Law firm intake process: a step-by-step guide

A law firm intake process is the set of steps that takes a potential client from first contact to signed engagement. It covers how inquiries are received, who responds and how fast, how the firm decides whether the matter fits, how conflicts are checked, how consultations are booked and how the engagement is formalized.

A written intake process matters because the first conversation decides whether a person hires you. It applies the same way to a personal injury firm handling dozens of calls a day, an estate planning practice booking consults weeks out and a business law firm fielding referrals from accountants.

Law firms lose potential clients at intake mostly because nobody responds, or the response does not answer the basic questions people have. Clio's Legal Trends Report research for 2024 used a third-party firm to contact 500 law firms by phone and email with a client inquiry. Shoppers reached just 52% of the firms they phoned, and only 40% picked up when called. In total, 48% were unreachable by phone even after being given time to respond to messages. By email, just 33% of firms responded.

Even when firms did connect, the conversations often fell short. Clio reports that in phone conversations only 41% offered rate information, only 12% could estimate total cost and only 36% could explain the process and next steps. On firm websites, only 14% of shoppers could find pricing information. The steps below are built to close those gaps.

Start by listing every way a potential client can reach the firm, then route all of them into one intake record. Calls, voicemails, web forms, live chat, email, text messages, social messages, referral emails and directory profiles all count. If an inquiry can arrive somewhere nobody checks, some of them will be lost.

Most practice management platforms (Clio Grow, Lawmatics, MyCase, PracticePanther and others) include an intake or lead module. A general CRM works too. What matters is that each inquiry becomes a record with a source, a timestamp, an owner and a status.

• Connect the website contact form and chat to the intake system so submissions create records automatically.
• Use a business phone system that logs missed calls and voicemails, with notifications to the intake owner.
• Set up a missed-call text back that tells callers you will return their call shortly and offers a link to book or submit details.
• Ask how they heard about the firm, and store the answer as the lead source.
• Cover after-hours inquiries with an answering service, an automated assistant or a clear promise of when someone will call back.

Respond to every new inquiry within minutes during business hours and first thing the next morning for after-hours contacts. Someone looking for a lawyer often contacts several firms at once, and the firm that answers is the one that gets the conversation.

Give intake staff a short script so every caller gets the same quality of response. The script should tell the person what happens next, what the consult costs (or that it is free), and roughly how fees work for this type of matter. Those were the questions Clio's shoppers most often could not get answered.

• Greeting and name of the person answering.
• Basic contact details and the best way and time to reach them.
• Type of legal issue in one or two sentences, without detailed facts yet.
• Names of the other parties involved, for the conflict check.
• Key dates such as court dates, filing deadlines or statute of limitations concerns.
• A plain explanation of next steps, consult fee and typical fee structure.
• A booked time or a confirmed callback time before the call ends.

Screen each inquiry against the firm's practice areas, jurisdiction, case value or minimums and capacity, then run a conflict check before the potential client shares detailed facts. Lawyers owe duties to prospective clients under the professional conduct rules in most states, so learning detailed confidential information before a conflict check can create problems for the firm's existing clients.

Build the screening questions into the intake form so they are asked the same way every time. Use your practice management software's conflict search against all current and former clients, adverse parties and related names.

• Practice area match: is this a matter the firm handles?
• Jurisdiction and venue: is it in a state and court where the firm practices?
• Urgency: are there deadlines in the next 30 days?
• Conflict check: search the potential client, opposing parties, related companies and spouses or family members where relevant.
• Decision: book a consult, refer out or decline. Send declined inquiries a non-engagement letter that states the firm is not representing them and notes any deadline concerns.
• Keep a referral list of trusted firms for matters you decline, so the person still gets help.

Book the consultation during the first conversation whenever you can. Online scheduling tools such as Calendly, Acuity, Microsoft Bookings or the scheduler built into your practice management platform let staff and potential clients pick a time from the attorney's real availability.

Then reduce no-shows. Send an immediate confirmation with the date, time, location or video link and a list of documents to bring. Follow with reminders by text and email the day before and a few hours before.

• Collect the consult fee at booking if your firm charges one.
• Send a short pre-consult questionnaire so the attorney has background before the meeting.
• Include a document checklist specific to the matter type (for example, lease and notices for a landlord-tenant matter, or account statements for an estate plan).
• Make rescheduling easy with a link, so a conflict becomes a new time instead of a no-show.

Send the engagement letter for electronic signature right after the consultation, ideally the same day, with the retainer payment link in the same message. Every day between the consult and the signature is a day the person might talk to another firm or decide to wait.

Use e-signature tools such as DocuSign, Dropbox Sign, Adobe Acrobat Sign or the one built into your practice platform, and an online payment option that handles trust accounting correctly, such as LawPay or Clio Payments. Check your state bar's rules on trust accounting and electronic signatures before setting this up.

• Build engagement letter templates per practice area with the fee terms filled in from the intake record.
• Send the letter with a plain-language summary of scope, fees and next steps on top.
• Follow up after 24 hours and again after 3 days if unsigned.
• When signed, trigger the onboarding steps: matter creation, client portal invite, welcome email and document requests.

Put every potential client who did not book or did not sign on a follow-up schedule. Many people delay hiring a lawyer for reasons that have nothing to do with the firm: cost questions, waiting on a family decision or not yet feeling urgency. A polite, scheduled follow-up keeps the firm in mind when they are ready.

Keep follow-ups short and helpful. Answer a common question, restate the next step and give a direct way to book. Stop after a set number of attempts and record the reason the matter was lost if you know it.

Your website should answer the questions a potential client has before they call: what the firm handles, how hiring works, what a consultation involves and how fees are structured. Clio's 2024 research found that only 30% of shoppers could easily understand the process of hiring a firm from its website, and just 14% could find pricing information.

You do not need to publish a full fee schedule. A page that explains the steps, the consult fee and the usual fee arrangement for each practice area (flat fee, hourly, contingency or retainer) removes a large share of the uncertainty that keeps people from reaching out.

• A 'How to hire us' page with three to five numbered steps, from first contact to signed engagement.
• Practice area pages that describe typical matters, the usual fee structure and what to bring to a consult.
• A short intake form above the fold on every practice area page, plus a click-to-call button on mobile.
• Online booking for consults where the firm's process allows it.
• Plain notes on response times, such as 'We reply to every inquiry within one business hour.'

Track intake as a funnel so you can see exactly where potential clients drop off. Review these numbers weekly with the intake team and quarterly with firm leadership. Monvell's data and reporting work builds this kind of intake dashboard from the systems a firm already uses, so the numbers update without manual spreadsheets.

Use this checklist to audit your current process. Any line you cannot check off is a place where potential clients are likely slipping away.

• Every channel (phone, form, chat, email, text, referrals) creates an intake record.
• Missed calls trigger a text and a callback task.
• Business-hours response target is set and measured.
• Intake script covers next steps, consult fee and fee structure.
• Conflict check runs before detailed facts are collected.
• Declined matters receive a non-engagement letter.
• Consults are booked from real attorney availability with confirmations and reminders.
• Engagement letters go out for e-signature the same day as the consult, with a payment link.
• Unsigned potential clients get a set follow-up sequence.
• Website shows how to hire the firm, what the consult involves and how fees are structured.