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Set up warm transfers to your intake team

A warm transfer hands a qualified caller to a human at your firm with a brief verbal hand-off. To enable it, open Settings → Call routing → Warm transfer, add the destination numbers in order of preference, and choose the criteria that trigger a transfer instead of a voicemail.

By Tiago Strammiello, Founder, ClaireAIUpdated 5 min

TL;DR

  • Warm transfer = ClaireAI briefs the human ("PI caller, slip and fall, ready to retain") before handing off.
  • Cold transfer = direct hand-off with no briefing.
  • Default trigger: caller passes the intake script AND your business hours window. You can tighten or loosen both.
  • Transfer fallback chains support up to five destinations (paralegal → senior associate → managing partner).
  • If nobody picks up, ClaireAI takes a detailed message and dispatches it via your chosen channel (SMS, email, Slack, push).
On this page

Decide who answers transfers

Most firms route warm transfers to a paralegal or intake specialist during business hours, with a senior partner as the after-hours fallback for urgent matters (criminal defense arrests, restraining orders, ER referrals). Set up the chain top-down: the first number tried is the one most likely to answer.

Configure the chain

  1. Open Settings → Call routing → Warm transfer.
  2. Click Add destination. Enter the phone number, label (e.g. "Sarah – Paralegal"), and ring duration.
  3. Repeat for up to five destinations. The chain is tried in order.
  4. Set the global rules: business hours window, qualification threshold (Standard or High), and the fallback action if nobody picks up (Voicemail, SMS, Email, Slack).

Customize the briefing line

Before connecting the caller, ClaireAI says a short briefing to the human picking up. Default: "Hi, this is the ClaireAI receptionist at {firm}. I have {caller_name} on the line — a {practice_area} matter, urgency {urgency_level}. Connecting now." You can rewrite this under Call routing → Briefing template. Available variables are listed in the side panel.

Test the chain

  1. Call your main firm number from a cell.
  2. Answer the intake script as a real qualified caller would.
  3. ClaireAI should announce "Connecting you now" and dial the first destination.
  4. Confirm the briefing line plays for the human, and audio is clear in both directions after connection.

Frequently asked questions

What's the difference between warm and cold transfer?

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A warm transfer plays a briefing line to the human before connecting the caller, so the human knows who is on the line and what the matter is about. A cold transfer hands off silently. Warm transfer is recommended for legal intake because the briefing saves the human 30–45 seconds of re-asking the caller's basic facts.

What happens if the first transfer destination doesn't answer?

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ClaireAI rings each destination in the chain for the duration you set (default 20 seconds), then moves to the next. If the entire chain misses, the fallback action runs — typically taking a message and dispatching it via SMS, email, or Slack.

Author

Tiago Strammiello

Founder, ClaireAI

Tiago leads product at ClaireAI. He has spent the last three years building telephony and intake systems for U.S. law firms.

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