Availability and Calendar
Your availability calendar controls when clients can book a consultation with you. Setting it up correctly means consultations appear at times that work for you, and clients can book without waiting for a manual reply.
Go to Lawyer Portal > My Consultations > Manage Availability to set your schedule.
How the Booking System Works
Clients book a 30-minute consultation slot directly from your profile. They see a calendar showing available slots and confirm a time. The system:
- Deducts one consultation credit from your account when a booking is made
- Sends a confirmation email to both parties
- Creates the consultation record in your portal
Slots are only shown if you have at least one active consultation credit. If you run out of credits, the booking button is hidden on your profile until credits are replenished. See Subscription Plans for credit limits by tier.
Setting Your Weekly Schedule
Your default availability is set as a repeating weekly pattern:
- Go to Manage Availability
- Select the days of the week you are available
- For each day, set your available hours (for example, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm)
- Set a buffer between consultations (15 or 30 minutes recommended)
- Save your schedule
The calendar will automatically generate available slots on those days and times going forward.
Blocking Out Dates
For holidays, court dates, or any other period when you are not available:
- Go to Manage Availability > Block Dates
- Select the date range you want to block
- Optionally add a reason (internal only, not visible to clients)
- Save
No bookings can be made during a blocked period. Any existing bookings already confirmed in that period are not automatically cancelled -- you will need to contact those clients separately.
Time Zones
The platform displays all times in the client's local time zone and your local time zone simultaneously. When you set your hours, you set them in your local time zone. The platform handles the conversion.
For lawyers working across multiple jurisdictions (for example, UK and US), this means a client in New York and a client in London both see the slot in their own local time, even though it is the same slot.
Minimum Notice Period
You can set a minimum notice period to prevent last-minute bookings you cannot prepare for. For example, setting 4 hours minimum notice means no client can book a slot starting within the next 4 hours.
The default minimum notice is 2 hours. You can increase this up to 48 hours from Manage Availability > Settings.
Maximum Advance Booking Window
By default, clients can book up to 30 days in advance. You can shorten or extend this:
- Shorter window (7 to 14 days): Better for lawyers who prefer not to plan too far ahead
- Longer window (up to 60 days): Useful for lawyers who serve clients in different time zones who may need to plan ahead
Cancelling a Booked Consultation
If you need to cancel a confirmed consultation:
- Go to My Consultations
- Open the consultation
- Click Cancel Consultation
- Provide a reason (required)
On cancellation:
- The client receives an email explaining the cancellation
- The client receives a full refund of the £15 consultation fee
- Your consultation credit is restored to your account
- The slot reopens in your calendar
Please cancel with as much notice as possible. Repeated cancellations within 24 hours of the scheduled time may be noted on your account.
Client Cancellations
If a client cancels:
- You receive an email notification
- Your consultation credit is restored
- The slot reopens if the cancellation is made more than 2 hours before the scheduled time
Joining a Consultation
At the scheduled time, click Join Consultation in My Consultations. The video room opens in your browser. No software download is required.
If the client has not joined within 5 minutes of the start time, you will see a waiting message. If they do not join within 10 minutes, you can mark the consultation as a no-show. A no-show restores your consultation credit.
Consultation Credits
Each booking uses one consultation credit from your account:
| Plan | Credits per Month |
|---|---|
| Free | 2 |
| Pro | 10 |
| Elite | 40 |
Credits refresh on your billing date each month. Unused credits do not roll over. You can purchase additional credits from My Consultations > Buy Credits at any time.
Related: AI Consultation Scoping -- what happens during and after the consultation