Saturday night, a little after 9:30, a client texts the attorney's own cell: “Quick question. The adjuster sent a form today. Should I sign it?” The attorney answers from the dinner table so it doesn't get lost. By Monday that answer sits on one phone, and the matter file doesn't show it.
Jordan Rothman wrote about that same Saturday-night message, a client's work question arriving between 9 and 10, in a column for Above the Law: “The text definitely interrupted my personal time.”
Clients like texts, and many answer one faster than a voicemail. The trouble is what gets sent, from whose phone, and to whom. Below is a working list for lawyers texting clients at a small firm, with sample texts your intake desk can adapt. It's practical information, not legal advice; your state bar's version of each rule has the final word.
What's fine to send by text
Texts suit anything short, scheduled or easy to act on.
- Consultation reminders. Sent the evening before and again that morning: when, where (or the video link), and what to bring.
- Court-date reminders. A week ahead, the day before and that morning, with the courthouse, the room and when to arrive.
- Document requests. What you need, and an upload link. Never ask for a Social Security number or a full account number in the thread.
- Payment links. A consultation fee, an earned fee or a payment-plan installment, with the amount and the due date. Money that belongs in trust goes through your trust processor's own link.
- Status updates. One or two lines: what happened, whether the client needs to do anything, and when you'll talk next.
- Review requests at the end. Once the matter is closed, to the clients you choose, with one link and no pressure.
What stays off the phone
Some things never go in a text, however the client asks:
- Case strategy, and your read of the other side.
- Advice. “Should I sign this?” gets a call, not a yes.
- Anything privileged.
- Settlement numbers, offers, and what you think the case could bring.
- Health details, immigration status, criminal charges, and anything about a spouse, an employer or a child in a custody fight.
- Anything that would hurt if someone else read the client's phone.
ABA Model Rule 1.6(c) asks lawyers to take reasonable steps so that information about a client's representation isn't seen by people it wasn't meant for. A text lands on a device you don't control, with a preview anyone nearby can read. Write it like a postcard: the text sets up the call, and the call carries the substance.
Lock screens and shared phones
The client isn't always the only one holding the phone. In a divorce, a spouse may know the passcode. In an employment case, the phone may belong to the employer. A teenager may share a parent's phone.
Ask at intake, in plain words: “Is this number only yours, and is it okay if we text it?” Note the answer on the record. Then write every text so its first line says nothing private: your firm's name, a time, a request to call. The matter's name and details stay out of the preview.
Consent before the first text, and STOP honored
The TCPA, the federal law on calls to cell phones, requires prior express consent for calls made with an autodialer or a prerecorded voice. The FCC's rules under it cover text messages too. Automatic texts such as reminders go out without anyone pressing send, so get consent before the first text.
For most firms that means a checkbox on the intake form and booking page, with the date it was ticked saved on the record. Use two boxes if you'll send news as well: one for texts about the person's own matter, one for marketing. A short terms page, like ours, tells people what they'll get and how to stop.
Then honor STOP. Under the FCC's rule, 47 CFR 64.1200(a)(10), a reply of “stop,” “quit,” “end,” “revoke,” “opt out,” “cancel” or “unsubscribe” revokes consent. So does any other reply a reasonable person would read the same way. One confirmation is allowed, with nothing else in it. After that the texts end, and the next contact is by phone or email.
Register the number before anyone texts
Business texts from an ordinary local number travel on what carriers call 10DLC. The Campaign Registry, which runs that registration, describes it as a channel where brands are verified before they're allowed to send. Your firm is the brand. The kind of texts you send, such as reminders and replies to people who wrote in, is the campaign.
A firm can't register on its own: your texting provider files it, with the firm's details and the kinds of texts you'll send. Plan your first texts for after it clears.
Text only people who contacted the firm
ABA Model Rule 7.3 defines solicitation as a message the firm starts, aimed at someone it knows needs help with a particular matter, offering to take it on. Its comment adds that answering a person's own request for information isn't solicitation.
That draws the line for your texts. Someone who called, filled in your form, booked a consultation or signed with you started the conversation. A stranger whose name turned up in an accident report or a court filing did not. The Model Rule's ban on live contact doesn't reach texts, but your state's version may add conditions, and 7.3(c) bars contact once someone says they don't want it. Your firm never opens a text thread with anyone else.
Texts belong on the firm's number
When an attorney texts clients from a personal cell, the record lives on that phone. Nobody else at the firm sees the thread. When that lawyer is in trial, the client waits. When the lawyer leaves the firm, the history leaves too.
Text from the firm's number instead. Replies go to an inbox your intake team and paralegals share, and anyone free can reply with the whole thread in front of them. Set the hours your firm replies, plus an after-hours message giving the time the office opens. When a thread matters to the case, save it to the matter file in your case software. ABA Model Rule 1.4 asks lawyers to keep clients reasonably informed and to answer reasonable requests promptly. A shared inbox makes that the team's job, not one person's phone.
Sample texts from the intake desk
These read the way an intake specialist actually types them: first names, short lines, the firm's name early. Change the names, times and addresses to yours.
- First reply to a web form: “Hi Andre, this is Priya at Brennock Law. We got your form, thank you. Could you talk with an attorney Thursday at 2:00 or Friday at 10:30? Reply STOP anytime to end texts.”
- Consultation reminder: “Brennock Law: see you tomorrow, Thursday, at 2:00. We're at 410 Main St, Suite 3, parking in back. Bring any letters or papers you've gotten so far.”
- Court-date reminder: “Brennock Law reminder: Monday at 9:00 a.m., Room 4B at the county courthouse. Please get there by 8:30. Sam will meet you outside the courtroom.”
- Document request: “Hi Andre, Priya again. Two things when you get a minute: your last two pay stubs and the letter you mentioned. Upload link: [link]”
- Payment link: “Brennock Law: your payment-plan installment of $350 is due Friday. Here's the link to pay: [link]. Need a different date? Just reply here.”
- Status update: “Hi Andre, quick update from Brennock Law: we filed today. Nothing needed from you right now. Sam will call next week to walk you through what's next.”
- Setting up a call instead: “Hi Andre, it's Priya. Sam has something to go over with you and would rather talk it through. Are you free for a quick call at 4:00 today?”
- Google review, after the matter wraps up: “Hi Andre, Priya at Brennock Law. Thanks for working with us. If you're up for it, a short Google review helps the next person find us: [link]”
When to call instead
Call when the news needs a decision, carries feeling, or could be misread. A settlement offer. A bad ruling. A deadline the client has to choose about. A client who's upset. A thread that has gone back and forth four times without settling anything. A client asking “what should I do?”
Call, too, when you're unsure who holds the phone, or when there's no consent to text on file. In those moments the text's only job is to set a time for the call.
Where RetainerBooked fits
RetainerBooked gives your firm two-way texting from its own number. Your intake team answers every reply from a shared inbox, beside each person's calls and forms, and attorneys' cells stay out of it. The texts above become saved templates the desk sends in a tap. First texts reach just the people who got in touch with your firm and agreed to hear back, and texting starts once your number's 10DLC registration clears. The Messaging page shows the inbox and templates. Or bring a few of your firm's texts to a demo.
RetainerBooked
RetainerBooked sets up phones, texting, intake and websites for US law firms with 1 to 10 lawyers. The texting rules in this post are the ones firms ask us to write when we set them up.
