What law firm intake should capture, and what it should not
A caller wants to tell somebody everything immediately. Good intake takes enough to call them back properly and stops before it takes anything that should wait for a conflict check.
What should be captured on a first call to a law firm?
Name, contact details, the practice area in general terms, how they found the firm, and any deadline they mention. Enough to run a check and call back, and no more.
A deadline is worth capturing explicitly because it changes urgency more than anything else on the list, and callers often mention it in passing rather than as a question.
What should intake avoid taking?
Substantive detail about the matter before a conflict check has run, and anything that would have the firm holding a version of events it may not be able to act on.
Whoever is answering should have a clear, practised way to interrupt politely and explain why. Without one, people default to listening, because listening feels like service.
How your own obligations apply is a question for your regulator rather than for a supplier's website.
Who should handle first calls?
Whoever can be relied on to follow the same script every time, including on a busy afternoon. Consistency matters more here than seniority.
Also asked
- Can an automated system do intake?
- It can collect contact details and a practice area, which is most of the useful part, provided it is incapable of giving advice, quoting a fee, or taking substantive detail. Ask any vendor to show you those refusals in writing.
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