How to set up call transfers to your team (and what to do after hours)

Transfer destinations are the list of people and departments your AI receptionist is allowed to send live callers to. For each destination you add a phone number, a name, a short routing hint, and plain-English instructions that tell the AI exactly when to transfer there. You can also choose how the transfer happens (warm or blind) and when that destination is reachable (working hours, after hours, or 24/7).

This article is for firm owners and office managers setting Lexidesk up for the first time or adding new people to the team.
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Your transfer instructions are the rulebook the AI uses on every single call. If your instructions are vague or conflicting, the AI will either transfer calls to the wrong person or refuse to transfer when it should. Both feel bad to the caller and cost you leads.

Good news: getting this right is mostly about being specific. Ten minutes spent writing clear instructions saves hours of re-listening to recordings and tweaking prompts later.
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There are two ways to add destinations. Most firms use the CSV upload during onboarding, then add new people one at a time later.
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If you're getting set up with Lexidesk and have more than a handful of people to add, this is the fastest path.

The template has four columns. They map one-to-one to the four fields you see when you add a destination manually in the admin panel. Don't rename the columns, the importer looks for them by exact name.

For adding a single new paralegal, attorney, or department after you're live:

The difference between a destination that works and one that doesn't is almost always the instructions. Here are real examples of what good looks like, and what to avoid.

✅ Good examples

❌ Bad examples (and how to fix them)

This section is only relevant if you have multiple intake or sales team members who can be available to take live transfers from your AI.

If it is your setup, the best configuration is one phone number in your phone system that rings every available agent simultaneously. Whoever picks up first takes the call.

This feature goes by different names depending on your provider: ring group, hunt group, call queue, or simultaneous ring.

The concept is the same: one inbound number, multiple agents ringing at once, first to answer takes the call.

This matters for two reasons. First, it simplifies your Lexidesk configuration. Instead of adding each intake agent as a separate destination and writing rules to distribute calls between them, you have one destination with one clear instruction.

Second, and more importantly, it maximises your pick-up rate. Simultaneous ringing means qualified leads never wait for one agent to not answer before another is tried. The first firm to reach a caller usually wins the case. A call queue is how you make sure that firm is yours.

Most business phone systems (RingCentral, Dialpad, 8x8, and others) support this natively. Check your phone system's documentation or ask your provider to set one up for your intake line.

Here is what the problem looks like in practice. Two intake agents set up as separate destinations with near-identical instructions:

The AI now has two destinations that look equally valid for the same situation. This creates unnecessary ambiguity and means only one agent's line rings when a qualified lead comes in, cutting your pick-up rate in half.

The correct setup instead:

One destination, one clear rule. Your call queue handles distributing the call to whoever is available.

This way the AI sends all general qualified leads to the call queue, and only routes to an individual when a caller explicitly asks for that person. It is the most efficient setup and keeps every destination's purpose unambiguous.

For every destination, you pick one of two transfer types. You can also set a default for the whole agent and override it per destination.

The AI reads a brief summary of the conversation to the person picking up, so they have full context before speaking with the caller. The caller's number (Caller ID) is not visible to the recipient. In this case, if you do not pick up the phone and the person leaves a voicemail in your phone system, it will be difficult to find who it was.

Thus, it makes it much more useful when the destination is likely to answer the phone consistently, for example, in-office intake staff, a dedicated case manager, or an attorney expecting the call.
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The caller is connected directly. No AI summary is read, but the caller's number (Caller ID) stays visible to the person picking up.

Best when the destination may be frequently unavailable (so the AI summary would be wasted on voicemail), or when you want the fastest possible transfer.

Two settings control whether a destination can receive transferred calls: the Accepting transfers toggle and the When available schedule.

Think of this as an on/off switch for the destination. When it's off, the AI will skip this destination entirely and route callers elsewhere based on your other rules. Use it to pause a destination for a day (someone's sick, someone's in court) without deleting and re-adding it.

This sets the window when this specific destination is allowed to receive transfers. There are three options:

Yes, every transfer number must include the country code with a + in front, even if your whole team is in the same country as your firm. US numbers should start with +1 and UK numbers should start with +44. Without the country code, the transfer will fail at call time.

If you have multiple intake or sales team members who can take calls, no.

The better approach is to set up a call queue (also called a ring group, hunt group, or simultaneous ring) in your phone system, give that queue a single phone number, and add that number as one destination in Lexidesk. Configure the queue to ring all available agents at the same time so whoever is free picks up first.

If you also want the AI to reach a specific team member when a caller asks for them by name, add each person as a separate destination with one instruction: transfer only when the caller asks for them by name. All other calls go to the call queue.

This keeps your Lexidesk configuration simple and clean, significantly improves your team's pick-up rate, and ensures every caller gets the fastest possible response with no waiting for agents to be tried one by one.

Yes, the Import CSV button stays available after onboarding. You can use it at any time to add a batch of new destinations. It adds new rows to your existing list rather than replacing them.

The call does not return to the AI. Once a transfer is initiated, the caller is connected to the destination's line. If nobody answers, the call will either go to that person's voicemail (if they have one set up) or end entirely if the destination hangs up or has no voicemail configured. We strongly recommend setting up auto-voicemail on every destination's phone system so callers always have somewhere to leave a message, even when nobody picks up.

Yes, you can edit any destination at any time. Changes take effect on the next call. If you notice the AI is making the wrong transfer decision, edit the instructions to add the missing rule or exception, save, and test with a real call. If that continues to happen contact [email protected] for help.

Criminal defense and personal injury leads often call at night or on weekends, right after the incident happens, and the first firm they reach usually wins the case. By setting an attorney's mobile as an After hours destination, you let the AI hand off urgent leads to a live closer the moment they come in, without needing your main intake team on a graveyard shift.

Yes, place a test call to your Lexidesk number yourself and say what a real caller would say for that destination. The AI will follow your transfer instructions and attempt the transfer.