Intake that turns inquiries into clients
What a law firm intake system should do, from the first inquiry to the signed client, and how to tell whether yours does it.
A law firm intake system should catch every inquiry, answer it quickly, check for conflicts, book the consultation, and carry what it learned into the client's file without anyone typing it twice. It should also tell the firm where its clients come from, so the work that brings them gets more of the firm's time.
1. Catch every inquiry
Inquiries arrive through the website's forms, the phone, an answering service, email and the firm's Google profile, often outside office hours. If they land in five places, some are found late and some are never found. One list, with as many channels in it as the firm can bring together, is the first job of intake.
2. Keep the spam out without losing a client
Law firms attract spam, scams and vendors. A filter that deletes what it suspects will one day delete a real client. Hold suspected spam for review instead, and release it with one click.
3. Answer fast
People in legal trouble often hire the first firm that answers. Measure the time to a first reply, remind the lead's owner when a lead waits, and copy a backup when it waits longer. A drafted reply ready for an attorney to send saves the minutes that matter.
4. Know who is calling, and about whom
The person who reaches out is often not the client: a parent writes about an adult child, or one spouse about the other. Record both, and the other parties too, because the conflict check needs every name.
5. Check conflicts before the consultation
Search every name against current and past clients, and against past inquiries, before anyone gives advice. Record the result, so the check is part of the file and not a memory.
6. Book the consultation, and count what happens
Put the consultation on the calendar, mark no-shows and reschedules, and see the month's counts. A no-show rate is a number a firm can improve.
7. Carry it all into the file
When the client hires the firm, everything intake learned (names, the matter, the source, the conflict check, the first payment) should become the client file with one action.
8. Know where clients come from
Record the first page each person saw, the site, ad or campaign that sent them, and whether an AI assistant did. Then count which sources bring the clients who hire you, as well as the inquiries.
Compass puts website forms, phone taps and, where set up, answering-service messages in one inbox, holds suspected spam for review, nudges a lead's owner after 15 office minutes and copies the backup owner at 60, and drafts a reply for an attorney to send. Your staff run the conflict check and book the consultation from the lead, and a retained lead becomes the client file through one form. Every lead carries its source, including arrivals from AI assistants. Phone calls themselves, and email sent straight to an attorney, do not land in Compass. Lead management in Compass.