Solicitor Firm Case Study: Zero AI Referred Enquiries, Then Eleven In Six Weeks
A five partner probate and conveyancing firm had zero enquiries mentioning an AI assistant for six straight weeks. Three specific changes later, the next six weeks brought eleven, and three turned into paying clients.
A five partner solicitor firm outside Leeds, handling probate and residential conveyancing, had ranked well on Google for years. Enquiries came in steadily through search and word of mouth. Then someone at the firm asked a different question: how many of those enquiries had come from ChatGPT or Google's AI Overview recommending the firm by name. The answer, over six full weeks, was zero.
The Six Weeks Nobody Had Actually Measured
Nobody at the firm had been tracking AI referred enquiries because nobody had asked the question before. Once someone did, the firm started logging it deliberately for six weeks: every new enquiry through the contact form or phone was asked, directly, how they had found the firm. Thirty four enquiries came in during that period. Not one of them mentioned an AI assistant.
1. What The Website Was Actually Saying
The firm's services page listed probate and conveyancing as headings, with a paragraph of general description under each. No client type was named anywhere. No fee range appeared on the site at all. The firm's SRA registration number existed only on a certificates page nobody visits. To a person browsing the site, none of this looked like a problem. To an AI assistant trying to match a client's situation to a firm worth naming, there was nothing specific enough to repeat.
2. Three Changes, Made In One Afternoon
Nothing about the firm's expertise or pricing changed. Three things were added to the existing website in a single afternoon of work.
- A one sentence client type line under each service, naming the exact situation it covers, such as contested probate cases over 100,000 pounds or conveyancing for first time buyers using a mortgage
- The firm's SRA registration number and 22 years trading under its current name, stated in plain text near the contact details on every page, not buried on a certificates page
- A stated fee range for the two most commonly asked about services, probate and conveyancing, instead of the usual please enquire for a quote
3. The Next Six Weeks Looked Nothing Like The First
The firm kept asking every new enquiry the same question: how did you find us. Over the following six weeks, total enquiries rose to 41. Eleven of them, close to a quarter, specifically named ChatGPT or Google's AI Overview as the reason they contacted the firm rather than a competitor.
| Six weeks before the changes | Six weeks after the changes |
|---|---|
| 34 total enquiries | 41 total enquiries |
| 0 mentioned an AI assistant | 11 mentioned ChatGPT or an AI Overview |
| No fee range, no client type line, no visible registration number | Client type lines, a stated fee range, and a visible SRA number on every service page |
4. Three Clients, One Quarter
Not every enquiry becomes a client, and this firm was no exception. Of the eleven AI referred enquiries, three were instructed as paying clients within the same quarter, two for conveyancing and one for a contested probate matter. None of the three said they had compared the firm against others online. Each said the site had already answered the specific question they typed into an AI assistant, which is exactly the point of naming a client type and a fee range instead of a generic service description.
An AI assistant cannot send a client to a firm it was never given a reason to name.
What This Means For Accountants and Solicitors
None of the three changes required a new website, a rebrand, or a marketing budget. They required writing down, in plain text, the exact facts an AI assistant needs to make a specific recommendation instead of a vague one: who a service is actually for, what it costs, and proof the firm is who it says it is. Firms waiting for a bigger project before making any of these changes are the ones still showing up as zero on their own version of this measurement.