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.
Tools that allow prospective legal clients to book consultations on your calendar. Example: Clients book appointments via your law firm’s embedded calendar tool.
Tax configuration fields in a CRM or billing platform that determine how taxes are calculated and applied to services.
The process of organizing, launching, and analyzing the results of marketing campaigns through CRM-integrated tools.
A structured legal intake process of gathering client information before onboarding. Example: Collecting personal, legal, and payment info for a new client inquiry.
The overall impression a client forms about your business based on every interaction, from initial outreach to matter closure.
The strategic approach and tools used to oversee, personalize, and improve client interactions throughout the lifecycle.
A prospect who has moved beyond the qualification stage and is now considered ready for onboarding or engagement.
Custom or automated reports generated within your CRM to provide insight into marketing performance, client behavior, and operational trends.
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.
The ability to create ad-hoc reports tailored to specific questions or data sets, often for decision-making or analysis.
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 logging of emails, text messages, calls, or notes within a CRM to maintain a record of all client and lead communications.
The final stage of the legal intake process, just before casework begins. Example: Client receives a welcome packet and uploads documents.
External services used to send physical documents or materials, tracked within CRM or case management systems.
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.
A lead scoring methodology that evaluates Budget, Authority, Need, and Timeline to determine sales readiness.
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.
A structured listing of services offered, including descriptions, fees, and relevant terms for quoting or packaging.
Tailored lists created within a CRM to target specific groups based on defined criteria such as behavior, location, or case type.
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.”
A tool or system that enables the automation of business processes by executing tasks based on defined triggers or conditions.
A structured set of steps or rules that guide recurring tasks or processes, often used in automation and workflow tools.
Connects your legal CRM to 5,000+ apps for automation. Example: A submitted form creates a new case in your project tool.
This is more than just definitions — it’s your blueprint to:
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Law Firm Partnership
Dissolution Services