Overview
Criminal defense is fast. Someone gets arrested at 2am and their family is calling every firm they can find. The firm that picks up first usually signs that case.
This guide covers the two setups we see working best for criminal law firms on Lexidesk, depending on whether your firm has a dedicated closer or not. Pick the one that matches your team, and talk to your onboarding team to get it configured.
Before you choose: how Lexidesk handles criminal law calls
For every inbound call, Lexidesk does three things in order:
Figures out if the caller is a potential lead or not. Someone calling about an existing case, asking for directions, or following up on a bill is not a lead. Lexidesk takes a message or transfers them directly to whoever they need.
Qualifies the lead. Lexidesk asks the right questions to determine if the caller's matter fits your firm (charge type, jurisdiction, timeline).
Routes the qualified lead. This is where the two setups differ. Depending on your team structure and the time of day, Lexidesk either transfers the lead live to a human for closing, or books them into a consultation.
The key decision you need to make is: who picks up qualified leads, and when?
Setup 1: You have a dedicated closer or on-call attorney after hours.
This is the highest-converting setup. It works best when your firm has someone whose job (or on-call duty) is to take qualified leads and close them on the spot.
How it works during business hours
Lexidesk answers every call. For non-leads (existing clients, general inquiries, wrong numbers), it takes a message or transfers the caller directly to whoever they're looking for.
For leads, Lexidesk qualifies them, gathers contact details, and then live transfers only the qualified ones to your closer. Your closer gets a warm handoff with a summary of the caller's situation, so they can jump straight into the conversation without re-asking the basics.
Unqualified callers never reach your closer. They get a polite explanation and, where appropriate, a referral suggestion. Your closer's time stays focused on signable cases.
How it works after hours
After hours is where criminal defense firms win or lose cases. Here you have two options depending on who's picking up.
Option A: Your dedicated closer is on call after hours. Same flow as business hours. Lexidesk qualifies and transfers all qualified leads live. Your closer handles them on the spot. This is the simplest and most effective after-hours setup if you have someone trained willing and able to take those calls.
Option B: An attorney covers after hours (and would rather not get every call). This is common. The attorney is available but doesn't want to be woken up for a shoplifting charge that can wait until morning.
In this setup, Lexidesk only transfers qualified leads that score a priority of 6 out of 10 or higher. That means the attorney only gets calls for situations like:
The person is currently detained or in custody
Serious charges where the caller is clearly going to sign with whoever picks up first
Time-sensitive matters (arraignment tomorrow morning, bond hearing in a few hours)
Everything below that threshold still gets handled. Lexidesk captures their information and either books them into a next-day appointment (works well if your calendar has good availability) or flags them for a morning callback by your team.
Tip: If you have enough next-day availability, booking an appointment is better than a callback promise. The caller leaves the call with a confirmed time, which reduces the chance they keep calling other firms.
Setup 2: You don't have a dedicated closer
Plenty of criminal law firms run lean. No full-time intake closer, just attorneys and maybe a small admin team. This setup works well for that.
How it works during business hours
Lexidesk answers and qualifies every call. Qualified leads get transferred live to whoever is available on your team to close them. This could be a rotating attorney, an office manager, or a paralegal trained to collect retainers. In practice, a call queue that calls everyone and lets whoever is available pick up works best.
The key is ensuring someone picks up during business hours. Lexidesk handles the difficult tasks like screening out non-leads asking the right questions and gathering details. However unless you run a high-end shop where simply booking appointments for all leads is enough a human closing remains the most effective approach for this type of practice.
How it works after hours
No one is available to take transfers, so Lexidesk books qualified leads into appointments. The caller gets a booking link where they can pick the earliest available slot.
Even though the appointment is booked, your team should still check incoming leads each morning. If something high-value came in overnight (detained caller, serious felony, large retainer potential), call them back immediately. Don't wait for the scheduled appointment. That caller is still shopping.
Tip: Monitor Lexidesk notifications so your team sees new after-hours leads first thing. A 7:30am callback on a case that came in at midnight can still win the case.
What makes criminal law different from other practice areas
A few things to keep in mind when configuring your Lexidesk setup with your onboarding team:
Urgency is the whole game. In family law, someone might deliberate for weeks. In criminal defense, especially when someone is detained, the decision happens in hours. Your qualification criteria and transfer rules should reflect this.
After-hours matters more here than almost any other practice area. Arrests don't happen 9 to 5. If your firm doesn't pick up at 2am, someone else will.
Getting this set up
You don't need to configure this yourself. Here's what to do:
Decide which setup fits your firm. Setup 1 if you have a closer or on-call attorney, Setup 2 if you don't.
If using Setup 1, Option B, decide on your after-hours priority threshold. We recommend 6 out of 10 as the starting point, but your onboarding team can help you calibrate based on your typical case mix.
Talk to your onboarding team. Share which setup you want, your business hours, who should receive transfers (and when), and any specific qualification criteria for your practice (jurisdictions you cover, charge types you don't handle).
Review your qualification criteria. The better your onboarding team understands what makes a case worth your time, the better Lexidesk can filter. Take 15 minutes to list out your "yes", "maybe", and "no" case types.
Your onboarding team will handle the rest.
If your in-house intake is outperforming Lexidesk during business hours
Some firms have a strong intake team that already converts really well during office hours. If that's you, consider starting with Lexidesk on overflow and after-hours only. Let your team handle the calls they're great at, and let Lexidesk catch everything they miss.
If you go this route, talk to your onboarding team about how to transition back to 24/7 coverage later with an improved setup that incorporates what's working well with your current process.
FAQs
Can I change who gets after-hours transfers later?
Yes. If you start with Setup 2 (appointments only) and later hire a closer or put an attorney on call, your onboarding team can switch you to Setup 1 without rebuilding anything. The qualification logic stays the same. Only the routing changes.
How does Lexidesk know if someone is "high priority"?
Lexidesk assigns a priority score based on the information gathered during the call. Factors include whether the person is currently detained, the seriousness of the charges, time sensitivity (upcoming court dates), and how ready the caller seems to hire. Your onboarding team calibrates this scoring to your firm's preferences.
Can Lexidesk handle calls in Spanish?
Yes. Lexidesk supports multilingual calls. If a significant portion of your callers speak Spanish (or another language), let your onboarding team know so they can configure the AI voice and qualification flow for that language.
Should I use appointments or callbacks for after-hours leads below my priority threshold?
If you have good calendar availability with next-day slots, appointments are better. The caller leaves with a confirmed time, which reduces the chance they call five more firms. If your calendar is tight, callbacks work fine, but make sure your team actually calls back first thing in the morning.