How to automate law firm client intake and conflict checks
The agent takes the caller's details, runs the conflict check, books the consult, sends the engagement letter and retainer, and opens the matter once signed.
- Reach it by
- Phone
- Text
- Web
- Who can use it
- Prospective clients, plus the attorneys and staff you allow
- Works in
- Clio or your case system · Outlook or Google Calendar · DocuSign (on a plan with API access) · Your billing or trust accounting system · Your phone line and website form
The problem
A potential client calls at 6:40 pm. Nobody answers, or the receptionist writes a name on a sticky note. By morning they've called two other firms.
The ones you do catch still take a dozen steps: enter the contact, search for conflicts, find a consult time, draft the engagement letter, send the retainer invoice, chase the signature, then open the matter. Each handoff is a place it stalls.
Meanwhile an attorney is spending billable time on scheduling and paperwork that a checklist could cover.
What your agent does
- A prospective client callsName, other parties, what happened and when
- Your agent runs your intake stepsSearches every party for conflicts and flags any hit
- Conflict hits go to an attorneyThe agent stops until someone clears it
- Consult booked
- Engagement letter for signatureOn a DocuSign plan with API access
- Retainer invoice sent
- Matter opened once signed and paid
What you get
- Every caller gets answered and logged, day or night
- Conflict searches run on every party before anyone books a consult
- Engagement letters and retainer invoices go out the same day as the consult
- Matters open with the contact, parties and documents already filled in
Who approves what
The agent never decides a conflict or whether to take a case. Any possible conflict goes to the attorney you name, and nothing moves until they clear it. An attorney approves the engagement letter and fee terms before they go out, unless you set a standard letter for a practice area to send on its own.
Common questions
- Does the agent give legal advice to callers?
- No. It takes facts, explains your process and books the consult. If a caller asks what they should do, it tells them an attorney will cover that and notes the question for the consult.
- Who decides whether something is a conflict?
- Your attorneys. The agent searches your case system for every name the caller gives and shows the matches. A person reviews any match and decides. Nothing is booked until they do.
- Does it work with our case management system?
- It works with Clio, which lets you connect outside tools from your own account. For other case systems, we check on the free call whether you can connect it yourself, and tell you plainly what it can and can't reach.
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How do you automate client intake?
Put every inquiry (calls, forms, emails, referrals) into one queue, ask your intake questions the same way every time, check each one against your rules for fit, then create the client record once, send the engagement letter or contract for e-signature and book the first meeting. A person decides anything that needs judgment.
Read the postShould I use an answering service or an AI receptionist?
If you want callers booked straight into your calendar and software at any hour, an AI receptionist fits better. A live answering service mostly takes messages for you to call back. Either beats voicemail, because many callers who reach voicemail just call the next business.
Read the post
More for law firms
Deadlines from documents
The agent reads served papers and court orders, puts each deadline on the calendar with reminders, and sends it to an attorney or paralegal to approve.
What job would you hand to an agent?
Book a free 15-minute call. Tell us the job that eats your week and we'll tell you how an agent would handle it and what it would cost.