Let’s be honest—you can spend all the money in the world on marketing, build the most beautiful website, and dominate Google ads… but if your intake process is broken, you’re just pouring water into a leaky bucket.
I’ve worked with hundreds of law firms to know that intake is either your greatest growth driver or your most expensive bottleneck. It’s not sexy. It’s not glamorous. But it’s the frontline. It’s where clients are made or lost. It’s the moment someone decides if your firm is the one they trust with their life-changing case.
Too many law firms treat intake like a back-office function. They don’t invest in it, don’t train for it, and definitely don’t monitor it. But here’s the truth: Intake is sales (note that it took me years to accept this. Please don’t fight it.) And just like any high-performing sales team, your intake team needs structure, feedback, incentives, and accountability.
When someone calls your firm, they’re likely in crisis. They’re confused, overwhelmed, angry, or scared. And they have no idea who to trust. How your team responds in those first few minutes will define how they view your brand forever. That’s not an exaggeration. That’s reality.
Imagine you get in a serious car crash. You’re shaken up. Maybe you’re hurt. Maybe your spouse or child is hurt.
I understand that deeply. Unfortunately, I’m not only a personal injury attorney and Intake Expert, I’m also a victim. Please click here to learn more about my special boy, Ethan.
So what does one do? You Google a law firm (or happen to see a lawyer ad on tv), call the number, and the person who answers sounds half-asleep, distracted, or robotic. Are you going to trust them with your case?
Now flip it.
You call a firm, and someone picks up with warmth, clarity, and purpose. They listen. They validate what you’re going through. They ask the right questions and explain the process. That call is the beginning of a relationship. It’s the moment that potential claimant turns into a real client.
You can’t just hand someone a script and expect them to succeed. Great intake is about timing, empathy, tone, follow-up, CRM usage, lead tracking, and constant training.
Ask yourself:
If the answer is “no” to any of these, you have work to do. And that’s a good thing—because intake improvements create immediate ROI.
In one of our recent masterclasses, we walked through 20 specific intake scenarios and how the first 30 seconds of your call can change the outcome. Firms realized they weren’t losing leads because of cost or competition—they were losing them in the opening hello.
This isn’t a marketing issue. It’s an operational one. And it’s costing you six or seven figures a year, depending on your practice size.
You wouldn’t let a brand-new associate start trying cases without training, feedback, and supervision. So why do we let intake specialists handle every single lead with minimal oversight?
If you want to grow your firm, start with intake:
Make intake a profit center, not a cost center.
You want Google reviews? Better intake. You want more referrals? Better intake. You want less client drama down the line? Better intake.
When intake is strong, the client journey starts on solid ground. That initial trust carries through onboarding, treatment, negotiations, and—if needed—trial. Intake sets the tone.
If you're reading this and thinking, "Yeah, we need to fix this," here’s where to start:
If you care about justice, you should care about intake. Because the people who need you most? They don’t know the law. They just know how your firm made them feel when they reached out for help.
And when you outsource your calls to an off-site call center without access to your CRM or brand voice, you're gambling with your reputation. That’s why tools like CaptureNow exist—to make sure those first conversations don’t feel outsourced, disjointed, or disconnected. Your intake process should feel like your firm from the first ring to the last follow-up.
Don’t let that moment go to waste.
Fix your intake. Fuel your growth. Change more lives.
Questions? Contact me anytime at Gary@intakeplaybook.com.
Gary P. Falkowitz
Managing Partner | Founding Attorney
Falkowitz Law Firm, PLLC
Gary P. Falkowitz is the Managing Partner and Founding Attorney of the Falkowitz Law Firm PLLC‚ one of the premiere personal injury law firms in New York. Gary received his J.D., in 2005 from St. John’s University School of Law, where he was a member of the Senior Board of the Moot Court Honor Society. After law school, Gary served as an Assistant District Attorney with the Kings County District Attorney’s Office, where he sought justice on behalf of the Kings County community. Thereafter, he briefly represented hospitals and doctors from medical malpractice claims. During his tenure at one of the top medical malpractice firms in New York City, Gary realized that his services were needed by those individuals that did not have the resources to obtain the justice that they deserved. As a result, he decided to dedicate all of his efforts to representing those individuals who were seriously injured due to motor vehicle accidents‚ construction accidents, medical malpractice, product liability and, to put it simply, the negligent acts of others.
