Sample: The real cost of a status call
One five-minute call looks harmless. Across a full caseload, status calls quietly take hours each week from the work that moves cases.
In this article2 sections
Status calls rarely show up in anyone's numbers. Nobody logs them as work, and each one feels small. Add them up across a team and a caseload, and they become one of the biggest hidden costs in a personal injury practice.
Counting the minutes
A typical status call takes more time than the conversation itself:
- finding the case and reading the latest notes;
- the call, often with a voicemail first;
- writing down that the client called;
- getting back to whatever was interrupted.
Where the time comes from
The calls land on the people with the least slack: paralegals and case managers, who are also the ones chasing records and preparing demands. An hour a day of status calls is an hour not spent moving cases forward.
Turning calls into updates
Most of these calls ask for the same thing: proof that the case is alive. A short written update, posted where the client can find it, answers that without anyone picking up the phone. See Post a case update.
What changes
Clients still call when something real happens, and they should. What drops away are the calls that only ask whether anyone is still working on the case.
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