Legal intake services: the new matter call, handled properly

Potential clients rarely call one firm. They work down a list until somebody picks up, and the firm that speaks to them first is usually the one that gets the meeting — not because it’s the best one, because it was available. If your phone goes to voicemail while someone is deciding who represents them, that matter went to whoever answered.

And it isn’t only about speed. A first call handled by someone reading from a generic script produces a message that says "car accident, wants to talk to a lawyer" — which tells you nothing about whether it’s worth your time.

Your questions, in your order. A typical set includes:

• Full name, phone, email, and the best time to reach them
• What happened and when, in their own words
• Where it happened, and which jurisdiction that puts it in
• Whether there are deadlines already running
• The other parties involved, by name — the detail that makes a conflict check possible
• Whether they’ve spoken to another firm, or already have counsel
• How they found you

The names matter more than anything else on that list. A conflict check that happens before the callback saves a conversation nobody wants to have twice.

We don’t give legal advice, in any form, including the kind that sounds like reassurance. We don’t estimate the value of a matter. We don’t quote fees or explain your fee structure beyond what’s published. We don’t promise that the firm will take the case, and we don’t say a deadline is or isn’t a problem.

Callers push on all of these, especially when they’re frightened. Handling that without giving ground is a trained skill and it’s the reason legal intake isn’t the same job as answering a phone.

Most firms don’t want every call. You tell us your criteria — practice areas, jurisdiction, matter type, minimum thresholds, the situations you never take — and calls that clearly fall outside get a courteous close and a written record, without an attorney spending twenty minutes discovering it.

The ones that fit get flagged, and if your rules say so, transferred live while the caller is still motivated.

Intake is where a language gap costs the most, because the caller is describing something complicated under stress. We run intake in Spanish with the same questions and the same never-say list — bilingual legal answering in detail.

One answered call = one billable call, whatever we do on it, including the intake questions, the screening and a live transfer if your rules call for one. Plans from $119 to $649; full pricing. Firms with long intake forms or regulated workflows are Custom Operations.