A personal injury intake service handles initial inquiries using criteria and procedures created by the law firm. Personnel may collect basic incident information, gather names needed for preliminary conflict checks, identify whether the matter falls within the firm's practice and schedule an attorney consultation.
The outsourced service should gather and route information. The law firm remains responsible for legal judgment and representation decisions.
Typical PI Intake
Potential fields include:
- caller/contact information
- incident type
- incident date
- jurisdiction/location
- involved parties
- whether another lawyer is involved
- basic treatment or injury information if the firm has approved those questions
- consultation availability
Collect only the information actually needed at that stage.
Intake Workflow
| Stage | Intake role | Lawyer role |
|---|---|---|
| Initial inquiry | Capture approved facts | Define questions |
| Preliminary fit | Apply objective firm criteria | Establish criteria |
| Conflict information | Collect names/data | Make conflict decision |
| Consultation | Schedule | Provide legal evaluation |
| Representation | Administrative support | Decide whether to engage |
ABA Formal Opinion 506 states that properly trained and supervised nonlawyers may assist with prospective-client intake, including gathering initial information and performing preliminary conflict-related work, while legal judgments remain subject to lawyer responsibility and jurisdiction-specific rules.
After-Hours PI Intake
Injury inquiries frequently occur outside law-office hours.
An outsourced service can:
- answer promptly
- complete the approved questionnaire
- schedule consultation
- send priority notifications
- route time-sensitive matters under firm rules
Scripts and Guardrails
Agents should avoid independently:
- giving legal advice
- predicting case value
- promising representation
- stating that a claim will succeed
- resolving legal conflicts
Metrics
Track:
- answer rate
- completed-intake rate
- consultation-booking rate
- show rate
- attorney acceptance
- signed-case rate
- source by retained case
Choosing a Provider
Evaluate training, script control, data security, conflict workflow, scheduling, multilingual capacity, after-hours staffing, recordings and integration with the firm's intake/CRM system.