CRM basics
What does a law firm need from a CRM for intake?
One place for every lead, stages that mean something, the source on every record, and follow-up that runs off the stages. What to set up first, and what a CRM isn't.
By Charlotte Thompson, Co-Founder, Ad Hoc Digital
Last updated
The short answer
If you read one part of this page, read this.
A law firm's intake CRM needs to do five things: catch every lead from every source in one place, record where each one came from, show what stage it's at from new lead to signed, run the follow-up for each stage, and report which sources produce signed cases.
It's not the same as case management software. A CRM runs everything before the client signs; practice management software runs the matter after. The two should talk to each other so nobody types a new client in twice.
Charlotte sets up intake CRMs during onboarding as part of our intake and follow-up systems, and everything we set up belongs to the firm, including every lead in it. We work with law firms across the US and Canada, and also in Australia and the UK.
CRM or case management
A CRM manages people who might hire you. Case management manages the work after they do.
Many firms try to run intake inside case management software, or run nothing at all. Either way, leads that don't sign right away disappear.
| Job | Intake CRM | Case management software |
|---|---|---|
| Holds | Every lead, signed or not | Clients and matters |
| Starts | The moment someone calls or fills a form | When the engagement is signed |
| Tracks | Source, stage, follow-up, booking, show, retained or lost | Deadlines, documents, time, billing |
| Sends | Instant replies, follow-up, reminders, review requests | Client updates, invoices |
| Answers | Which marketing produces signed cases | How the matter is going |
When a lead is marked retained, the CRM can create the contact in the firm's practice management software automatically. That handoff is one of the first things we connect.
Pipeline stages
Seven stages that mean something, and a rule for moving between them.
Stages drive the follow-up, so the right message goes to the right person. Vague stages mean vague follow-up and numbers nobody trusts.
New lead
Arrives with a timestamp and a source. The instant text goes out, and the person on intake gets an alert.
Contacted
A person at the firm has actually spoken with them. The gap between New and Contacted is your speed to lead.
Consultation booked
Confirmation and reminders start. See our guide to consultation show rate.
Showed
The consultation happened. Without this stage, show rate can't be measured.
Retained
Signed. This is the stage that ties a case back to its marketing source, and it's the one firms most often forget to mark.
Not a fit
Wrong practice, conflict, outside your area. Record the reason; the reasons tell you what your ads are attracting.
Long-term follow-up
Not ready yet. A slower nurture keeps the firm in mind; we've seen leads sign nine months after first contact. Our follow-up sequences guide covers it.
What it needs
The features that matter for a law firm, in order.
Most CRMs can do far more than a firm needs. These are the parts that change how many cases you sign.
- Every source into one place
Calls, website forms, Local Services Ads calls and messages, Facebook lead forms, chat and referrals all create a lead automatically. If one source lands somewhere else, it gets forgotten.
- Source on every lead
Channel, campaign and, for search ads, the keyword. When the lead is marked retained, you can see what brought them in. Our guide to marketing attribution covers how.
- Two-way texting and call logging
The full history of calls, texts and emails on one record, so anyone at the firm can pick up the conversation.
- Follow-up tied to stages
Moving a lead to a stage starts the right messages and stops the wrong ones. Taking over the conversation by hand stops automated messages immediately.
- Tasks and alerts
New lead alerts to a phone, callback tasks with due times, and a view of what's overdue.
- Reports a lawyer will read
Leads by source, speed to contact, contact rate, show rate, and signed cases by source, next to what the marketing cost. Our intake metrics guide defines each one.
Rules that touch the CRM
Confidentiality, conflicts and consent all live in the CRM.
A CRM holds prospective clients' information and sends messages in the firm's name, so professional and consent rules apply to how it's set up.
- Collect only what intake needs. ABA Model Rule 1.18 protects firms that take reasonable measures to avoid more disqualifying information from a prospective client than they need to decide whether to take the matter. Forms shouldn't ask for the full story.
- Capture the other party's name early, so a conflict check can happen before a lawyer hears details.
- Treat the CRM as an outside service storing client information. ABA Model Rule 5.3's comment expects reasonable efforts to make sure such services fit the lawyer's obligations, so check access, security and who can see what.
- Keep consent records. In the US, automated marketing texts need prior express written consent, and "stop" must end them. In Canada, the CRTC says implied consent from an inquiry runs for six months. The CRM should store when and how each person agreed to messages.
This is a plain summary for marketing planning, not legal advice. Check the current rule with your bar or law society.
Setup order
Set it up in the order the leaks happen, not the order the software suggests.
A CRM with every feature switched on and nobody using it is worse than a simple one used daily. This is the order we work in during onboarding.
Week 1: catch everything
Route every lead source in, with the source recorded, and turn on the instant text back and the new-lead alert.
Week 2: stages and follow-up
Set the seven stages and the follow-up for the first week after a lead arrives.
Week 3: booking and reminders
Connect the calendar, then confirmations, reminders and no-show follow-up.
Week 4: reporting and the handoff
Turn on the weekly report and connect retained clients to practice management software.
After that: feed results back to ads
Once retained is marked reliably, signed cases can be sent back to Google Ads so bidding learns from cases, not just calls. Our guide to tracking calls from Google Ads explains it.
A worked example
What a month in a working CRM shows, in a hypothetical firm.
This is an illustration, not a result. It shows the kind of answer a CRM gives once every lead and every stage is recorded.
Say a two-lawyer firm gets 80 leads in a month: 35 from Local Services Ads, 25 from search ads, 12 from referrals and 8 from Facebook forms. The CRM shows 70 were contacted, 40 booked, 31 showed and 14 retained.
Split by source, the story changes. Referrals booked and signed at high rates; the Facebook leads booked often and showed rarely; ten Local Services Ads leads were never reached because they came in at lunch. Without the CRM that's one number, "14 cases". With it, it's three fixes: cover lunchtime calls, tighten the Facebook form, and keep doing whatever earns the referrals.
What we see
Most firms we onboard already have a CRM. Few have one they trust.
In our client work, the usual problem isn't missing software. It's leads arriving outside it, stages nobody updates, and retained clients never marked.
Fixing that is unglamorous, and it's where some of the clearest gains come from. An intellectual property lawyer we work with stopped taking files he didn't want once we tightened his targeting and built a better intake, which depends on knowing what each lead actually was. A DUI solo turned over 60 percent of his leads into retained clients with intake that tracked every lead to an outcome.
If you're also choosing between doing this in-house and hiring help, our guide to hiring intake staff covers the people side.
Common mistakes
Where firms go wrong.
CRM mistakes we see in nearly every firm's first month with us.
Leads that never enter the CRM
Phone calls taken on a cell, forms going to email, Local Services Ads messages answered in the app. If it's not in the CRM, it can't be followed up or measured.
Never marking retained
Without it, nobody can say which marketing works, and budget decisions become guesses.
Too many stages
Fifteen stages that mean slightly different things get skipped. Seven clear ones get used.
Asking for the whole story on the form
Long intake forms collect information the firm may not want before a conflict check, and they cut how many people finish the form.
No consent records
If you text leads, you need to know when and how each one agreed to messages, and to stop the moment they say so.
Real results
What this looked like for real firms.
Two firms where intake built around knowing every lead's outcome changed which cases they signed and how many.
Identifying details are anonymized to protect our clients. Individual result, not a promise or prediction of any specific outcome for your firm.
FAQ
Questions lawyers ask us.
Straight answers to the questions that come up most.
Does a law firm need a CRM if it already has case management software?
Usually, yes. Case management runs matters after signing. A CRM catches and follows up every lead before that, including the ones who take weeks to decide. The two should connect so a retained lead becomes a client record automatically.
What pipeline stages should a law firm use?
New lead, contacted, consultation booked, showed, retained, not a fit, and long-term follow-up. Each stage should trigger the right messages and make one intake number measurable.
Can a CRM tell us which ads produce cases?
Yes, if every lead carries its source and every signed client is marked retained. Then you can see signed cases by channel, campaign and keyword, next to what each cost.
Is it safe to keep prospective client information in a CRM?
It can be, with the right setup. ABA Model Rule 5.3's comment covers outside services that store client information: make reasonable efforts to check they fit your obligations. Collect only what intake needs and limit who can see it.
How long does it take to set up?
The basics, every lead in one place with an instant reply and an alert, can be live in the first week. Stages, follow-up, reminders and reporting usually follow over the next few weeks.
Who owns the CRM and the data?
The firm should. Everything we set up for a client firm belongs to that firm, including the CRM and every lead in it. Ask anyone setting one up for you the same question; our guide to questions to ask an agency covers it.
Can you set up our CRM?
Yes. We set up intake CRMs, connect every lead source, build the stages and follow-up, and report the numbers with you. Schedule a consultation to walk us through what happens to a lead today.
Where we do this
The services this guide touches.
What this looks like when we run it for a firm, with a demo for your practice on each page.
Sources
Where these facts come from.
Official pages we read when writing this page. Platforms and rules change, so check the current version before you act on any of it. This is marketing guidance, not legal advice.
- American Bar Association, Comment on Model Rule 5.3
- American Bar Association, Model Rule 1.18: Duties to Prospective Client
- Google Ads Help, About offline conversion imports
- eCFR, 47 CFR 64.1200, Delivery restrictions (FCC)
- Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, CASL guidance on implied consent
Written by
Co-founder of Ad Hoc Digital. Leads social media and content, runs onboarding for new client firms, and is on the regular check-in calls with clients.
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