Win More Clients With Smarter Legal Intake & CRM

Ever feel lost in all the jargon around legal intake and CRM systems? You’re not alone — and you’re in the right place.

This isn’t your average glossary. It’s your cheat sheet to turning leads into loyal clients, automating your workflow, and growing a modern, efficient law practice.

Made for lawyers, intake staff, and legal marketers who want to ditch the chaos and scale with confidence.

A-Z Legal CRM & Intake Glossary

Tools that allow prospective legal clients to book consultations on your calendar. Example: Clients book appointments via your law firm’s embedded calendar tool.

A structured legal intake process of gathering client information before onboarding. Example: Collecting personal, legal, and payment info for a new client inquiry.

Ensures the firm avoids conflicts of interest by not representing opposing parties. Example: CRM conflict check flags a previous consultation with the opposing party.

Determines if a lead meets your law firm’s criteria for legal representation. Example: A personal injury firm qualifies leads by type of accident and liability.

CRM form fields tailored for specific legal case data collection. Example: Adding “Injury Date” or “Court Date” for personal injury case tracking.

Pre-set legal workflows are designed to match your law firm’s intake process. Example: A new lead triggers email, SMS, and task assignments automatically.

A real-time visual of your legal CRM performance and intake activity. Example: View how many legal leads are in each stage of your intake pipeline.

Smart forms that adjust questions based on answers to personalize legal intake forms. Example: Selecting “Divorced” triggers fields about child custody.

The % of legal leads who become paying clients. Example: 20 of 50 leads become clients, resulting in a 40% conversion rate.

Links law firm phone inquiries to marketing sources. Example: A call from Google Ads is tracked via a dynamic number.

% of legal leads who schedule a legal consultation. Example: 50 out of 120 leads book consultations — a 41.6% booking rate.

The final stage of the legal intake process, just before casework begins. Example: Client receives a welcome packet and uploads documents.

Clients can sign legal documents digitally without office visits. Example: Signing retainer agreements from a smartphone.

The multi-step journey a legal lead follows before retaining. Example: Downloads guide → gets emails → books a consultation → signs retainer.

CRM-scheduled follow-up actions for leads who haven’t responded. Example: A reminder is set to email a no-show lead within 24 hours.

Your visual legal sales funnel shows lead status across stages. Example: “Initial Inquiry” → “Consult Scheduled” → “Signed Retainer.”

A potential legal client who has expressed interest but not hired the firm. Example: Fills out a form for personal injury consultation.

Assigns value to leads based on the likelihood of retaining legal services. Example: A lead who books a consultation scores higher than one who only visited the website.

Keeping potential legal clients engaged until ready to retain. Example: Weekly legal tips sent via email to estate planning leads.

Adds a 24/7 live chat to your law firm website to convert visitors into legal leads. Example: A site visitor asks a legal question and becomes a qualified lead.

Organizing and tracking legal case details after intake. Example: Assigning a criminal case to an attorney with all relevant documents linked.

Tracks all marketing touchpoints before a lead retains. Example: Sees Facebook ad → visits website → books a consult.

Automated outreach when a lead misses a legal consultation. Example: A follow-up text with a reschedule link.

A lead who contacted your law firm but hasn’t been retained yet. Example: Called your office about immigration law, but hasn’t signed a retainer.

Visualize where legal leads are in the client intake process. Example: Columns like “New Inquiry,” “In Review,” “Retained.”

A legally binding contract between your firm and a client. Example: Retainer outlines fees and scope of representation.

Automatically send retainer agreements and payment links. Example: After a consultation, the system sends the paperwork.

Identifies how a legal lead discovered your law firm. Example: Lead source is tagged “Google Organic.”

A series of automated emails/texts to nurture legal leads. Example: A 3-day follow-up sequence for personal injury cases.

Online forms that sync with your legal CRM system. Example: Intake form auto-fills client record with key case info.

Assign legal intake and follow-up tasks to staff. Example: A paralegal is assigned to gather documents post-retainer.

Automated messages are sent over time to convert legal leads. Example: A 5-part email series for car accident leads.

Label and sort leads for targeted law firm follow-up. Example: Use tags like “Family Law,” “Bankruptcy,” or “Appeals.”

Connects your legal CRM to 5,000+ apps for automation. Example: A submitted form creates a new case in your project tool.

Why This Legal Glossary Matter

This is more than just definitions — it’s your blueprint to:

  • Optimize your legal CRM system
  • Convert more legal leads into clients
  • Increase your law firm’s intake efficiency
  • Enhance legal client experience
  • Automate and scale your law firm operations

Bookmark this page and keep mastering legal intake success.