Two-fer: Law Firms Need to Consider the Second Phase of the Client Intake Process

Generally speaking, most law firm intake systems need a whole heck of a lot of work.  But, while many law firms lose leads through their client journey, that probably could have been converted – there is one thing that law firms usually get right, in the intake process. 


 

Law firms tend to generate short initial intake forms, which is great – because legal consumers don’t want to jump through a lot of hoops before they’re allowed to talk to their potential attorney.  Ask for basic information; confirm the case type; offer the click-through disclaimer . . . and, get out. 

 

Now, the problem from there, becomes: once you have that basic information, you still need more, before you can start work on your new clients’ cases.  That’s where the second stage of intake comes in; and, it’s probably the biggest law firm process bottleneck there is. 

 

In many cases, before attorneys can begin work on their clients’ claims – they need to gather some more preliminary information.  For a personal injury lawyer, that could be asking for treatment records.  For an estate planning lawyer, it’s seeking information about the person’s family and assets.  For a bankruptcy or immigration attorney, it’s gearing up to complete court and administrative forms. 

 

So, the smoother you can make your process, the quicker you can onboard your new client, and the sooner you can get moving on their case.  That means that you’ll finish the case faster & increase the volume of work you can do, inside of your practice. 

 

Every time you save time, onboarding new clients – you increase your law firm’s case capacity.  The simplest pathway to making more money in your law firm, is to increase your case volume.  Effectively managing this second stage of intake, is one major way to achieve that. 

 

. . . 

 

If you want to increase your case volume, but time is not currently of the essence – give us a call, we can help! 

Through a unique partnership between the bar association and Jared Correia's Red Cave Law Firm Consulting, National Creditors' Bar Association members have access to experienced law practice management consultants at a special discount rate.

To get started, visit Red Cave's NCBA landing page, and start running your law practice like a business.

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