Nalini Robbins

Criminal defense intake is the first call with a prospective client or their family, in which the firm records the arrest and custody status, date, charges, court dates, and county to decide whether to transfer the call to an attorney or book a consultation. This post covers the intake questions to cover to ensure capture of the highest quality leads, plus other intake data from 3.2 million calls.

Transfer-then-book is a legal intake design in which the receptionist attempts a live transfer to the firm and, if no one picks up, offers the caller a consultation on the firm's calendar instead of taking a message, ensuring leads never hang up without a clear next step from the firm.

A law firm intake specialist is the staff member who answers prospective clients' calls, screens each matter against the firm's criteria, and books the consultation or routes the caller to an attorney.

A law firm's intake conversion rate is the share of qualified leads who book a consultation or are transferred to someone at the firm during the first call; Smith.ai's Legal Intake Report calls it the connect-to-firm rate.

Immigration intake is the first call between a prospective immigration client and a law firm, in which the firm screens for detention, ICE involvement, deadlines, and matter type, then books a consultation or transfers the caller to an attorney.

Family law intake is the first call with a prospective client, in which the firm records the type of case, county, opposing party, children, court dates, and filings to run a conflict check and decide whether to book a consultation.

Estate planning intake is the first call between a prospective estate planning or probate client and a law firm, in which the firm records the client's goals, family, and deadlines and books a consultation with an attorney.

Personal injury intake is the first call with a prospective client, in which the firm records the incident date and state, fault, injuries, medical treatment, and any prior representation to decide whether to take the case and what happens next.

A legal CRM is the software layer that manages a prospective client from first contact through signed engagement — tracking leads, automating follow-up, and feeding intake data into your case management system.

A legal intake form is the structured set of questions a law firm uses to collect essential information from a prospective client before representation begins — covering identity, case facts, conflict-of-interest data, and scheduling intent.