Responding to inquiries from prospective clients is one of the most important factors to keep in mind for law firms.
In fact, according to research cited by the American Bar Association (ABA), a majority (74%) of prospects go with the first firm that responds to them. It’s easy to understand why once you realize the fact that prospective clients are usually reaching out during, or in response to, a very stressful event, making speed of response a potential competitive advantage.
If your firm is juggling paper or static intake forms, sticky notes, and a shared calendar to conduct business, it’s easy to lose track of new inquiries and to respond to them as soon as they come in. Fortunately, though, the “fix” is usually fairly straightforward, and it starts with finding the right legal case management software platform.
As you start comparing the different types of legal case management software, one thing you’ll quickly find is that no two platforms are created equally, and they certainly don’t all handle client intake the same way. At one end of the spectrum, you have individual, function-specific platforms that might serve their purpose well but don’t integrate in a way that helps your firm work efficiently and enables growth.
You’ll find a truly all-in-one case management platform in PracticePanther at the other end of the spectrum, offering features like intake, billing, accounting, CRM, and time and expense tracking, all within a single solution.
If you’re wondering whether a single platform can actually automate your intake process, from the first phone call to a signed engagement letter, the answer is yes. PracticePanther is built to do exactly that and help streamline and automate all workflows after that initial inquiry.
Why Is Client Intake Software for Mid-Sized Legal Firms So Important?
You may have noticed that responding quickly to prospective clients can make a big difference in converting them. Speed is key: a lead you contact within five minutes is “21 times more likely to convert,” according to research referenced by the ABA.
What’s the best way to improve your response times, then? As a small or mid-sized firm, you exist in a sort of middle ground. You’re probably fielding more inquiries than a solo practice, but likely don’t have a dedicated intake team the way larger firms do. Client intake software essentially fills that staffing gap without adding headcount.
This software also protects your bottom line, since consistently faster response times to new leads directly affect how many convert into paying clients. And as your caseload grows, that same software keeps your intake process consistent, rather than depending on whichever staff member happens to answer any particular call or email.
Is Standalone Client Intake Software for Law Firms Effective?
You’ve most likely come across plenty of standalone, intake-only legal software products, like Lead Docket’s pipeline management tools and Intaker’s front-end lead capture and visitor engagement services.
These tools exist for one simple reason: intake is genuinely difficult to get right, especially when fielding prospective client inquiries at all hours.
While dedicated attorney intake software can screen callers, log basic details, and route qualified leads to the right member of your staff, there’s one key catch. Most of these standalone tools were built to solve a single problem: catching leads before they slip away to another firm.
Intake-specific platforms also weren’t built to manage a case once a lead becomes a client. That means once a new client signs on, someone on your staff has to manually export them (or retype them) into a separate case management system. This requires (at least) two logins, two databases, and staff double-checking that nothing fell through the cracks between systems.
There’s a better way!
Are There Legal Case Management Platforms with Intake Features Built-In?
The disconnect that comes with using standalone intake software is one of the main reasons firms are increasingly moving toward legal case management platforms that handle intake and everything that follows.
Today, nearly three-fourths (73%) of firms use modern, cloud-based tools, with “practice management software seeing the highest adoption rates,” according to the ABA. The best case management software keeps everything together: the initial inquiry, the client’s signed retainer, billing history, documents, and communications.
PracticePanther is one of the few options built this way from the ground up.
Rather than layering separate intake functionality on top of its practice management tools, PracticePanther treats a new phone call or web form submission as the start of a matter, not a separate workflow you have to merge in later. That distinction matters, since every system your firm maintains is another place for information to get lost, another login your staff has to remember, and another invoice to budget for.
As legal technology adoption continues to climb, firms that consolidate their tools tend to have an easier time keeping pace, giving your firm yet another reason to adopt an all-in-one case management platform.
PracticePanther’s Automated Intake Features
PracticePanther’s automations streamline new client onboarding through custom intake forms, trigger-based workflows, instant data syncing, and document management.
- Custom Intake Forms: PracticePanther makes it easy to build your own branded, custom web forms with fields tailored to each practice area, so you’re never stuck using a generic form that doesn’t fit the matter well.
- Trigger-Based Workflows: Configure automated workflows that fire the moment a new intake form has been submitted, assign follow-up tasks, or notify the right attorney without anyone having to check for new leads manually.
- Instant Data Syncing: PracticePanther lets you automatically sync every intake form submission into the platform as a Contact, eliminating manual data entry and reducing the chance of errors.
- Document Management: Once a lead becomes a client, their intake information and related documents stay attached to the matter within the system, so nothing needs to be re-entered, re-uploaded, or re-organized by hand.
For a better idea of what all of this looks like in practice and the impact it can have on a firm like yours, hear from leading law firms that use PracticePanther every day. Slingbaum Law saved over 15 hours a week and completed cases faster by implementing PracticePanther at their firm.
PracticePanther: Streamline More Than Your Legal Intake Process
While intake automation is powerful functionality, it’s really just the starting point of streamlining your practice. Once a lead becomes a client in the PracticePanther platform, that same matter carries over into billing, document management, calendaring, and communication. And this can all happen without your staff having to re-enter a single field.
That’s really the difference between a tool that manages leads and a platform built to run a law firm. When most attorneys reach the point of comparing options to find the right software for their firm, the deciding factor usually comes down to how much manual syncing they’re willing to keep doing.
By choosing a platform that automates intake and everything that comes after, your team can reclaim time to instead spend on the work that actually requires their expertise. To see what this could look like for your firm, schedule a demo or start your free trial today!
