How much does a lawyer consultation cost? We called 4 law firms and booked one for $300

A call4me user had their AI phone assistant call four Michigan law firms to book a consultation about software and internet law. One firm quoted $400, agreed to $300 for 30 minutes, and booked it. Here's what the firm asked, the recordings, and what our caller got wrong at the other three.

Nick Khami · October 1, 2026 · 14 min read

The short answer: the one lawyer consultation we booked cost $300 for 30 minutes by phone. The firm first quoted "like a $400 fee that if you hire us, we'll apply it to the bill," and said yes when our caller asked for 30 minutes at $300 or less. That's one fee from one Michigan firm, not a price list. The other three firms we called never got to a price: a voice phone menu misheard our caller, one firm hung up right after our caller's request, and one call stayed silent for two minutes.

What the firm asked before booking. Have these ready:

1. When you're free. It opened with "How is Tuesday the 6th?" and settled on 6:30 pm, an evening slot.
2. Where you are. "Are you close to [place removed]?" Not close, so it offered "an initial phone call" instead of meeting in person.
3. An email address, for a calendar invite ("sort of Outlook notice").
4. Who's on the other side. This is the conflict check: "before we can actually give any substantive advice," the firm has to make sure it doesn't already represent the party you're up against. It asked for the name, checked, and said "that's not going to be a conflict problem for us."

It didn't ask for details of the legal problem on this call. The fee, the time and the conflict check were the whole booking.

These calls were made on Thursday, October 1, 2026, between about 9:32 and 9:41 am Eastern, by a call4me user's AI phone assistant. The brief: book a 1-hour or 30-minute consultation with an attorney who handles software and internet law, on a weekday evening or a weekend, for no more than $300. The user is okay with us sharing the calls. In the audio we muted their name, email, callback number and home city, the names of the other parties in the conflict check, a detail of their legal matter, and the name and location of the firm they booked with. We left that firm unnamed here, since naming it would say who they may hire.

Four law firms, side by side #

Called on October 1, 2026, about a consultation on software and internet law:

Do lawyers charge for a consultation? #

Some do and some don't, and you find out by asking. The one firm that answered charged. Our caller had been told a free intro call was fine too, but none was offered.

If you're in Michigan and want a low-cost first conversation, the State Bar of Michigan's Lawyer Referral Service says that for a $25 administrative fee it will match you with a participating attorney "who will provide up to a 25-minute initial consultation free of charge." After that, it says, fees are negotiated between you and the attorney. Other states' bar associations run similar services; check your own.

What these calls showed about the fee itself:

• The first number wasn't the only number. $400 was quoted for an open-ended consultation. Asking for "a 30-minute consult for $300 or less" got a yes in about two seconds.
• It may count toward the bill. The firm said the $400 fee would be applied to the bill if the user hires the firm. When it agreed to $300, nobody said whether that still applies. Ask.
• The format followed the distance. Far from the office meant a phone consultation, which also made an evening slot easy.

Listen: the lawyer consultation we booked (3 minutes 33 seconds) #

Silences on the line longer than about 3 seconds are cut down to about a second. Every spoken word is kept. The transcript marks each cut.

• 0:05 The person who answers gives their name (muted). Our caller says "Hi, hello?" over it, and they say it again
• 0:13 The ask: a consultation "with an attorney who handles software or internet [muted] law"
• 0:27 "It is. Let me take a quick look at my calendar"
• 0:33 "How is Tuesday the 6th?"
• 0:49 "Are you close to [place muted]?"
• 0:59 "Not crazy close, but we can do an initial phone call, right?" and "like 6:30 maybe?"
• 1:16 "Oh, what's the consultation fee?"
• 1:21 "It's like a $400 fee that if you hire us, we'll apply it to the bill"
• 1:28 "Let me just check on that real quick." Our caller asks the user, who replies 8 seconds later: ask for 30 minutes at $300 or less. That wait is cut from the recording
• 1:37 "Could you do a 30-minute consult for $300 or less?" At 1:41: "Yeah, we can do that"
• 1:48 "30 minutes for $300 on Tuesday the 5th. No, Tuesday the 6th, I'm sorry"
• 2:08 "I can send out an email sort of Outlook notice"
• 2:38 The conflict check: "is there a third party that you're sort of against?"
• 3:07 "We don't represent either of those, so that's not going to be a conflict problem for us"
• 3:16 "Tuesday at 6:30, I'll send an invite to this address"

Listen: Oakland Law Group, a phone menu that misheard (39 seconds) #

• 0:00 The recorded greeting starts: "Our normal business hours are Monday..."
• 0:04 Our caller starts talking over it, and the greeting stops
• 0:08 "I think you said [name removed]": the system took our caller's words as a menu choice
• 0:19 "The selection was not valid. Please tell me the option you want to choose again"
• 0:25 "I think you said [name removed]. Is that correct?"
• 0:34 "Sorry, we cannot connect your call at the moment. Please try again later"

We never heard the menu's options, because our caller never let the recording finish.

Listen: Silverstein Legal, hung up after our request (23 seconds) #

• 0:00 "Thank you for calling Silverstein Legal. Please hold for the next available agent"
• 0:09 A person answers: "Silverstein Legal"
• 0:12 Our caller: "I was calling to see if we could book a consultation with one of your attorneys about some software and internet law questions"
• 0:22 The line is hung up from the firm's end, with no reply

Listen: Falkowski PLLC, silence on the line (9 seconds) #

• 0:02 Line sounds as the call connects. No one speaks
• 0:07 Our caller: "Hi, hello?"
• 0:08 About 1 minute 57 seconds of silence on the line is cut here
• 0:09 The line is hung up from the firm's end

How to book a lawyer consultation, step by step #

1. Know your other party's name before you call. The firm needs it for the conflict check, and it can't give "substantive advice" until that's done.
2. Say the area of law in plain words. "An attorney who handles software or internet law" was enough to get a yes.
3. Give your availability as a range. "Anytime weekday evenings or weekends is best" got a 6:30 pm slot on the first try.
4. Ask the fee before you agree to the time, or right after. Then ask: does it count toward the bill if I hire you?
5. Set your limit ahead of time, and ask for a shorter consult if the price is over it. "Could you do a 30-minute consult for $300 or less?" turned $400 into $300.
6. Ask whether it's by phone, video or in person, and who calls whom.
7. Get the confirmation in writing. Here it was a calendar invite by email. Have the date read back: the firm said "the 5th" before correcting itself to "the 6th."
8. On a phone menu, wait for the whole recording. Then pick the option or say "receptionist."

Where our caller fell short #

• At Silverstein Legal, a person answered "Silverstein Legal" after the hold message, our caller made its request, and the line was hung up from the firm's end about a second later. We don't know why. Our caller didn't call back to try again.
• At Oakland Law Group, it talked over the recorded greeting. The phone system is voice-driven, so it took our caller's words as menu choices, rejected them twice, and dropped the call. That's on us, not the firm.
• At Falkowski PLLC, the line connected but we hear nothing from the firm's side. Our caller said "Hi, hello?" once and then stayed silent for almost two minutes, until the line was hung up from the firm's end. We don't know whether someone was there and couldn't hear us. Our caller should have spoken up again, or hung up and called back.
• At the firm we booked, it said "Hi, hello?" over the person's first greeting, so they had to say their name twice. And when the price dropped to $300, it didn't ask whether that fee still counts toward the bill, or who calls whom at 6:30.

After the Oakland call, the user added a line to the brief for the next call: if a phone menu or hold message answers, stay quiet until it finishes, then say "receptionist" or press 0, and wait on hold for a person. The next call is the one that booked.

What to say: a script that worked #

Hi, this is [name]'s assistant. I'm calling to see if we could schedule a consultation with an attorney who handles [area of law]. Is that something your office could help with?

Then: "[Weekday evenings or weekends] is best. What's the consultation fee? Does it go toward the bill if [name] hires you? Could you do a 30-minute consult for [your limit] or less? Is that by phone, video or in person? The other party is [name], if you need it for a conflict check. Can you send a calendar invite to [email]?"

Let an AI phone assistant make the calls #

These calls were made by call4me, an AI phone assistant that works inside the agent you already use (Claude Code, Codex, ChatGPT). You tell your agent what to get done. It calls and talks to the firm like a person would, asks you mid-call if something comes up, and reports back with the outcome and the transcript. That's what happened at 1:28 above: the fee was over the limit, so our caller asked the user, got an answer 8 seconds later, and went back to the firm with it.

If you use call4me, paste this into your agent:

Call [law firms and phone numbers] to book a [30-minute or 1-hour] consultation with an attorney who handles [area of law], for [name]. Times that work: [weekday evenings, weekends]. Phone, video or in person are all fine. Ask the consultation fee and whether it's applied to the bill if [name] hires them. Book only if the fee is [limit] or less; if it's more, ask whether a 30-minute consult for [limit] or less is possible, and ask me before agreeing to anything else. If they ask about other parties for a conflict check, the other party is [name]. Have them send the confirmation to [email] and read back the date. If a phone menu or hold message answers, stay quiet until it finishes, then say "receptionist" or press 0, and wait on hold for a person.

lawyer consultation · lawyer consultation fee · legal help · attorneys · ai phone assistant