The "How Long Will This Take?" Script Every Law Firm's Receptionist Needs

09 October 2026·8 min read

Quick answer: Give reception a written script with realistic timeline *ranges* for each matter type, always framed as "subject to change," and the anxious follow-up calls drop almost overnight. Clients aren't calling because they're difficult — they're calling because nobody told them what "normal" looks like. A simple one-page script per practice area fixes this without a single lawyer needing to pick up the phone. It also protects the firm, because every range is caveated rather than promised. ✨

Here's the scene every law firm receptionist knows too well: the phone rings at 9.03am, it's a conveyancing client wanting to know "is it done yet," and the honest answer is "probably, but also maybe not, and I genuinely cannot tell you without pulling the file and interrupting a fee earner." Multiply that by every open matter and you've got a receptionist fielding twenty anxious calls a day that produce zero billable value and a lot of quiet resentment on both sides. 💖 The fix isn't more phone skills — it's giving reception something concrete to say before the anxiety even starts.

What most firms get wrong

Most firms either say nothing about timing at all, or they say something far too specific — "settlement will be in six weeks" — and then the file hits a snag with the bank, or the other side's solicitor goes quiet, or a medical report takes longer than expected, and now the firm looks like it broke a promise. Both extremes create more calls, not fewer. Silence breeds anxiety; false precision breeds broken trust. The middle path — a realistic range, repeated consistently, always wrapped in "subject to change" — is the one almost nobody writes down and hands to the front desk.

The other thing firms get wrong is assuming this is a "soft skills" problem that training will solve. It's not. It's a documentation problem. A brilliant receptionist with no script will still improvise differently every time, and inconsistent answers are what actually erode client confidence — not slow matters. Clients compare notes. If one call gets "a few weeks" and the next gets "could be months," that gap is what triggers the complaint, not the actual delay.

The "How Long Will This Take?" Script Sheet — copy this into your reception folder

Conveyancing / Property Settlement
"Based on where your matter sits, standard conveyancing typically runs 4–8 weeks from contract exchange to settlement, though this is always subject to change depending on finance approval, the other party's solicitor, and any council or strata searches that come back with issues. I'll note that you called and ask [solicitor/paralegal name] to update you by [specific day] if there's anything new."

Family Law — Property Settlement
"Property matters that resolve by agreement generally take 3–6 months from first instructions, and matters that go through court can take considerably longer — often 12 months or more — because that timeline is largely set by the court registry, not by us. This is always general guidance, not a fixed deadline, as every matter depends on how cooperative the other party is and the complexity of the asset pool."

Family Law — Parenting Matters (Consent Orders)
"Consent orders by agreement usually take 4–8 weeks once both parties have signed off. Where there's no agreement and it proceeds to a hearing, timeframes are set by the court and can run well beyond 12 months. We'll flag any change to this as soon as we know."

Wills & Estate Planning
"A straightforward will or simple estate plan is typically ready for signing within 1–2 weeks of us receiving your instructions. More complex estate planning — trusts, testamentary trusts, blended family arrangements — usually takes 3–4 weeks. This can shift if we're waiting on information from you, your accountant, or a financial adviser."

Deceased Estate Administration (Probate)
"Estate administration generally takes 6–12 months from the date of death to final distribution, and that's a guide, not a guarantee — it depends on the size of the estate, whether there are any disputes, and how quickly third parties like banks and the titles office respond. We'll keep you updated at each milestone."

Closing line for every category: "I want to be upfront that these are general ranges, not promises — every matter is different, and [lawyer name] is the right person to speak to about anything specific to your file."

Suburban conveyancing practice: A two-partner property firm was getting an average of 11 "is it done yet" calls a week per active settlement file. After laminating the script sheet at reception and training the receptionist to read it verbatim rather than paraphrase, calls dropped to roughly 3 a week — and the ones that remained were genuine updates (finance fell through, bank requested extra documents) rather than pure anxiety checks.

Family law sole practitioner: A solo family lawyer found parenting matter clients were the most anxious callers because court timelines are genuinely unpredictable. Adding the line "this is set by the court registry, not by us" into the script didn't just reduce calls — it shifted client frustration away from the firm and toward the system, which is simply more accurate.

Estate planning and probate firm: Probate clients calling mid-grief were the hardest calls to standardise emotionally, but the script's job wasn't to remove empathy — it was to give the receptionist a factual backbone so warmth and accuracy could coexist. The firm added one extra line for probate specifically: "we know this is a hard time, and we'll flag anything that changes the timeline as soon as we know."

How to actually put this in place

Start by pulling your last 12 months of closed matters per practice area and calculating the actual range from instruction to resolution — not the range you'd like it to be, the range it actually was, including the slow ones. That's your honest baseline. Build the script sheet from those real numbers, not from what sounds impressive in a pitch. Print it, laminate it, and keep a copy at every reception desk and in the shared drive — paper matters here because a tired receptionist mid-call needs something to glance at, not something to search for.

Train on it like a fire drill: run through each practice area out loud with reception staff until the "subject to change" framing becomes automatic, not something they have to remember to add. Then build in a trigger for when the script isn't enough — if a client calls three times in a week, or asks a question the script doesn't cover, that's reception's cue to flag the file to the responsible lawyer for a direct callback, not to keep improvising reassurance.

Finally, revisit the ranges every six months. Court registries get slower, banks change their processing times, and a script built on 2024 data will quietly go stale. Put a calendar reminder in for whoever owns practice management to refresh the numbers.

💡 The caveat is the whole point, not a legal formality you bolt on afterwards. Every single range in this script needs "subject to change" or equivalent language attached, every time it's said out loud or written down. Drop that caveat even once and you've turned a helpful estimate into something a client could reasonably treat as a promise — which is exactly the liability exposure this script is meant to avoid.

Don't let individual staff freelance their own timeline estimates outside the script — consistency is the entire value of this exercise.
Don't base ranges on your best-case matters; base them on your actual historical average, slow files included.
Don't email timeline ranges without the same "subject to change" language used on the phone — written estimates carry more weight with clients and should carry the same caveats.
Don't forget to update the script when court processing times or bank turnaround times shift.
Don't treat this as a one-off laminated sheet and never revisit it — stale ranges are worse than no ranges.

Frequently asked questions

Will giving clients a timeline range actually reduce complaints if their matter runs long?

It helps significantly, but it's not a complete shield. The honest trade-off is that a client who was told "4–8 weeks" and hits week 10 may still be frustrated — the range manages expectations, it doesn't eliminate disappointment. What it does do is move the conversation from "you lied to me" to "this fits within what you said could happen," which is a much easier conversation for reception and lawyers to have.

Should every lawyer at the firm use identical wording?

Yes, for the parts that touch legal exposure — the ranges and the "subject to change" framing should be word-for-word consistent. The empathetic framing around it can flex to each person's natural voice; consistency matters most where the actual commitment is being made.

What if a client pushes back and demands an exact date?

The script sheet should include an escalation line: "I understand you'd like certainty — let me flag this for [lawyer] to call you directly, as they're best placed to speak to the specifics of your file." Reception's job is never to be pressured into a firmer commitment than the script allows.

Does this replace proactive client updates?

No — it reduces reactive anxiety calls, but firms still need a cadence of proactive updates (even a brief "no change, still on track" email) at sensible milestones. The script handles the gaps between updates; it isn't a substitute for sending them.

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Written by

Kate, founder of Chronically Online

I help Gold Coast and Brisbane businesses grow with branding, websites and marketing that actually works.

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