AI client intake for law firms
AI client intake asks every new enquirer the same structured questions, whether they phone, fill in a web form or send an email, and delivers one tidy record to a solicitor. It captures matter type, parties, key dates and urgency. Dates matter: a family law property application is due within 12 months of a divorce order taking effect.
What goes into an intake record
A good intake record is short enough to read in a minute and complete enough that the solicitor does not need to ring back just to ask basic questions. This is the default field set, which each firm edits:
| Field | Why it is collected | Who acts on it |
|---|---|---|
| Enquirer’s name, phone, email and preferred contact time | So the right person can reply the right way | Intake staff |
| Area of law and a two or three sentence description | Routes the enquiry to the right practice group | Intake staff or a solicitor |
| Names of the other parties, plus related companies or trusts | Lets the firm run its conflict check before anyone hears the detail | A person at the firm |
| Key dates (separation, divorce order, dismissal, injury, death, grant of probate, settlement) | Lets a solicitor spot a time limit that may be close | A solicitor |
| Urgency in the enquirer’s own words | Separates “need help this week” from “thinking about it” | Intake staff |
| Any existing lawyer, and whether they still act | Avoids approaching someone who is represented | A solicitor |
| How they heard about the firm | Shows which referral sources and campaigns bring work | The practice manager |
How intake works across phone, web and email
- Phone. The AI receptionist asks the intake questions in conversation, confirms spellings of names, and reads back the key facts before ending the call.
- Web form. The same questions appear on the website enquiry form, with free text kept short. Long narratives are discouraged because they arrive before the conflict check.
- Email. An enquiry that lands in a shared inbox is read by the inbox automation, which pulls out the same fields and asks the enquirer by reply for anything missing, using wording the firm has approved.
- One record. Whatever the channel, the result is a single intake record in the same layout, sent to the intake mailbox or created in your system.
- Human review. A person runs the conflict check, reads the record, and decides whether the firm can help. Only then does a solicitor contact the enquirer about the substance.
- Follow-up. If the firm declines, the enquirer gets a polite reply your firm has written, and the record is closed.
Parties and the conflict check
Rules 10 and 11 of the Australian Solicitors’ Conduct Rules deal with conflicts concerning former clients and current clients. A firm cannot check for a conflict until it knows who is on the other side, so the intake asks for the other party’s full name early, along with former names, business names and any related company or trust the enquirer mentions.
The AI does not run the check and does not tell an enquirer that there is or is not a conflict. It collects the names, spells them back, and stops the conversation from going deeper into the facts until a person at the firm has checked. That protects the firm from receiving confidential information from someone it may end up acting against.
Time limits the intake records for a solicitor
The intake never calculates a limitation date or tells an enquirer they are in or out of time. It records the dates, and for matter types with short limits it marks the record for priority review by a solicitor. Examples of limits that make the dates worth asking for:
| Matter | Time limit | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Property or maintenance after a marriage | 12 months from the divorce order taking effect | Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia |
| Property after a de facto relationship | 2 years from the breakdown of the relationship | Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia |
| Unfair dismissal | 21 days from the dismissal | Fair Work Ombudsman |
| Family provision claim on a Victorian estate | 6 months from the grant of probate or letters of administration | Victoria Legal Aid |
The family law limits come from the Family Law Act 1975, unfair dismissal from the Fair Work Act 2009 and Victorian family provision claims from the Administration and Probate Act 1958. Courts can sometimes allow late applications, which is one more reason the call is a solicitor’s to make. Personal injury, workers compensation and transport accident claims each have their own limits and notice rules, so for those the intake records the date of the injury and when it was reported.
What intake does not do
- It does not accept a matter, confirm that the firm acts, or create a retainer.
- It does not quote fees, unless the firm writes fixed wording, such as the cost of a first consultation, for it to read out.
- It does not assess whether a claim is strong or weak.
- It does not verify identity. Your firm’s own process does that when the matter opens.
- It does not decide urgency for legal purposes. It records what the enquirer says and applies your rules for who gets told.
Where the intake data goes
The simplest option is a formatted email to the intake mailbox in Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace. Where a firm uses HubSpot, Salesforce or Zoho to track enquiries, records can be created there. For your practice management or CRM system, the record can be created through its API where it has one; ask during scoping whether yours does. Whichever destination you choose, decide who can see intake records before the conflict check is cleared, and keep that group small.
Collecting only what the firm needs is also a privacy point. The OAIC’s guidance on AI products recommends minimising the personal information that goes into them, and our guide to Privacy Act duties when a law firm uses AI explains the principles that apply.
Who intake automation suits
It suits practices that receive a steady flow of first enquiries from people they have never met: family law, wills and estates, employment and personal injury firms. It also helps where intake is split across a receptionist, a web form nobody owns and a general inbox, because all three end up in one format. A firm that sees a few referred clients a month may find the AI receptionist on its own is enough.
Getting started
Phone intake runs on the same plans as the receptionist, from $299 per month on Starter or $599 per month on Professional, which adds booking and SMS alerts. Web form and inbox intake are scoped with the email automation and quoted separately. Costs for each option are compared on what a virtual receptionist costs a law firm. Send us your current intake form or checklist and we will show you the questions turned into a call script: request a demo and quote.