Free Law Firm Client Intake Form Template and Best Practices

A strategically developed law firm client intake form can be the key to efficient case evaluation. When done right, it can expedite your legal client intake process and get more clients through the door. When done poorly, you may need to dedicate extra time to follow-ups and client communication.

Well-designed legal client intake forms can help answer routine questions and organize information in an easily reviewable format. If your form is integrated with your client relationship management (CRM) platform, you can automatically sync information to prevent manual data transfer errors.

In this article, we’ll share a downloadable legal client intake form template example, overview the best practices for maximizing value, highlight the benefits of using optimized forms, and discuss how dynamic digital intake forms can streamline the intake process for your firm.

Legal Client Intake Form Template

Legal intake forms can vary depending on the practice area and legal matter for each lead. Below, is a sample client intake form that law firms can customize and use for their prospective clients.

Note: You must be logged in to a Google account to make a copy of the Google Doc template.

What Should be on a Client Intake Form for Law Firms?

Client intake forms for law firms can include fields to collect basic contact information, case information, and financial information to help you determine whether your team can effectively serve them.

Details to include in your law firm client intake form include: 

• Name

• Address

• Phone number

• Email address

• Date of birth

• Social Security number

• Preferred contact methods and times

• Description of the incident, including date and location of relevant events

• Names and contact information of the involved parties

• Client’s legal history

• Insurance coverage that could be relevant to the case

• Employment status, salary, net worth, and other financial information to help determine their ability to pay for required services

Law Firm Intake Form Best Practices

Creating an effective lawyer intake form goes beyond the questions themselves. Clients want questionnaires they can easily access, understand, and complete without taking too much time from their day. Below are a few best practices to keep in mind when designing and distributing a legal client intake form.

• Avoid legal jargon and include clear instructions.

• Order question fields logically and limit to the most important questions to encourage completion.

• Routinely review and update the form based on feedback from clients and staff.

• Use clear calls to action on your law firm’s website to help leads easily find online intake forms.

• Create digital forms with accessibility in mind, such as using a form-creation tool that allows for adjustable font size or employs an acceptable color contrast ratio.

• Test digital forms for mobile friendliness to encourage form submission on any device.

• Consider using dynamic client intake forms that automatically adjust questions based on previous answers.

How Law Firm Client Intake Forms Improve Client Onboarding

Attorney intake forms can help lawyers quickly collect important client information, vet potential cases, and get started on viable cases. We’ll go over these benefits in more detail below.

Expedites Client Intake and Data Collection

Clear and comprehensive client intake forms for law firms can minimize the non-billable time needed to collect information. Clients can easily provide basic information themselves and on their own time, rather than having a legal assistant walk them through each question over a call. Forms can also minimize the need for follow-up calls or messages to clarify ambiguous information. 

Additionally, once you’ve collected preliminary information through the form, you can maximize client interview time based on what your firm learned. 

Minimizes Errors and Streamlines Case Assessment

Client intake forms can help minimize errors by providing more control over submissions and minimizing ambiguity. Rather than letting prospective clients manually enter all information, you can provide drop-down menus, checkbox options, and other pre-filled selections. Pre-set answer choices reduce the chances of misspellings, incomplete answers, or otherwise ambiguous or irrelevant information.

Creates Opportunities for Trend Analysis

Legal intake forms can provide valuable data on your firm’s prospecting or marketing process. For example, you can use forms to identify and track trends for the most in-demand services from your firm or the most common legal matters that result in leads. With this information, you can decide whether you need to hire more lawyers who specialize in those areas or if your staff needs more training to gain more relevant experience.

You can also analyze how clients learned about your firm and use that information to inform your budget. For example, you can reallocate your marketing budget to the social media platforms driving the most leads. 

Elevates the Client Experience

Client intake forms are your firm’s opportunity to demonstrate your respect for your clients’ time and the level of care you’ll take with their potential case. By providing a clear and structured way to share information, you can help alleviate anxiety by breaking down each request into manageable steps. 

A seamless client intake process also helps establish a professional and positive first impression with clients from day one. Moving through each intake phase with minimal follow-ups can build trust early on and help clients feel more confident in your ability to efficiently manage their case.

How Client Intake Forms Differ by Practice Area

Many practice areas require more specific case details to better evaluate cases. We’ll go over examples of this below:

Criminal Law

Criminal law client intake forms will request information regarding the incident and arrest details, including the date and time of the arrest, reason given for the arrest, and the arresting officer(s) conduct during the arrest. These forms may also include fields to share criminal history and related information, details around bail, and past medical and mental health history as it relates to the case.

Personal Injury

Personal injury client intake forms will need more information on medical provider information, insurance information, medical records, and accident photos to understand the nature of the injury and how the potential client may be compensated. Additional questions may vary depending on the incident. For example, car accident cases may ask for information about the involved vehicles and the weather and road conditions at the time of the accident.

Family Law

Family law client intake forms can vary based on the case. For example, cases involving children may require details of custody agreements, the children’s background and activities, and the financial status of involved parties to understand prior arrangements and the children’s well-being.

Cases involving married couples, like prenuptial agreements or divorce, typically require information about both spouses, including current employer, annual income, and assets, to understand the needs and challenges for each spouse.

Immigration Law

Immigration law client intake forms may ask for details about visas, background information for sponsors, immigration history, and criminal history. Collecting these details helps law firms understand the nuances of the client’s scenario, identify potential upcoming deadlines, and efficiently complete required forms on their behalf.

For instance, MyCase’s Immigration Add-On can help your firm easily prepare Smart Forms, collect all needed information from a single questionnaire, and auto-fill this information to all required forms. 

Benefits of Using Dynamic Law Firm Client Intake Forms

Dynamic attorney intake forms can tailor questionnaires in real time based on previously submitted answers. For example, if a potential personal injury client shares that they were injured at work, the form will provide questions related to workers' compensation and skip questions related to car accidents or other scenarios. 

Clients save time by only answering queries related to their case. For firms, the streamlined process can help move clients more quickly through the intake process and help them quickly convert leads into active clients.

Law firms can also embed these dynamic forms on their websites to enable self-service for clients and automate repetitive parts of the intake process. By eliminating the need to contact the firm for the form, clients can take more control over the first steps of their case and can complete the form when it’s most convenient for them. Your firm also benefits since the form can automatically log information into your CRM software, track completion status, and send notifications when clients submit a new form.

Our 2024 Legal Industry Report found that our customers captured 58,395 leads from MyCase’s customized lead intake forms embedded in their websites. Of those leads, 10,286 became clients—resulting in a lead conversion rate of 18%.

Below are the benefits law firms can experience by using dynamic lawyer intake forms:

• Create multiple law firm client intake forms based on practice area, legal matter, and other categories.

• Build branded forms with easily customizable questions and answer inputs.

• Use conditional logic to automatically hide or show questions as potential clients fill out the form.

• Sync intake form data with CRMs and other systems to save time and avoid manual data entry errors.

• Allow clients to enter new or updated details directly into the form, reducing issues around duplicate information or form submissions.

• Improve accessibility by providing the option to complete via desktop or mobile device.

Create Dynamic Law Firm Client Intake Forms With MyCase

When created, distributed, and completed efficiently, law firm client intake forms can make client onboarding more efficient for all parties involved. MyCase’s dynamic client intake forms can save firms time and improve the experience for clients.

The platform provides intake form templates to speed up form creation, allowing firms to focus on customizing what matters—questions, answer fields, and branding for a personalized and professional experience. MyCase also notifies firms about new submissions to ensure they never miss a potential client.

Schedule a demo of MyCase to see how dynamic legal intake forms can optimize your firm’s process and quickly convert leads.