Most solo attorneys don't track the cost of a bad consultation.

They should.

I ran the numbers for a typical solo practice doing 8-10 initial consultations a week. Here's what it looks like when even 30% of those are poor fits:

• 3 wasted consults/week × 45 min each = 2.25 hours lost

• 2.25 hours × 48 working weeks = 108 hours/year

• At a conservative $200/hour effective rate = $21,600 in lost billable time

• Add prep time, follow-up, and emotional drain = easily $47,000+ in annual impact

And that's before you factor in the opportunity cost — the good clients you didn't have capacity to take because your calendar was full of tire-kickers.

The fix isn't working harder. It's filtering earlier.

The attorneys I've seen turn this around all did the same thing: they built a pre-consultation screening step. A simple set of intake questions, a scoring rubric, and a clear threshold for who gets a meeting and who gets a referral or a polite redirect.

It doesn't have to be complicated. It starts with three questions:

1. Does this person match my ideal case profile? (Practice area, case value, jurisdiction, urgency)

2. Are there red flags I can identify before the call? (Unrealistic expectations, fee shopping, history of firing attorneys)

3. Is there a structured way to gather this info before I commit my time?

If you can answer those three questions consistently — with a system, not gut feel — you'll cut your bad-fit consults in half within 60 days.

I wrote an entire playbook on this. 8 chapters, ~18,000 words, with checklists and frameworks you can implement this week. If you're a solo attorney or small firm owner tired of wasting evenings on the wrong calls, it's worth a look.