Lunchtime call cover for a law firm: the 90 minutes nobody owns
Between half twelve and two, a small firm's phones are at their quietest on the inside and busiest on the outside. Staff are on their break, as the law says they should be, and prospective clients are on theirs, ringing the three firms they shortlisted that morning. This guide sets out what lunchtime call cover for a law firm looks like when it is done properly, what it costs, and what to check before you switch it on.
Lunch is when the public ring, and when the office is thinnest.
A firm of five or six people cannot staff two lines through lunch without somebody giving up their break. The rota fails on the day two people are at court and one is off sick, and the calls that land then are not casual ones. They come from people who have found time in their own working day to sort out a will, a sale or a separation.
Breaks are not optional
Anyone working more than six hours a day has the right to one uninterrupted 20-minute rest break. "Uninterrupted" is the operative word: a receptionist eating at the desk with one ear on the phone is not on a break.
GOV.UK, Rest breaks at work.They ring in their own lunch hour
Someone employed elsewhere has roughly the same window you do. If your line goes to voicemail at 1pm they will not wait until 2pm; they will try the next firm on the list before their own break ends.
Ninety minutes, five days, every week
A divert that runs 12:30 to 2pm covers 7.5 hours a week, close to a full working day of phone time that a small firm otherwise leaves to chance.
of consumers first found out what their legal work would cost through a discussion with the provider. That first conversation is usually a phone call, and it has to be answered for the quote to happen.
Legal Services Consumer Panel, How consumers are choosing legal services 2025, p.15.of those who compared providers compared on price. A caller who cannot get a price from you at lunchtime has one fewer firm in the comparison.
Legal Services Consumer Panel, How consumers are choosing legal services 2025, p.10.A timed divert, not a new phone system.
Lunchtime cover is the simplest version of what Klyp does for a firm. Nothing changes about your number, your greeting or how your team answers the rest of the day. You add one rule to your phone system and the AI receptionist picks up the calls inside that window.
Set the window once
Most firms choose 12:30 to 2pm, but it is your choice. Some set 1pm to 2pm and let the divert also catch the engaged tone all day, so a second caller is never lost. The schedule lives in your phone system or with your telecoms provider; we help you set it up during onboarding.
Answered in your firm's name
The caller hears your firm's name, not ours. The assistant asks what the matter is about, takes a name and the best number, and asks how urgent it is. It knows your practice areas, so a lease extension is logged as property work. It never gives legal advice, and if a caller asks whether they are speaking to a person, it tells them it is an AI assistant.
Summary before the kettle boils
Within 60 seconds of the call ending, a written summary reaches the people you name, by email and text. Whoever is back first at 2pm has the list in front of them and can ring the callers back in order of urgency. Booking the call-back into a diary slot for the caller, and texting the caller a confirmation, are coming soon rather than live today, so plan for a person to make that return call.
Urgent means urgent
If a caller says the matter cannot wait, such as a completion that has stalled or a hearing this afternoon, the summary is flagged and texted to the person you nominate for urgent lunchtime calls, even while the rest of the team is out.
What a partner should check before switching it on.
No pretending
The assistant answers for your firm and never claims to be a person. If anyone asks, they are told plainly that it is an AI assistant. We set out how this fits the SRA Principles in what the SRA expects of an AI receptionist.
Messages, not advice
It takes details and relays them. It does not quote fees unless you give it a fixed price list to read from, does not comment on the merits of anyone's case, and does not commit the firm to anything.
Yours, deleted on request
Call summaries belong to the firm. Nothing from your callers is used to train anyone's model, access is limited and logged, and records are deleted when you ask or when the contract ends.
From £49 a month, no contract
Plans are £49, £99 and £149 a month, and your first month is free. Lunchtime-only cover fits comfortably in the lowest plan for most small firms. If you later want evenings too, the same divert handles out of hours answering with no extra setup.
Still weighing up whether a machine should be anywhere near your phones? Our comparison of an AI receptionist and a human answering service goes through the cases where a person still wins. The rest of what Klyp does for a firm is on the Klyp for Solicitors page.
Lunchtime call cover: what partners ask
Can we switch the divert on by hand instead of on a timer?
Yes. Many firms prefer a manual divert so the last person leaving for lunch presses one button and the first person back presses it again. A timer is more reliable on the days people forget, and the two can be combined.
What happens if a client, rather than a new enquiry, rings at lunchtime?
The assistant takes the message in exactly the same way and marks it as an existing client if the caller says so. Your fee earner gets the summary and rings back when they return. Nothing is said about the matter itself.
Do we need lunchtime cover if we already have an answering service for evenings?
Only you can judge that from your missed-call log. Run the numbers in our missed call calculator: if more than a handful of daytime calls a week go to voicemail, lunchtime is nearly always where they fall.