A law firm client intake process flow chart has five boxes and two diamonds, and drawing it for your own firm is worth an afternoon because the drawing exposes the gaps. The boxes: capture the enquiry, send and receive the questionnaire, prepare the conflict search, engage or decline in writing, open the matter. The diamonds, where the flow branches: does a conflict or other bar exist, and does the firm choose to act. This page walks the chart left to right so you can draw yours, mark who owns each box, and see at a glance where enquiries currently leak.
Boxes one and two: capture, then questionnaire
The chart starts at every channel converging on one box: enquiry captured in structured fields, same day, whoever took the call. An arrow leads to the questionnaire box: sent automatically on capture, chased once after a set number of days, and marked returned when complete. Draw a small loop on the chase, because that loop is where real firms lose real enquiries, and putting a named owner on it is the chart's first practical payoff.
The first diamond: the conflict check and any other bar
From the returned questionnaire an arrow enters the first diamond: can the firm act? Inside it sit the conflict search across clients, former clients and adverse parties, plus any other bar, jurisdiction, capacity, subject matter outside the firm's competence. The no branch exits to a dated declination letter, with any known deadline flagged. The yes branch continues, and the chart should show the check's result being recorded either way, because the record is the point.
The second diamond, then the paperwork boxes
The second diamond is the business decision: does the firm want this matter, at what fee basis, with which lawyer? No exits to the same declination box. Yes flows to the engagement letter box, signed before work starts, and on to the final box: the matter opened with parties, area and fee basis carried over from intake without re-typing. When you draw your own chart, annotate each box with its owner and its normal turnaround; the annotations are where the flow chart becomes management.
Questions people ask about law firm client intake process flow chart
Why bother drawing the flow chart if we know the process?
Because the chart makes the leaks visible: the box with no owner, the chase loop nobody runs, the declination letter that exists in theory. Firms that draw it usually fix two gaps the same week.
Where does the consultation sit on the chart?
Most small firms place it between the questionnaire and the first diamond, or straight after the conflict clears, depending on practice area. Draw it where your firm actually holds it, and give it an owner and a turnaround like every other box.
Can the flow chart be automated end to end?
The boxes automate well: capture, sending, chasing, statuses, letter rendering. The diamonds do not: the conflict judgement and the take-or-decline call are the lawyer's under the profession's rules. Automate the arrows, keep the diamonds human.