Who is calling?
Name, contact information, new lead versus existing client, and relationship to the matter.
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LAW FIRM INTAKE QUESTIONS
Your intake questions should help the firm decide what happens next.
A good intake is not an interrogation and it is not a random list of questions. It collects the information needed to identify the matter, evaluate fit, recognize urgency, and move the caller forward.
THE FILTER
If a question does not change the next step, ask why you are collecting it.
Shorter is not always better. Relevant is better.
THE CORE CATEGORIES
Eight buckets most firms should think through.
What happened?
Matter type and a concise description in the caller's own words.
Where did it happen?
Jurisdiction, county, state, court, or other location information when relevant.
When did it happen?
Incident dates, deadlines, hearings, notices, or other time-sensitive facts.
Who else is involved?
Opposing parties, related entities, prior counsel, or conflict-check information where appropriate.
What has happened already?
Filings, treatment, arrests, negotiations, notices, contracts, prior advice, or other relevant history.
Does it fit the firm?
The factual criteria your firm uses to decide what should be scheduled, reviewed, declined, or escalated.
What should happen next?
Book a consultation, transfer, escalate, collect more information, or capture a message.
DO NOT COPY SOMEONE ELSE'S SCRIPT
Taxonomy matters. So does judgment about your own practice.
A PI firm, criminal-defense firm, estate-planning firm, and business-law firm should not ask the same questions. The intake should reflect the matters you want, the facts that matter to your team, and the decisions your receptionist is actually expected to make.
- Separate required from optional questions
- Define what changes the routing decision
- Identify genuine urgency criteria
- Keep legal judgment with lawyers
- Remove questions nobody uses later
BUILD THE BRANCHES
The best intake questions are conditional.
01Start broad
Identify the caller and matter category.
02Branch
Ask practice-specific questions based on what the caller says.
03Recognize urgency
Apply defined escalation rules without pretending to make legal judgments.
04Advance
Book, route, escalate, or capture the message based on the information gathered.
Your intake questions are the blueprint for your agent.
FirmVoice builds the receptionist around your actual workflow instead of forcing your firm into a generic script.