Legal client intake software earns its keep across four stages. At first contact it captures the enquiry accurately: who called, about what, referred by whom, with what urgency. At the questionnaire stage it gathers the matter's facts and parties in the client's own words, before memory fades. At review it holds the would-be matter at a status while the firm runs its conflict check and decides. And at acceptance it opens the matter with everything already structured, or issues a declination that closes the loop politely and on the record. Judge any product stage by stage; most fail at exactly one, and which one decides whether it fits your firm.
Capture at first contact, before the details blur
The enquiry that reaches a firm by phone at four on a Friday is the one that gets lost. Intake software's first job is a capture form fast enough to fill during the call: names, opposing parties as the caller names them, the matter in a sentence, how they found the firm. Everything downstream, the conflict check included, is only as good as this first capture, which is why it must be structured fields and not a message pad.
The questionnaire does the gathering the meeting should not
Sent after the first contact, the intake questionnaire collects what the consultation would otherwise spend its first half hour on: the timeline, the documents held, the parties' full names and roles, what outcome the client wants. Answered at home, it arrives typed and complete, and the lawyer walks into the consultation already briefed. The firm decides the questions per practice area; the software's job is delivery, required fields and filing.
Hold, decide, and open with nothing re-typed
Between questionnaire and engagement sits the firm's decision: conflicts checked, the matter weighed, the fee basis chosen. Good software holds the intake at a visible status through that gap, then turns acceptance into an open matter without re-typing: parties, area, fee arrangement and the engagement letter's details all flow from what intake captured. Declinations get the same courtesy in reverse: recorded, dated and closed.
Questions people ask about legal client intake software
What should legal client intake software capture at minimum?
The parties by full name including opposing parties, the matter type and a plain-language summary, the referral source, urgency, and the documents the client holds. That set serves the conflict check, the consultation and the engagement letter at once.
Does it replace our practice management system?
No; it front-ends it. Intake runs from enquiry to accepted matter, then hands a structured matter onward. If your practice management system's own intake module does the four stages well, use it; the test is the same.
How do professional conduct rules constrain the software?
The rules govern the firm: conflicts, confidentiality, advertising, engagement terms. The software must make compliance easy to execute and record, and must never be treated as the thing that decides. Your bar's rules and your own judgement stay in charge.