message, so it carries the opt-out and nothing follows unless the person replies or books.
What happens next
The call creates a pipeline card at the top of the board, tagged as an after-hours call if it was one, with the number and the time. If the person books, the card moves and the reminders start. If they reply, the reply lands in the inbox and a person answers. If they do nothing, one more text the next morning, then a human call, then it stops. A missed call at a law firm is not a lead to nurture for a month. It is a person who needed a lawyer that afternoon.
Questions we get asked about this
Which number does the text-back come from?
The firm's number, the one the person called, so the reply lands in the shared inbox and on the pipeline card. Never a staff member's personal phone.
What if the caller was a current client, not a prospect?
If the number is known, the system recognizes the contact and the text-back is the client version, which offers a callback rather than a consultation link. Unknown numbers get the prospective-client template.
Related
Call the demo line and let it go to voicemail
A 30-minute demo where you miss the call on purpose and watch the text arrive, in the language you chose.