The Evolution of Client Intake: How Technology is Transforming the Client Intake Process

The process of proper client intake has always been synonymous with operating a successful legal practice or law firm. Client intake is the process of gathering information about clients and evaluating their case viabilities. Over the years, this process has evolved to match the technology and preferences of clients and law firms alike. AI or artificial intelligence advancement has immensely impacted this sphere of legal practice. Therefore, any law firm that does not embrace the evolution of the client intake process will be left behind. Thankfully, at Law Ruler, we provide an innovative CRM system that helps you embrace the improvements in law firm client intake technology and get the most benefits for your firm. Read on to learn more about the evolution of client intake and how technology is transforming the entire process of acquiring and evaluating clients: 

The Old-School Intake Process

Before looking at the advancements in this process, it’s helpful to glance back at what law firms used to do to complete this process. In years past, law firms would depend on their employees and attorneys to manually note client intake information. Client onboarding was done manually as well in terms of looking at a client’s case and determining if the firm was a good fit for that legal matter. While completing this process by hand and then having to keep track of all this information seems almost archaic by today’s standards, there are still some firms today that have not fully adopted technology-driven law firm client intake and client onboarding. Consequently, their ability to keep up with client information and easily evaluate their situations could be much improved with the integration of a CRM system and the legal technology that comes along with software designed to make the intake process easier.  

How AI Has Altered the Client Intake Process

Thanks to the advancement in AI technology and its integration into CRM software, modern law firms have the ability to revolutionize their entire client intake processes. This means a firm can now automate and then expedite client information gathering, becoming much more efficient. AI tools also play a significant role in helping extract applicable information from sources like online forms, emails, and even client inquiries through its natural language processing (NLP) capacities. This saves firms resources and time while promoting enhanced accuracy and completeness with regard to client data.  

The Benefits of Using Technology to Modernize Law Firm Client Intake Processes

The following are some applicable advantages or benefits firms can expect to experience if they make the changes to embrace a CRM system like Law Ruler. It has many other benefits to be sure, but in the area of client intake and client onboarding alone, it can enhance a law firm immensely, creating a much more efficient intake process. The following is a list of just some of the many benefits a firm can expect: 

Time-saving 

As previously mentioned, technology has significantly increased the efficiency of the client intake process and automated it in many key areas. This effectively frees up the legal team and the attorneys to work on other matters relating to cases, leaving the mundane task of simply gathering information to the automated system. A client can fill out information on the site or send it in through other avenues, and it is then automatically entered into the firm’s system with no need for data entry or paperwork. This can free up a legal team to work on what matters most, winning cases for their clients, without them having to stop and enter information by hand. Of course, this does not take the place of attorney-client relationships that are formed throughout a case, but it is a good way to speed up the client onboarding process.  

Improved Consistency and Accuracy 

Another way that technology and AI algorithms benefit law firms today is through increased consistency and accuracy when gathering and entering client information. Humans will make errors; this is just a reality.  It doesn’t matter how skilled they are or diligent in their work. However, computers will never miss information or make a data input error that can ultimately negatively impact a case. Therefore, technology in the intake process can significantly increase client intake accuracy and information consistency throughout a practice.  

Increase Responsiveness 

In addition to being more accurate and saving valuable time for legal team members, technology and AI tools in the client intake process can also help improve the response time for a law firm. Entering everything by hand and having to go back and contact each and every client one by one can slow down the process of getting the client to the right person on a legal team. With AI technology, the system itself helps route clients to the appropriate legal team member. Then, that legal professional can get in contact with them much sooner because the process of getting to that point has sped up and become much more efficient. Overall, the use of technology-backed systems improves the client follow-up process immensely, showing clients they are valuable to a law firm and that they are important enough to merit a timely follow-up.  

Reporting and Analytics 

Legal software technology can also help determine how clients are being reached and give a firm powerful insight they can use to grow a practice. This means that a firm can find out, as part of the intake process, important data about what is driving most of the clients to their firm and what are the most effective marketing efforts they are currently employing. This is immensely valuable information that can help determine what is being done right and what could be improved upon marketing wise.  

Improves Content Creation 

Another way that technology has positively impacted the practice of law in a practical sense is through ChatGPT integration. This tool, along with AI Email Assistant, can effectively create email, marketing, and client intake content that will reduce the amount of manual writing a firm has to complete. This technology can be used to generate prospect marketing emails, templates, and to summarize data for the client onboarding process. Now it is worth noting that human writing is still superior for many types of content. However, when it comes to repetitive content and just simple information communication, this aspect of technology can make the process of content creation much easier. Again, this allows firm members to create other content or work on other tasks altogether instead of having to create standard informative content that is part of the marketing process and client onboarding.  

Contact us Today at Law Ruler

At Law Ruler, our CRM system is not just a management tool; it is much more. In fact, our software includes openAPI, which can integrate with many other forms of case management software. Overall, these technological advancements have revolutionized client intake processes throughout various law firms. If you are an immigration law firm, personal injury practice, family law, bankruptcy law firm, or any other kind of legal practice, contact us today to schedule a demo of our CRM software and see for yourself how this technology could make an immense difference in your entire customer management, including your law firm client intake and client onboarding processes.