What is an intake specialist at a law firm?

Hint: They’re just as important as lawyers

Your intake specialist is your firm’s gatekeeper. They’re responsible for helping the firm run smoothly by bringing in good cases and directing unqualified cases elsewhere.

Do you have a dedicated intake department? If not, your receptionist is probably drowning in calls, unsure which are qualified and which aren’t, meaning your firm is losing out on quality prospects.

Making a clear distinction between intake and reception is a surefire way to increase staff productivity and bring in more, better cases. It begins by developing a consistent process for handling intake, and EverSpark can help with that process.

Our brand-new ESIgnite legal intake training program works to identify your firm’s strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement. We help bring new intake staff onboard, train receptionists and intake specialists, and create processes to ensure success at your firm.

Sounds good? Shoot us an email and let’s begin the process together.

Intake specialist job overview

Intake specialists act as intermediaries between prospects and attorneys.

Their role is to vet prospective clients by assessing phone calls, emails, and contact forms, sending qualified leads on to the attorneys and (politely) turning down unqualified leads.

We know that intake specialists are gatekeepers, but they’re also investigators – They ask the hard questions, collect information, and pass along qualified leads to their attorneys.

Reception is not intake

At a high volume law firm, receptionists handle phone calls from opposing counsel, vendors, established clients, and everyone in between. This is a time consuming role and involves extensive knowledge of firm operations in order to make sure calls are connected to the right department.

As you can imagine, handling new client intakes while the phones keep ringing may be overwhelming for a receptionist. That’s where intake specialists come in. 

Intake specialists are able to dedicate more attention and time to potential new clients than a receptionist may be able to, as their job role explicitly handles these types of calls.

This not only frees up receptionist time, but ensures that each potential new client is adequately screened using the firm’s intake questionnaire.

Differentiating roles prevents burnout

I want to emphasize this above all else- it is going to put stress on your staff to have a receptionist play the role of both receptionist and intake specialist, or visa versa.

If your receptionist is playing the role of receptionist and intake specialist, your phone calls will not be answered with the same level of professionalism or urgency, leading to a fall off in client satisfaction.

Firm size and budget do factor into each team’s ability to keep a full time receptionist and intake specialist on board. Often, managing partners looking to cut costs combine receptionist and intake into one role.

While this may work for some law firms, it is not the best solution if you want to convert leads to clients and run a successful law firm.

Your firm may not have the capacity to hire a full time intake specialist right now. That’s okay – start with a part-time or freelance specialist and budget for in-house legal intake when you can.

Intake training is the best investment you’ll make for your firm this year

Intake is a critical position for law firms, yet many partners tack that responsibility onto their receptionist, someone who may or may not be trained in qualified vs. unqualified clients. That’s a problem if you want to convert leads to clients and run a successful firm.

ESIgnite legal intake training is intentionally developed to identify your firm’s strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement. We can help bring new intake staff onboard, train receptionists and intake specialists, and create processes to ensure success at your firm.

Our full-scale service addresses the most pressing concerns in the intake role:

• Creating scalable processes that work for firms of all sizes
• Fostering confidence in intake specialists to exceed their attorney’s expectations
• Bringing in more, better cases

Ready to get started? Email Mara Siegel, our in-house legal training expert at [email protected] and let’s begin the process together.