What is a Legal Intake Specialist?
A legal intake specialist is an individual working for a law firm who is responsible for communicating with prospective clients and qualifying their potential case. A legal intake specialist is sometimes referred to as an intake coordinator, legal intake manager or client intake coordinator. The terms tend to be interchangeable, but they all perform the same objective for a law firm: servicing all of the firm’s potential clients and assessing their cases before they are consulted with a lawyer.
So why is a legal intake specialist so important, and what do they work on?
In a law firm, a legal intake specialist is responsible for answering the firm’s phone calls, logging web inquiries and handling other miscellaneous tasks that directly relate to the prospective client. They gather information about the potential client and their issue, qualifying cases to be accepted by the attorney before becoming the firm’s client.
An inexperienced legal intake specialist can end up turning away potential dollars to the easily distracted agency. If they are not properly educated on the topic of case assessment, the firm risks having cases that could have generated revenue turned away needlessly .
The legal intake specialist is responsible for being the gatekeeper of the firm. According to Amazon best-selling author, intake expert and speaker Amy L. Timms of CaseFuel, any law firm that works on a contingency fee basis could be losing 60-70% of its cases. Many law firms attempt to multitask and perform case intake and even paralegal duties at the same time; this is a huge mistake!
Being a legal intake specialist is a full-time job. An intake specialist is a brand ambassador for the firm. They need to be well trained, learn the ins and outs of the firm’s business and needs, and educate themselves on legal issues so that they are able to take the initiative when it comes to gathering information about the prospective client and their legal needs.
Consider all the skill sets needed for a law firm when selecting a qualified legal intake specialist:
An effective, successful intaker takes the role of heat shield, absorbing the heat from potential clients, before being transferred to the attorney. Additionally, successful intake specialists possess a good attitude and respect for the potential client and their needs.
The Key Tasks of a Legal Intake Specialist
For the majority of firms, the legal intake specialist is likely the first person who a potential client or lead meets from a firm. On a daily basis, the legal intake specialist will meet with potential clients over the phone or in person and begin to gather information on their case. For many clients, this may be their first experience with the legal system. It may be likely that they have spent weeks searching online or talking to family and friends about what legal steps they need to take. For this reason, it is important that the legal intake specialist is well trained to handle leads and potential clients with care.
The legal intake specialist’s responsibilities can depend on the size of the firm and the firm’s overall needs, however legal intake specialists generally fulfill several key tasks. These tasks include:
Initial contact with potential clients or leads, responding to online inquiries, or answering potential clients through chat functions on the firm’s website;
Collecting basic information on cases from potential clients to gather preliminary information for attorneys to review;
Gathering all necessary contact information and details on leads to better prepare attorneys for follow up meetings, phone calls or appearances in court;
Scheduling all follow up meetings with attorneys or fielding attorney calls to clients and leads.
Skills and Qualifications
Legal intake specialists must possess a strong command of the English language, with excellent grammar, spelling and transcription capabilities. They also must have advanced communication skills, both in person and over the phone. Legal intake specialists are charged with establishing initial rapport with clients, listening carefully and patiently, and tactfully guiding conversations toward the goal of setting up an appointment or phone call with a lawyer. This means having a clear understanding of the firm’s services and areas of practice, and the questioning ability to qualify prospects as potential clients. For cases that fall outside the firm’s service area, a legal intake specialist may refer callers to other attorneys or firms, while ensuring that follow-up calls are promptly scheduled for cases that might be a good fit. A clear and pleasant speaking voice is also essential, particularly for firms with multiple office locations. Here, the legal intake specialist must route calls to the correct office or department. Legal intake specialists also must have a general understanding of law and legal terminology to refer cases accurately. The ability to quickly and professionally navigate the Internet is also crucial, to perform preliminary research and legwork as required. Depending on the firm, legal intake specialists may be required to have experience with specific computer programs. If you’re interested in a local position, check with local court houses or government offices regarding upcoming job opportunities.
The Significance of Legal Intake in Client Relations
Jack Newton, the co-founder of Clio (a cloud-based practice management system for small and mid-sized law firms) and chair of the Legal Services Regulatory Lab at the Law Society of British Columbia, discussed the importance of legal intake in an article for ABA Journal. He uses the example of Uber, which he describes as "the world’s largest brand of transportation." He points out that Uber is not in the transportation business, but in the client management business. They have disrupted the transportation industry because of their focus on client relationships. Apple, which has grown to be one of the largest companies in the world, has focused on client experience. As another example, you can consider Starbucks, which has temporarily failed because they lost focus on the customer. Starbucks has always been in the client experience business, not the coffee business. In their retail outlets and even their advertising, they focus on the experience of their customers.
In order for a law practice to grow, it needs to focus on client management. Legal intake specialists are important to client management. They are the key to building relationships with new clients. They also create opportunities for other employees to be productive and to move ahead on other work. According to Callbox one of the top lead generation services for lawyers, "adding just one new legal intake assistant can give you back 30 hours of billable time a month. Half of this time can be spent on managing existing clients, while the other half can be spent in providing quality leads entrusted to you."
If you haven’t already done so, you should consider bringing on a full- or part-time legal intake specialist who performs legal intake exclusively and does not have outside legal duties. It’s critical for your law practice to provide the level of service that search engines, lead generation services, and lead conversion services recommend.
Preparation and Professional Growth
Companies invest considerable resources in front office or behind the desk training for attorneys and staff. Yet, the area of the legal intake specialist is often left to chance. This gap puts potential clients at risk, attorneys at risk, and employees shouldered with the burden of taking on a trained role with little or no support. There is no need to continue down this uncertain path.
Legal intake specialists are trained to help address many functional responsibilities in the law firm or legal department.
Training for a legal intake specialist can vary widely depending on the firm and its level of need. Many legal intake specialists have a legal background or are an attorney (not always the case in smaller firms) with years of experience in administrative functions. Because of the demanding 24/5 work schedule, systems need to have a 24-hour presence. Legal intake specialists often work shift hours or flex hours that can accommodate the law firm around the clock. They are trained to work with existing client management systems to obtain information on client or matters of interest . In this regard, they know how to do research, how to document the information and how to inform the appropriate people in the firm. They also know how to access technical billing requirements of insurance carriers and manage reimbursement authorization processes, disk requests, and value billing practice guidelines.
Many firms just presuppose that the primary intake staff member knows what they should do when they should it. However, most have never been instructed in a methodical way about what they could or should do. There are many opportunities for the full training and development of legal intake specialists. Resources such as ICMI.com offer an array of legal intake specialist training tools.
It’s also important to recognize the ways to improve the existing process. In order to maximize the potential of a legal intake specialist, they need to be involved in the case from the very beginning. By getting them engaged and involved from the start, you can add value to your clients and your firm. Using the feedback they provide to management, they can constantly refine the process and take steps towards creating bigger KPI gains year over year.
Challenges for Legal Intake Specialists
As the first point of contact for any law firm or legal business, it’s imperative that a legal intake specialist has the ability to instill confidence in potential clients, build rapport with them, and most importantly, gather essential information. And as you might expect, this job comes with its own set of challenges. Consider these three:
Gatekeepers
Have you ever been on the phone with someone who has no intention of connecting you with the right person? Perhaps they don’t want to deal with you, or they don’t believe your inquiry is legitimate. This can be frustrating, and the gatekeeper role can fall on the receptionist, the assistant, or even the janitor if they’ve been programmed that way. It’s important for your firm to understand that a gatekeeper may be able to keep you out for a time, but not forever. As long as you have patience, experience, and a kind demeanor, you’ll generally be rewarded with access.
Cold Leads
Finding new clients is hard work, and many leads will simply be cold. Rejection is tough, especially in a cold outreach situation, where you never had contact with the lead to begin with. So how do you build up the momentum you need to succeed, even on cold leads? The key is to understand the big picture and to develop a systematic strategy for following through with leads. By doing this, you can simultaneously build your confidence and your reputation.
High Pressure Voicemail
When answering legal inquiries, you will inevitably come across people under an incredible amount of pressure. For example, if someone has just suffered a personal injury, is about to get divorced, or has just been arrested, they are going to be emotionally charged about their situation. This requires empathy and tact on your part, and while this can be difficult to manage with a positive attitude all the time, it is essential when communicating with clients.
Future Predictions for Legal Intake
The process of legal intake has always been a challenge for firms. It is essentially the first opportunity for firms to convert leads into clients, but also remains the least-invested-in item on the firm’s marketing agenda. That situation is rapidly changing. New tools are being developed to help get clients to attorneys, address their issues and concerns, and answer questions clearly. They will help streamline the client intake process by automating and digitizing data. Many of these new processes can be run using AI.
They will also change the legal intake process. They’ll take the burden of answering questions from human beings, using AI to help with basic questions, evaluate responses, and direct customers to the right practice area and the right attorney or attorney team in the firm. This will help eliminate first-day legal intake errors, as well as help with potential client pre-screening. This will create a more effective process.
We see this as a boon to clients, as well. They will be able to interact with the firm as soon as they identify a need—helping them feel welcome, confident they’ve made the right choice, and letting them engage for as long as they need before starting a formal engagement.
Conclusion: The Indispensable Role of Legal Intake Specialists
Legal intake specialists serve a critical function in law firms and can significantly impact the firm’s bottom line. Using a combination of soft skills and technology, intake specialists increase efficiency in the legal sales process, help retain clients, and improve overall client satisfaction . Yet many firms still do not have dedicated intake staff or do not utilize the full range of intake tools available. With so much at stake, why would a firm risk failure in any part of the intake process by neglecting this function? By using key performance indicators, law firms can determine if their legal intake specialists are helping or hindering their business strategies.