What to Look for in a Legal Call Center Solution

A call center solution empowers businesses to make and receive calls, route callers to the right departments, and provide faster service to customers. In the legal industry, these Contact Centers enable legal practices to improve client communication, which enriches and strengthens client relationships, and enhance operational efficiency. Streamlining call center operations not only speeds up your productivity, but it also improves the experience of your clients. 

Whether you work with a call center already or are exploring ways to manage your calls on your own, Intermedia can help. Our Unite program is a Unified Communications solution that brings together all aspects of communication and collaboration. This seamless experience allows legal centers to increase productivity and enhance customer interactions. In this guide, we discuss what to look for in a legal call center solution and the benefits of implementing such a service. 

Key Features of a Legal Call Center Solution 

When choosing a provider of legal call center services, it’s essential to consider your attorneys’ and law firm’s needs. You’ll want a solution that empowers you to serve your clients, effectively handles sensitive information and data, and ensures compliance with all regulatory requirements. Some key features to look for include: 

24/7 Availability 

Incorporating automated systems and virtual receptionists into your practice enables you to handle phone calls outside of business hours. When clients and leads call after hours, this round-the-clock support offers them multiple options. They can either leave a detailed message or reach an agent. With Intermedia, our cloud-based platform provides 24/7 communication and call handling, which allows you to reduce missed opportunities for converting clients by handling inbound calls. 

Our easy-to-use interface allows you to configure our software to fit your needs. You can send clients to an answering service or voicemail during specific hours. This flexibility gives you control over where your calls go. 

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Compliance

The legal sector is complex and contains numerous regulations to keep practices in compliance. As a legal practice, your attorneys handle sensitive client information every day, and you need to ensure every team member—from intake specialists to partners—adheres to these strict data security regulations. Our secure cloud solutions meet HIPAA-compliant standards to protect client confidentiality. 

Call Routing and Management 

Call center software should increase the efficiency of law practices. Therefore, you want to choose one with automated call routing for incoming calls. This feature automatically directs clients to the correct department or practice area based on their specific needs. For large, multi-specialty law firms, this is an important feature. It reduces client wait times by ensuring a client who needs a family lawyer doesn’t speak to a personal injury attorney first. It can also direct calls based on the client’s needs, whether they want appointment scheduling or to book a consultation for legal intake.

Intermedia’s advanced call routing features enable any size law firm to direct calls based on specialty, urgency, and availability. Our system makes it easy for potential new clients to speak directly to your intake specialists for lead qualification. By quickly connecting potential clients with the right team, you’ll create a positive first impression. This can increase client satisfaction and, in turn, your conversion rates.

Multi-Channel Support

People want to interact with companies in various ways, and law firms are no exception. A unified communications system with multi-channel support enables you to seamlessly connect with clients, no matter where they are, using their preferred method of communication. For example, some clients may feel more comfortable discussing confidential matters over a video call or voice chat. However, others may prefer texting or email. 

With Intermedia’s contact center and unified communications system, you can offer clients support over the phone or through email, chat, or text. Our omnichannel communication tools integrate each channel into one seamless, easy-to-use system. 

Integrating with Legal Software

Whichever legal intake call center solution you choose, you want one that integrates with your existing customer relationship management (CRM) system. This platform tracks interactions between clients, attorneys, and agents and can be used to ensure clients receive a follow-up call. You also want a solution that integrates with your existing legal management software. 

Intermedia’s cloud-based solutions easily integrate with the most popular CRM systems and legal practice management systems. This integration simplifies case management by offering a full, real-time view of every open case and potential new cases. By providing a snapshot of cases, all your team members can prepare and serve clients as best they can. 

Scalability and Flexibility 

Intermedia provides high-quality, customizable solutions that can scale to fit your needs as your law firm grows. Whether you’re a small firm, a growing firm, or a large firm, our platform’s flexibility allows your practice to add features as your requirements evolve. You can add and remove users easily, increase the number of phone lines, and customize your plan. 

Cost-Effectiveness and Return on Investment (ROI) 

Outsourcing call center solutions in the legal sector is more cost-effective than in-house operations. Choosing a third party saves your firm money on salaries, infrastructure, and training. With in-house operations, you must factor in the following:

• Upfront costs: These include equipment, software, office space, hiring, and training. 
• Ongoing costs: These recurring expenses include IT salaries, payroll taxes, benefits, office supplies, and turnover. 
• Total cost of ownership (TCO): In addition to the above, in-house centers also need to factor in the cost of upgrading technology, ongoing maintenance needs, and IT support. 

When you partner with Intermedia, you receive an affordable and flexible solution that reduces your overhead. You only pay for the services you use, and your plan includes access to our support professionals. Our cloud-based service reduces your overhead equipment costs because it integrates with your existing technology. 

Customer Support and Training 

Call center solutions are designed to maximize your law firm’s potential. Training your staff members on the system and providing support helps ensure you get the best out of whichever solution you choose. 

At Intermedia, we offer dedicated training and customer service 24/7. This support ensures your law firm’s efficiency doesn’t decrease if technical issues arise. Being able to contact us at any time means we’ll have you back up and running in no time. Additionally, our dedicated training results in a smooth onboarding process. 

Tracking and Reporting Capabilities

Centralized communication systems for legal firms provide detailed analytics. This is their real superpower, allowing your firm to track key metrics during client intake. These invaluable metrics include call volume, missed calls, call duration, and time to answer. Analyzing these metrics enables your firm to track patterns and define areas of improvement, which empowers you to streamline your processes to enhance client experience. 

Intermedia’s legal services tools provide firms with real-time data and reporting features. With these actionable insights, you can allocate resources appropriately to improve your firm’s performance and efficiency. For our legal partners, this means providing attorneys with accurate calling records to increase their billable time. 

Ready to Boost Your Legal Practice’s Efficiency? 

The legal sector is highly competitive and utilizing a unified communication systems can help your firm stand out. Intermedia’s omnichannel call center solution helps your team stay competitive, provide excellent customer service, and help your agents and attorneys be more productive. 

Our secure call center solution provides real-time metrics, live chat options, and call routing that are reliable and scalable to boost your legal practice’s efficiency. Learn more about our legal service solutions and how they can streamline communication. Get in touch today.

Rob Oscanyan

Robert Oscanyan is a Senior Director of Product Marketing at Intermedia, where he focuses on helping businesses improve their customer experience using Intermedia's award-winning cloud communications solutions. Rob has over a decade of experience spanning market research, messaging, and elevating the voice of the customer. In his free time, he constantly creating new adventures with his wife, seven kids, and a small army of pets.