Template: Law Firm Main Line + After Hours
This template gives a law firm separate business-hours and after-hours call handling in one Flow. During office hours, callers can reach new-matter intake, the existing-client team, a scheduled meeting, or office information. After hours, routine callers go to voicemail while a guarded urgent path can try an approved on-call team before falling back to a dedicated urgent voicemail.
The prompts are starting points, not legal advice or a substitute for the firm's own ethics, privacy, advertising, intake, and emergency-response review.
Law Firm Main Line + After Hours
How the Flow Works
The first action is a Business Hours Check Condition. The template uses a Monday-through-Friday, 9:00 AM-to-5:00 PM schedule in the America/Los_Angeles timezone as a starting point. Before testing, replace it with the firm's real schedule and timezone.
During business hours
Callers hear the business-hours greeting and then this menu:
| Key | Option | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | New matter | Plays an intake transfer message, tries the new-matter intake team, and uses the intake voicemail if nobody answers. |
| 2 | Existing client | Plays a transfer message, tries the existing-client team, and uses the existing-client voicemail if nobody answers. |
| 3 | Scheduled meeting | Connects the caller to the configured Phound meeting, with a meeting fallback voicemail. |
| 4 | Office information | Opens a focused submenu for hours, directions, the public directory, and a caller-requested text. |
| 0 | Leave a voicemail | Records a message in the main firm voicemail. |
| * | Repeat | Repeats the menu options. |
Office information submenu
| Key | Option | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hours and directions | Reads the firm's address and weekly schedule, then returns to this submenu. |
| 2 | Public firm directory | Lets the caller search only the team members the firm has approved for public discovery. |
| 3 | Text office contact information | Sends a one-time, caller-requested text with approved public contact information, waits briefly, plays a confirmation, and returns to this submenu. |
| 9 | Main menu | Uses Go To to return to the business-hours menu. |
| 0 | Leave a voicemail | Records a message in the main firm voicemail. |
| * | Repeat | Repeats the submenu options. |
The text path should contain office contact information only. It should not send legal advice, case details, deadlines, confidential information, or marketing content.
After hours
Callers hear that the office is closed and then this menu:
| Key | Option | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Urgent or time-sensitive legal matter | Opens a second confirmation menu before any person is called. |
| 2 | Hours and directions | Reads the firm's address and weekly schedule, then returns to the after-hours menu. |
| 0 | Routine voicemail | Records a non-urgent message in the after-hours voicemail. |
| * | Repeat | Repeats the menu options. |
No input or repeated invalid input must never place an on-call call automatically. Those outcomes should use the routine voicemail fallback.
Urgent confirmation and no-answer fallback
The confirmation prompt should tell callers that the option does not connect them to emergency services, an immediate response is not guaranteed, and only the firm's approved urgent criteria belong on this path.
| Key | Option | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Try the on-call team | Plays a hold message and tries the approved on-call legal team. |
| 2 | Routine voicemail | Sends the caller to the after-hours voicemail without disturbing the on-call team. |
| 9 | After-hours menu | Uses Go To to return to the previous menu. |
| * | Repeat | Repeats the confirmation. |
If nobody answers the urgent call, the Flow plays an explanatory message, pauses briefly with Wait, and then records an urgent voicemail. The message states that the call does not guarantee a response; it does not promise that an attorney will answer or act by a deadline.
Suggested structure:
No one from the on-call team is available to answer right now. After the tone, leave your name, callback number, and a brief non-confidential reason for your call. Do not include government identification numbers, financial account numbers, deadlines, opposing-party names, or detailed facts. This call does not guarantee a response. Calling or leaving a message does not by itself create an attorney-client relationship.
The selected voicemail mailbox may also play its own greeting. Test the complete caller experience and shorten one of the messages if the explanation is duplicated.
Flow Settings Included
Flow Settings apply across the entire Flow; they are separate from the actions on the graph. Review them after import even if the defaults appear correct.
| Setting | Shipped value | What to review |
|---|---|---|
| Voice | Jane | Choose the available voice the firm has approved for its caller experience. |
| Dial timeout | Auto | Confirm ordinary and on-call Dial Someone actions wait long enough without leaving callers in silence. Individual Dial actions can use their own timeout. |
| Max loops | 3 | After the final unsuccessful attempt, each Menu follows its configured safe fallback. |
| Menu timeout | 15 seconds | Confirm callers have enough time to hear and select each option. |
| Repeat key | * |
Keep this key out of numbered menu choices. |
| No input prompt | Please make a selection | This global prompt should remain neutral because different Menus have different fallbacks. |
| Unsupported option prompt | Your input is invalid | Replace it only with another neutral, approved prompt. |
| Max attempts prompt | Menu maximum loops reached | Do not promise a destination in this global prompt. |
| Internal error prompt | Internal error has occurred | Consider an approved plain-language alternative that does not promise a callback. |
| Notification on hangup | Off | This would notify a configured recipient after every call. Leave it off unless the firm deliberately approves the recipient, message, and data handling. |
| Admin PIN | Blank | A PIN permits telephone re-recording of Play Message actions and is stored in exported files. Set a unique PIN after import if needed; never publish it in a shared template. |
The Business Hours Check and both Direction and Hours actions have their own address, schedule, and timezone fields. Update them together so routing and spoken office hours cannot disagree.
Actions Used in This Template
| Action | Purpose in this template |
|---|---|
| Menu | Business-hours, office-information, after-hours, and urgent-confirmation choices |
| Go To | Returns callers to the correct menu without repeating unrelated paths |
| Dial Someone | Routes new matters, existing clients, and confirmed urgent callers to approved teams |
| Play Message | Greetings, transfer explanations, urgent safeguards, no-answer explanation, and text confirmation |
| Direction and Hours | Reads the approved public address and schedule |
| Company Directory | Exposes only the firm's approved public directory group |
| Record Voicemail | Main, intake, existing-client, after-hours, meeting-fallback, and urgent mailboxes |
| Connect to Meeting | Connects callers who already have a scheduled Phound meeting |
| Condition | Separates business-hours and after-hours handling |
| Notification | Sends office contact information only after the caller requests the one-time text |
| Wait | Adds a deliberate short pause after the text and before urgent voicemail where configured |
Why Podcast is not included
Podcast is the only currently available Flow action intentionally omitted from this template. A generic or demonstration RSS feed could play outdated, unreviewed, jurisdiction-specific, or third-party legal content under the firm's phone number. That is not an appropriate default for a law-firm intake Flow.
If the firm owns or controls an HTTPS audio feed, has reviewed every episode and any advertising, and has an approval process for future episodes, it can add Podcast as an optional office-information choice. Precede it with firm-approved language explaining that the recording is general information rather than advice, give it a tested Go To return, and test unavailable, empty, and malformed-feed behavior before activation.
Before You Go Live: Exact Setup Checklist
Every action beginning with [Edit] must be opened and replaced with a resource from the firm's own Phound account:
- [Edit] Dial New Matter Intake Team: the approved intake person or group
- [Edit] New Matter Intake Voicemail: the secure mailbox for unanswered prospective-client calls
- [Edit] Dial Existing Client Team: the approved client-services person or group
- [Edit] Existing Client Voicemail: the secure mailbox for unanswered existing-client calls
- [Edit] Main Firm Voicemail: the daytime general mailbox
- [Edit] After-Hours Routine Voicemail: the routine closed-hours mailbox
- [Edit] Dial On-Call Legal Team: only people who are scheduled and authorized to receive urgent calls
- [Edit] Urgent Matter Voicemail: the secure mailbox monitored under the firm's approved urgent-response procedure
- [Edit] Connect to Scheduled Meeting: the intended Phound meeting destination
- [Edit] Consultation Fallback Voicemail: the mailbox used when the meeting is unavailable
- [Edit] Public Firm Directory: a limited group containing only people approved for public discovery
- [Edit] Business Hours Check: the firm's weekly schedule and timezone
- [Edit] Office Hours and Directions and [Edit] After-Hours Office Hours and Directions: the public address, matching schedule, and matching timezone
Replace every bracketed content placeholder:
- [Edit: Law Firm Name] in the greetings and caller-requested text
- [Edit: Office Address] in both Direction and Hours actions and the caller-requested text
- [Edit: Main Phone], [Edit: Office Hours], and [Edit: Time Zone] in the caller-requested text
- [Edit: Office Hours] in the after-hours and urgent prompts
- The serialized Monday-through-Friday, 9:00 AM-to-5:00 PM schedule and America/Los_Angeles timezone in the Business Hours Check and both Direction and Hours actions
Also confirm:
- The one-time text identifies the firm, contains only approved public contact information, and is sent only after the caller selects that option.
- The firm's messaging registration, consent language, opt-out handling, and jurisdiction-specific requirements have been reviewed before the Notification is enabled.
- Voicemail access and notifications are limited to people authorized to receive the information in that mailbox.
- The public directory does not expose personal numbers, private personnel, or anyone who should not receive unsolicited calls.
- The scheduled meeting cannot place an unscheduled caller into the wrong conversation.
- The urgent roster, timeout, escalation procedure, monitoring responsibility, and response wording are operationally accurate.
Do not go live with placeholders. Resource identifiers in a shared template exist only to make the Flow portable. Every destination must be replaced and tested in the importing account.
Legal and Privacy Review Required
The ABA Model Rule 1.18 treats someone who consults about possibly forming a lawyer-client relationship as a prospective client and describes duties that can apply to information learned even when representation does not follow. The ABA's Formal Ethics Opinion 10-457 overview also cautions that lawyer communications can create expectations and that invited inquiries must be managed carefully.
Those authorities concern model rules and lawyer websites, respectively; applying them to a phone Flow is a prudent analogy, not a jurisdiction-specific legal conclusion. The firm must have qualified counsel approve the intake questions, disclaimers, voicemail instructions, text content, directory scope, urgent criteria, response promises, and data handling for every jurisdiction in which it practices. A recorded disclaimer by itself should not be assumed to prevent prospective-client duties, confidentiality obligations, conflicts, or formation of a lawyer-client relationship.
At minimum:
- Tell callers to contact 911 or the appropriate emergency service for immediate danger, police, fire, or medical help.
- Ask for no more information than the firm has approved for intake and conflict screening.
- Do not ask callers to leave Social Security numbers, payment-card data, medical details, or extensive matter facts in a general voicemail or text.
- Do not state or imply that pressing the urgent option guarantees representation, legal action, deadline protection, or an immediate response.
- Treat messages from prospective and existing clients according to the firm's confidentiality, retention, access, conflict-check, and incident-response policies.
- Re-review every prompt when the firm's practice areas, staffing, hours, jurisdictions, or response procedure changes.
Activate the Flow
Importing the Flow does not make it live:
- Go to Account → Personas and select the Persona that owns the firm's number.
- Open Incoming Calls.
- Choose Custom Flow and select Template - Law Firm Main Line + After Hours (or the name you gave the imported Flow).
Custom Flows only work with numbers purchased through Phound or ported into Phound. Linked numbers cannot be assigned a custom Flow. Flows requires a Business plan.
Activate it first on a non-production test number or Persona. Switch the public number only after the complete test and the firm's legal/privacy review pass.
Test Every Path
Call from a phone that is not one of the configured destinations and verify:
- The business-hours and after-hours branches switch at the correct local times, including the exact opening and closing boundaries
- The Business Hours Check and both Direction and Hours actions use the same address, schedule, and timezone
- Every business-hours key (1, 2, 3, 4, 0, and *) reaches the documented destination
- Every office-information key (1, 2, 3, 9, 0, and *) returns or exits correctly
- Every after-hours key (1, 2, 0, and *) works without exposing the on-call team accidentally
- The urgent confirmation requires key 1; no input, invalid input, key 2, and key 9 do not dial the on-call team
- New-matter, existing-client, and on-call destinations behave correctly when answered, declined, busy, and unanswered
- Each failed Dial and the unavailable meeting reach the correct fallback voicemail
- The urgent no-answer explanation states that a response is not guaranteed and is not duplicated or contradicted by the mailbox greeting
- Each voicemail reaches only its intended recipients and follows the firm's notification and monitoring procedure
- No input, an unsupported key, maximum attempts, and
*play the expected global prompts and safe fallbacks on every Menu - The caller-requested text contains the correct firm name, phone, address, hours, timezone, and no case-specific or marketing content
- The text is sent only after key 3, arrives on supported mobile numbers, and has an acceptable failure experience
- Each Wait is brief, leads to the intended next action, and does not sound like the call disconnected
- The Public Firm Directory exposes only the approved group and routes each listed person correctly
- The scheduled meeting cannot expose another client's meeting and uses the intended fallback when unavailable
- Go To returns to the correct business-hours, office-information, or after-hours Menu without creating a loop
- Notification on hangup remains off and no Admin PIN is present in the shared download
- The urgent and intake language has final approval for the firm's jurisdictions, practice areas, and operating procedure
Repeat the most important tests from a mobile phone and a landline or VoIP service to confirm keypad input and audio timing.
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