Where the clients come from — and what they cost
If you have been paying for legal leads in California — pay-per-click on practice-area keywords, lead marketplaces that sell one inquiry to several firms, directory placements — Nalren works differently. No inquiry is sold or shared, and there is no charge for a consultation request. A prospective client reaches you by browsing the Legal category by practice area and city, searching for a specific service you listed (living trust, DUI defense, green card), or reading a Nalren guide that links to real attorneys. Every path ends the same way: a consultation request sent to you, already screened by your own questions, at no cost.
What decides how many requests you get is the profile: the practice-area titles you choose, the counties you list, the services you name, an intro that complies with the State Bar's advertising rules, and an open calendar. The rest of this guide is that setup.
What a Nalren profile is for an attorney
People browse the Legal category by practice area and city, open your profile, and request a consultation from your real availability. Before they can choose a time they answer the questions you set — matter type, county, the other party's name, a deadline, a budget — and those answers arrive with the request, visible to you only. Messaging opens once a consultation exists, so there is no unsolicited inbox and no accidental attorney-client expectation from a cold message.
Step 1 — The Licensed account type and your bar number
On “What best describes you?” choose Licensed. The titles Attorney and Lawyer — and every specialty title (Personal Injury Attorney, Family Law Attorney, Immigration Attorney, Estate Planning Attorney, Real Estate Attorney, Criminal Defense Attorney, Employment Attorney, Bankruptcy Attorney) — require state bar admission. On “Any licenses or certifications?” add your State Bar of California number with its status and, if you like, a copy of your bar card; a Notary Public commission may be added as a second credential. Paralegals and legal document assistants are separate titles that do not require bar admission and should not be presented as attorneys.
Step 2 — Titles, location, and an intro that complies
- “What do you do?” — up to three titles. Use the specialty titles clients search for (Family Law Attorney) rather than the generic Attorney alone; Attorney can be the second title.
- “Where are you based?” — your office city plus the counties or cities where you actually appear. Clients search by location even for remote-friendly work.
- Your intro — practice areas, the courts you appear in, bar admissions, languages, and how a first consultation works. California's rules on attorney communications apply to your profile: no guarantees of outcomes, no misleading comparisons, and if you describe yourself as a specialist, hold the State Bar certification for it.
- “What do you offer?” — services as clients name them (divorce and custody, DUI defense, green cards and naturalization, living trusts, demand letters, lease review, LLC formation) and skills (litigation, mediation, appeals, a language).
Step 3 — “How do you like to charge?”: consultations vs everything else
- Free consultations need nothing on this screen. Leave hourly off and skip packages; your profile offers “Book a consultation” and you quote fees afterward the way you do now.
- Paid consultations are a package: “Initial consultation — 30 minutes,” with the price and what it covers. Packages appear to clients only after identity verification and Stripe payouts are set up, so do both before you rely on them.
- Flat-fee services that you can price without a consultation — a will package, a demand letter, a document review, an LLC formation — also work as packages, or as a custom quote sent from Bookings → Custom after the consultation.
- Retainers and trust funds do not go through Nalren. Nalren payouts land in your operating (Stripe) account; they are not a client trust account. Use your firm's trust accounting for any advance fee, and your own written fee agreement — California requires one when fees are expected to exceed $1,000, and always for contingency matters. A Nalren booking is a scheduling and payment record, not an engagement letter.
What's free and what isn't
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Account, profile, search and directory listings | Free |
| Consultations booked from your profile | Free — unless you make the consultation a priced package |
| Representation, retainers, hourly billing after the consultation | Nothing to Nalren — handled by your firm |
| A paid consultation, flat-fee package, or custom quote through Nalren | Client pays your price; Nalren's 10% service fee applies, and you choose whether the client pays it, you absorb it, or you split it |
| Promotions (optional) | Paid placement; never required to be visible |
Step 4 — Your calendar: the Screener, with intake built in
The booking-calendar guide describes the Screener with attorneys in mind. In Bookings → Calendar:
- Working hours and an appointment length (30 minutes for an initial consultation is common).
- Consultations & approval — consultations on, direct booking off, approval on. If you sell flat-fee packages to existing clients, also turn on Allow direct booking after consultation.
- Pre-qualification questions — up to five, answered before a time can be chosen:
- What is this about? (choice) — list your practice areas and mark the ones you do not take as disqualifying, with a message that suggests the right kind of lawyer.
- Which county? (choice or text) — disqualify jurisdictions you do not practice in.
- Name of the other party or company (text) — your conflict check, before the meeting rather than during it.
- Is there a court date or deadline in the next 30 days? (yes/no) — so urgent matters get seen first.
- Budget for this matter (number, optional) — set a floor if you have one; answers at the threshold qualify.
- Required from guests — phone number, and file uploads if you want the complaint, notice, or contract before the call. Consider requiring acceptance of a short consultation agreement (no attorney-client relationship until engaged) here.
- Notice needed — a day, so you can run the conflict check before the meeting.
- Calendar sync — court dates block your Nalren slots automatically.
Confidentiality and professional-responsibility notes
- Screening answers and intake are stored for you and the client only; they are not public and never appear on your profile.
- Screening questions are intake, not advice. Do not answer legal questions inside the pre-qualification message or in chat before a consultation; say what the consultation will cover instead.
- A booked consultation on Nalren does not by itself create an attorney-client relationship — your engagement letter does. Say so in your consultation agreement.
- Identity verification confirms a real person owns an account. It is not a background check on the client, and it does not replace your conflict check.
- Reviews from completed consultations appear on your profile; respond, if at all, without revealing anything confidential.