One lost instruction costs more than a year of this

Your firm's WhatsApp number collects enquiries all night. Some are instructions worth opening a file on, most are not, and by morning the good ones have messaged two other firms. 247clerk answers at the moment of contact and hands you the sorted result.

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Live in 15 minutes. Runs on the number your clients already message.

Your practice

online

Tuesday

Messages are end-to-end encrypted. No one outside of this chat can read them.

Good evening. I was dismissed today after 6 years, they say misconduct but there was no hearing. Do you handle this and what does it cost?22:07

We do handle unfair dismissal. I can't advise on the merits myself — an attorney will do that — but let me get the basics down. Was the dismissal today, and were you given anything in writing?22:07

Today, and just a letter saying summary dismissal. Nothing before that22:11

Thank you. Referral to the CCMA runs on a 30-day clock from dismissal, so there's time but it's worth moving. Who is the employer, so we can check we're clear to act?22:11

Thabela Logistics, in Germiston22:13

Noted. First consultation is R950 for 45 minutes, credited against fees if we take the matter. Mr Dlamini has Thursday 11:00 or Friday 08:00 — which suits?22:13

Thursday please22:15

Booked for Thu 11:00. Please bring the dismissal letter, your contract and payslips. I'll send the fee link now — the slot confirms once it's paid.22:15

Screened · booked

What it costs you now

The enquiry was lost at 23:20, not at 08:30

A worried person who gets no reply messages the next firm on the search results within minutes. Your morning call-back is a formality by then.

Most enquiries are not matters

Free-advice seekers, matters outside your practice areas, disputes worth less than the fee to run them. Every one of them costs someone's morning to find out.

Conflicts surface during the consultation

The opposing party's name comes up forty minutes into a first consultation you have already given away. It should have surfaced at intake.

What your clerk establishes before you read a word

Practice area, against the work you actually take — so criminal defence enquiries stop landing in a commercial practice's morning.
Urgency and any running deadline — a 30-day CCMA clock or a looming court date changes how the morning is triaged.
The parties involved — captured early and checked against your open files, so a possible conflict reaches you before the consult.
Matter value — because a dispute worth less than the cost of running it is a favour, not an instruction.
Whether they want advice or representation — the free-opinion seekers identify themselves quickly when asked to book.
Jurisdiction — so you are not consulting on a matter that belongs in another province or forum.

Questions

Does it give legal advice?

No, deliberately. It is a clerk, not a practitioner. It answers process, fee, document and availability questions and screens the matter. The moment an enquiry calls for an opinion on the merits it says so plainly, tells the client an admitted practitioner will advise, and puts the conversation on your desk. It is built to hand over early rather than guess.

How does it help with conflict checks?

It surfaces the raw material for one. The clerk asks for the parties involved early and flags names that already appear on your open files, so a possible conflict reaches you before the consultation rather than during it. The check itself stays where it belongs — with you.

Will clients know they are talking to a clerk?

That is your call, though transparency is the sensible default for a regulated practice. Most firms have the clerk introduce itself as the firm's automated assistant. Clients rarely mind at 23:00, when the alternative is silence until Monday.

What about client confidentiality and POPIA?

Conversations stay in your account, are never sold or used to train public models, and you control retention. Because a first WhatsApp enquiry can already carry privileged detail, the clerk collects only what intake needs. We sign an operator agreement under POPIA on request.