What is Legal Intake?
Intake, in the legal context, is essentially the way a firm engages with a potential client. It’s a term that describes the process of receiving information from someone who is considering hiring a lawyer or firm to deal with a legal issue. As you might guess, this can be a very helpful process for the law firm in understanding the situation more clearly in order to understand their obligations toward the potential client and how best to serve them.
Because it is often the first step in the actual lawyer-client process and , in reality, the first point in the transaction between a service provider and customer, a firm must make an accurate and clearly efficient initial judgment regarding the matter at-hand. This screening and evaluation procedure can be a complex or a simple process, based on the types of matters the firm handles, but most often involves some form of application process involving one or more intake staff members. From here, it can include an engagement letter and a retainer agreement.
Legal Intake Process: Step-by-Step Guide
As soon as your law office answers a phone call or responds to a potential client e-mail, that person is now considered a lead that has the potential to turn into a case. During the initial contact you may qualify whether or not you can provide the legal services being requested and whether or not your firm is the right fit for the potential client. Once both are established the legal intake process continues. If you think the potential client is a good fit you then make a further assessment of whether the case is viable. Specific information is gathered from the potential client to help you make that determination. The information should then be entered into your legal intake software so that you have access to the data later on. The client and the attorney discuss the details of the case during a meeting or phone call. After the details are discussed and the case is still viable, the client is asked to formally retain your firm as their representation. A retainer agreement is created, signed and retained so that you can begin the legal proceeding. Keeping your data organized can help you determine which leads are truly interested in hiring your firm and which leads are simply wasted time. With the legal intake software, your team can easily review any and all previous conversations and determine if continuing on with the potential client would be beneficial.
The Importance of a Strong Legal Intake System
An effective intake system not only makes sense in the abstract; it makes sense in practice as well. A legal intake system that is up-to-date and designed for leads to flow through it allows you to convert more prospects to clients. Clients are won quickly, retaining lawyers is easier and, in some cases, conflicts with firms are avoided all together.
Reasons Why an Intake System is Important
A well-designed intake system that directs leads to your firm is crucial for a number of reasons:
If you have a poor intake system, you may not even know it. You may not hear the dozens or even hundreds of calls you miss every month if they don’t get to someone in your firm. Or, bad lead intake systems can lead to missed opportunities where your prospect or client does get to someone in your firm, but is so put off by the interaction, they decide to go elsewhere.
Benefits of an Effective Intake System
The benefits of having an effective legal intake system in place are numerous:
Legal Intake Tools and Software
There are several tools and software systems that can further assist with the legal intake process. For instance, many practice management software have custom forms that allow you to send a questionnaire to a client via email. Blind Copy me if you will allows you to add a note to your calendar so, you can follow up on your client as well as have a digital copy of their responses. Dictation software also facilitates what has become known as the "macro" method of note taking whereby the attorney dictates a script that follows a standard course of questions and responses that the attorney can then personalize. This is also established through the ability to use, "remote access software , " which allows lawyers to access their practice management software system from any location.
The latest development in this area are virtual assistants or chatbots and text message services with the capability to fully integrate with your practice management software and can even analyze and assign tasks based on criteria established by the attorney. There are a number of chatbots that can be integrated into a law firm’s or individual lawyer’s website that can either be built and implemented by the lawyer or hired out to an outside company. The chatbot can be trained to ask questions pertaining to the specific type of cases a law firm handles and research those cases and cases that are similar to help the attorney establish the proper cadence of interaction. In addition, call and text specialists are available so you don’t necessarily need ongoing employees to manage this process. The initial consultation can be conducted via text, follow-up appointments can be scheduled and the client can be asked to submit information via text.
Common Legal Intake Challenges and Solutions
The intake process isn’t without its difficulties. If you run a law firm, you might find yourself overwhelmed with high call volumes, or struggling for accuracy in your data collection. Maybe you are gathering data through a CRM, or even worse: illegally. Here are some of the most common mistakes and ways to avoid them.
Overwhelming call volume An incoming phone call is the first point of contact for many law firms, so it’s vital that your staff is adequately prepared to respond. If you find yourself overwhelmed by calls, consider integrating a form of computerized assistance to help you answer them. Intelligent, automated chatbot technology is currently available in chat programs and by telephone. These systems can provide potential clients with useful information and gather their details, allowing your staff to have a clearer idea of what to expect.
Errors in data When it comes to client intake, most law firms rely on their staff to gather a client’s personal information, such as their address and phone number. Sometimes, staff members would write these numbers down incorrectly on paper form, or make mistakes when typing them into a spreadsheet or database. A minor error, like transposing two digits, can lead to a range of communication problems later. The solution? Always collect information through a secure online client intake form. In addition to verifying that all the data you receive is correct, it offers a safer way to store this information than paper or spreadsheets.
Gathering data illegally In order to compile a case against a defendant, law firms sometimes gather and use data they do not have the consent to collect, or at least, they don’t have permission from the evaluated individual to store it. This is illegal under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and can result in serious legal penalties. If you are gathering data for evaluations, you should make sure you are legally able to do so. Consider an opt-in model for your consent. Opposed to an implied consent system, an opt-in system allows users to affirmatively consent to data collection, which can help you avoid accidentally running afoul of the GDPR.
Complicated forms It’s important to keep the intake process simple, which includes using forms that are easy to fill out. Clients won’t spend time trying to fix any mistakes they encounter when filling out a form—if they come across any hurdles, they won’t return in the future. Avoid jargon and unnecessary questions that could add to the length of forms or cause frustration. For example, a law firm gathering information about personal injury might ask where a potential client got into their accident. Instead, they should ask when the incident occurred.
Legal Intake and Client Retention
A well-handled Legal Intake process can help improve Client retention rates. It is understandable to think that the more Clients you meet with the more work you will get. The opposite may actually be true. If you meet with Client after Client for a consultation and none or few of them hire the Firm or buy the product, then you are getting a reputation that no one wants to pay for a consultation at your Firm, and that it is just a sales pitch. If you charge a fee for an initial consultation, then your practice is going to be different from someone who does not charge a fee. Both can be successful, by the way, with the right conditions, but the Receptionist and attorney training with respect to explaining the type of a consultation, is different for each. Let’s be honest here many people who call need to speak with an attorney, who can help them with their problem. But all too often, someone needs a divorce or an adoption, they have an accident, they experience a life change (new career, new spouse, new baby) and all of these unexpected major life events can drain the household budget. When a potential Client calls a Firm and speaks with a live Receptionist, that person is looking for information, guidance or to discuss another concern . If the firm does not charge a fee for a consultation, and the fee charge is explained by the Receptionist as the time and effort that the Firm is taking to look into the Client’s issue (before it ever meets with or reviews the paperwork), then a potential client will understand that this time and effort is a "value added" proposition. In essence you are giving the Client a strategy at this point. Recent legal studies have shown that the most successful Firms are those that do charge for consultations. This is a strong indicator that the clients are willing to invest in their future. So having a widely successful firm with great staff, and offering free consultations is not necessarily the ticket to a thriving business. Many factors come into play on what makes a law firm successful. It is a combination of marketing, reputation, client experience and even the economy will dictate how a firm rates against its peers. But the most important thing to keep in mind is that a firm will not succeed if it has poor client relations. When a firm strives to meet and exceed client expectations, the client has no problem paying a fee – they will do so again and again as well as sending their friends and family along with you.