Law Firm Phone Intake Checklist: Before the Attorney Handoff
Prepare a useful first contact while keeping professional decisions with the firm.
A working checklist for legal intake teams using RevSystems: distinguish a new inquiry, configure a focused screen, and prepare staff for the next conversation.
This checklist is for the people who prepare a firm’s initial phone contact before staff or an attorney takes over. Its job is to distinguish a new inquiry, establish basic fit with the firm’s stated services, and prepare a useful next action. It is not the firm’s complete legal intake process.
The documented legal recipe starts with an inquiry about a new matter. An existing client asking for case status remains in reception rather than becoming a new lead simply because they mention a legal subject. Court, vendor, and employment calls also need their appropriate reception handling.
02
Three screening questions.
For one possible configuration, adapt the documented new-matter recipe below. Use your firm’s approved practice descriptions and service-area wording. These are the three automated criteria, with entry handled separately.
Is this about a new matter rather than an existing case?
Why it matters: a new consultation inquiry and an existing-client update have different purposes. Do not send an ongoing client through a sales qualification script by default.
Does the matter concern one of the services listed by the firm?
Why it matters: a caller’s stated service need can establish initial practice fit. It does not determine whether the case has merit or whether the firm should accept it.
Did the matter occur in a state the firm serves?
Why it matters: compare the caller’s reported location with the firm’s configured service area. This question does not establish jurisdiction, venue, or an attorney’s ability to represent the caller.
03
Prepare staff separately.
Use this as a staff preparation sheet, not as additional automated qualification criteria. Contact collection and message preparation are distinct from the two-or-three-criterion product limit.
Prepare the approved practice-area and service-area descriptions before writing entry topics or pass rules.
For a permitted contact/message step, establish a name, callback route, and a short reason for contact. Avoid asking for a detailed case history when a brief routing description will do.
Identify the intended staff recipient and the response your firm has actually prepared. Do not promise an attorney is available unless the configured action can support that handoff.
If the caller mentions a date or urgency, preserve it as caller-reported information for staff. Do not calculate a deadline or decide whether waiting is safe.
Leave conflict review, case evaluation, representation decisions, and legal advice to the firm’s established professional process.
04
Follow a new inquiry.
Synthetic example: A caller confirms a new matter, identifies one of the firm’s listed services, and reports that it occurred in a state the firm lists as served. A clear greeting response starts the three criteria; that response is not an extra criterion. If all three answers meet the configured rules, the result is qualified for the initial inquiry screen.
The documented legal example uses a prepared appointment followed by message taking as a backup. If booking cannot complete and message taking is ready, that backup can preserve a request for staff. A successful booking is one completed action; the system does not promise a second successful action on the same result.
Synthetic staff-review note: New matter; listed practice area reported; reported location matches the configured area; qualified screening result; appointment unavailable; message saved for intake staff. This is a useful summary to look for, not a guaranteed field layout or a conflicts-clearance record.
Hear two workplace inquiries.
A fictional employment-law firm asks about a new matter and where the workplace issue happened. One inquiry concerns California; the other concerns Nevada.
Both callers describe a new employment matter. The example firm covers California, so the conversations discuss different next steps. Neither conversation accepts a case or provides legal advice.
Listen for possible wording, not a recording of live screening or a measure of response time.
A workplace inquiry in California
1:00 · RevSystems and a fictional caller
Scripted example with AI voices and fictional details. No live actions were performed.
The caller’s situation: The caller reports a new employment matter involving a workplace issue that happened in California.
What you’ll hear: The conversation moves from the initial questions to discussing a consultation, with a message for intake staff if an appointment cannot be booked.
About this example: No appointment or message was created. The firm has not accepted a case, checked conflicts, assessed deadlines, or agreed to representation. No legal advice was given.
Read the transcript
RevSystems: Thank you for calling Northwind Legal. Are you contacting us about a new matter?
Caller: Yes. I'm calling about a workplace issue and would like to ask about a consultation.
RevSystems: Is this about a new matter rather than an existing case?
Caller: Yes. I don't have an existing case with your firm. This is a new inquiry.
RevSystems: Does your inquiry concern employment law, which this firm lists as a service?
Caller: Yes. It's an employment matter, and I'm looking for an initial conversation.
RevSystems: Did this workplace issue happen in California?
Caller: Yes, it happened in California.
RevSystems: Your answers fit the initial inquiry screen. That doesn't mean the firm has accepted your case or completed a conflict check. Would you like to look at a consultation?
Caller: Yes. I'd like to discuss whether the firm can help.
RevSystems: The prepared next step is an appointment, with a message for intake staff if booking can't be completed.
Caller: That works for me. I understand an attorney still needs to review the matter.
A workplace inquiry outside California
0:59 · RevSystems and a fictional caller
Scripted example with AI voices and fictional details. No live actions were performed.
The caller’s situation: The caller reports the same kind of new employment matter, but says the workplace issue happened in Nevada.
What you’ll hear: The conversation explains that Nevada is outside this example firm’s California coverage and discusses leaving a message for intake staff.
About this example: No message was saved or delivered. The conversation makes no legal assessment, conflict check, representation decision, booking, or handoff.
Read the transcript
RevSystems: Thank you for calling Northwind Legal. Are you contacting us about a new matter?
Caller: Yes. I'm calling about a workplace issue and would like to ask about a consultation.
RevSystems: Is this about a new matter rather than an existing case?
Caller: Yes. I don't have an existing case with your firm. This is a new inquiry.
RevSystems: Does your inquiry concern employment law, which this firm lists as a service?
Caller: Yes. It's an employment matter, and I'm looking for an initial conversation.
RevSystems: Did this workplace issue happen in California?
Caller: No. It happened in Nevada.
RevSystems: Nevada is outside this firm's configured service area, so this inquiry doesn't fit the initial screen. I can help prepare a message for intake staff.
Caller: Okay. I'd like the staff to know why I called.
RevSystems: That message would be a request for follow-up. It wouldn't mean the firm has accepted the matter, and this call isn't a legal assessment.
Caller: Understood. I'd like to ask the staff about the inquiry.
05
Handle the contrast.
Consider an existing client asking when their attorney will call back. The caller has not made a new-matter inquiry. Keep that contact in reception unless an applicable entry method was deliberately configured. A topic phrase should not turn every mention of a practice area into qualification.
For a new inquiry that enters screening but fails a configured criterion, the not-qualified path may use prepared booking or message taking; it cannot use live handoff. A qualified path may use prepared handoff, booking, or message taking. These are two result paths, not a different transfer tree for every practice area.
The screening result is not a decision about case merit, a conflict check, a deadline assessment, or an offer of representation. A not-qualified result is not legal advice about the caller’s options.
06
Rehearse the boundaries.
Save exactly two or three complete criteria; this worked configuration uses three. Test greeting, direct-request, and topic entry into the same sequence.
Run a matching new inquiry and an existing-client status request. Confirm they are not treated as the same lead.
Try a related but unsupported matter and a vague request for information. Inspect whether an entry was justified by the configured topic.
Test a failing criterion and verify the prepared not-qualified action; do not offer live handoff on that result.
Try an uncertain location, an interrupted call, and a caller mentioning a deadline. Review what was actually established and recorded without assuming professional decisions were made.
Make the primary action unavailable and check the prepared backup in Inbox. Confirm the selected capabilities are enabled and each result has at least one action.
Product references
Check the setup details.
Use the current product documentation to prepare the capabilities your next step depends on.
