Service Manager Law firm appointment scheduling for first consultations, in the office or by video
New clients book a first consultation in a lawyer's free hours instead of waiting for a call back. Each booking holds the lawyer and, for meetings in the office, the meeting room, and reception confirms every request.
- Cancel anytime
- No long-term contract
- 14 days free
What it looks like in practice
Monday, 8:30: requests, not voicemails
Over the weekend, three people asked for a first consultation on your page. They wait under Awaiting confirmation, and reception confirms each one after a quick look. The others get a cancellation email with a short reason.
Tuesday: the right length for each kind of meeting
A first consultation on a new matter runs forty-five minutes, a follow-up on an open file thirty. As two separate services, they never compete for the same short slot. Each type shows its length on the page, so people pick the right one.
Wednesday, 11:00: the meeting room is taken
Two lawyers want the one meeting room. Because office consultations name the room as a resource, the second one is only offered when it is free. Video consultations do not need the room at all.
Thursday: a client abroad
A client living in Vienna books a video consultation in German. Because Meeting Hub runs in your workspace, the confirmation email already holds the meeting link.
Law firm appointment scheduling usually means phone tag: a new client calls, the lawyer is in court, reception promises a call back. Service Manager lets people book a first consultation on your firm's own booking page, in the hours each lawyer has free. Each kind of consultation gets its own length and a buffer for file notes, and office meetings name the meeting room they need. Connect each lawyer's own calendar, and a hearing or a client lunch entered there closes those hours on the page. With auto-confirm off, every booking arrives as a request, so reception or the lawyer decides before a time is final. Before the meeting, a Reminder automation emails the client at the hours you choose, on Professional or Enterprise and with email notifications on. A button in that email lets the client cancel or reschedule, so a first consultation that will not happen frees the lawyer's hour for other work instead of leaving an empty chair across the desk.
Rename the labels to your firm's words, such as Client and Consultation, and list consultations with or without a price. People tick your privacy policy and terms before they book, and you decide what your emails contain, for each language you work in. For video consultations, bring in browser video meetings through Meeting Hub and put the link into the confirmation. Service Manager books the meeting; matters, documents and fees stay in the tools you use for them. More on the Service Manager page.
What you get
Requests reception can review
With auto-confirm off, new bookings wait as Requested. One click confirms each one, so no time is final without you. People see that their request was received, not that a time is fixed.
A length per consultation type
First consultations, follow-ups and longer strategy meetings each get their own length and buffer. A strategy meeting can block two hours, a quick follow-up thirty minutes.
Lawyer and meeting room together
Office consultations name the meeting room as a resource. Times are only offered when the lawyer and the room are free. Two lawyers can never book the one meeting room at the same time.
Video consultations
With Meeting Hub in the workspace, a video consultation gets its own meeting link, and your confirmation email carries it. Clients join from the browser, with nothing to install.
Privacy text before booking
Add your privacy policy and terms per language. Nobody can book until both boxes are ticked. Write them once for each language you advise in.
Court dates block consultation hours
Connect each lawyer's calendar by its iCal address. Hearings and client meetings booked there disappear from the booking page. Only start and end times are stored, never titles or client names.
Put your first consultation online
Create a first consultation and a follow-up, set each lawyer's free hours, and see the page a new client would book from. A first consultation and one lawyer's hours are enough to start; add the meeting room and video consultations when the first requests come in.
What a first consultation blocks
An example only: set the minutes your lawyers need. The meeting cost calculator shows what an hour of the team's time is worth.
- Read the enquiry before
- 10 minutes, set as preparation
- First consultation
- 45 minutes, the service length
- File note after
- 15 minutes, set as follow-up
- Gap to the next meeting
- 10 minutes, set as buffer
How to get started
Set up law firm appointment scheduling
Open Service Manager in the firm's workspace, start clean, and rename the labels to Client and Consultation.
Create consultation types
Add first consultations, follow-ups and video consultations, each with its length, a buffer, and a price only if you publish one.
Add lawyers, the meeting room and hours
Give each lawyer a weekly schedule with their consultation hours, connect their calendars so hearings block the page, add the meeting room, and set a minimum notice.
Add your texts and publish
Write your privacy policy and terms, turn auto-confirm off, add a Reminder automation with email notifications on, pick a sober template such as Minimal and link the page from your firm's website.
Pricing
Service Manager starts at a fixed monthly price (see pricing) for the whole firm, not per lawyer. Booking lawyers and meeting rooms as resources takes Professional or higher, and Enterprise brings staff records, roles, the staff portal and a private calendar link per lawyer. Reading busy times from lawyers' calendars is part of every plan, and video consultations run through Meeting Hub, added to the same workspace.
Fourteen days to set up your consultation types and see how the first requests come in; no minimum term.
Is it the right fit?
A good fit if
- Small and mid-sized law firms that take first consultations from new clients
- Firms with lawyers who keep set consultation hours and a full court calendar
- Firms that meet clients both in the office and by video
- Firms with clients who speak different languages
Not the right fit if
- Firms that need conflict checks, matter management or document handling in the booking tool
- Firms that need fees, time recording or invoices from consultations; invoicing is CRM Business Hub
- Firms that want consultation reminders by text message; the reminder goes out as an email
- Firms whose reception team needs the software itself in their own language; only the client-facing page and emails are multilingual
Frequently asked questions
How does law firm appointment scheduling work with Service Manager?
Are clients reminded before their consultation?
Can clients choose between the office and a video call?
Can we keep prices off the booking page?
Does Service Manager see what is in a lawyer's calendar?
Does it replace our practice management software?
Can each lawyer keep their own consultation hours?
Can clients tell us what the consultation is about?
Read next
- Related solutionsCoaching scheduling software that books the session and the video call togetherClients from anywhere pick a session in your free hours, see it in their own time, accept your terms and get a confirmation with the meeting link. You coach instead of sending calendar messages back and forth.
- Related solutionsOnline consultation software for advisers, coaches and consultantsYour client clicks a link, checks camera and microphone and waits in your waiting room until you let them in. No download, no account, no meeting ID read out over the phone.
- Related solutionsSign employment contract online and have it back before day oneYour new hire starts on Monday and the contract is still in the post. Send it today, get it back signed from their phone tonight, and keep the paper route for the few documents the law reserves for it.
- From the blogWhat Customers Check Before They Book an Appointment OnlineService, price, a free time, the rules and proof that it worked. If an online booking page answers these five questions, people book. If one...
- From the blogPriced per Workspace, Not per User: What It Means for a Team of 12Per-user pricing adds a line to the bill with every hire. Per-workspace pricing moves in steps. A worked example for a team of 12, including...
Ready when you are
Set it up in your own workspace and see how it works with your data.
- Cancel anytime
- No long-term contract
- 14 days free
