Prospects and intake
The prospect pipeline, running an intake questionnaire in English or Spanish, website forms, and the seven immigration questionnaires.
For: OwnerStaff
On this page
A prospect is a person who has contacted the firm about new work. An intake is one run of a questionnaire for that prospect. Intake staff collect information; they never tell a prospect whether they qualify. Answers that need a lawyer's eyes raise a flag and route the intake to an attorney.
Where prospects come from
A prospect can be created from an inbound call, a walk-in, a website form, chat, a text message, a referral, an existing client's referral, an event, a partner, a marketplace or an imported lead. Prospects created from the same outside source and reference are never duplicated.
The prospect pipeline
The Prospect pipeline (Firm workspace, under Intake) and Prospects (Attorney workspace) show prospects as a board by stage. Reception works from Intakes / Prospects.
The stages, in order:
| Stage | Meaning |
|---|---|
| New | Just created |
| Contact attempted / Contacted | Outreach is under way |
| Prequalification in progress | An intake is running |
| Needs conflict screen / Conflict review | A conflict search is pending or awaiting an attorney |
| Eligible for consult | Cleared to book a consultation |
| Consult scheduled / Consult completed | The consultation |
| Offer sent / Engagement pending | An engagement has been offered |
| Engaged | Signed; a matter can open |
A prospect can also be parked as declined, not a fit, unresponsive, conflicted out or referred out, and later closed. Marking a prospect not a fit or referred out is an attorney's decision by default, and every lost prospect carries a reason.
Each prospect's page shows the person, language, status, urgency, practice area and owner, with Record attempt, Continue intake, Conflicts and Book consult.
Run an intake
You need an intake role (receptionist, intake specialist, client service specialist and similar).
- From a call, choose to start an intake, or open the prospect and choose Continue intake.
- The intake opens beside the call. It shows your progress, any risk flags, the sections of the questionnaire and one question at a time.
- Answer in the language the person speaks. Every questionnaire LegalBook ships is in English and Spanish.
- Questions appear and disappear based on earlier answers. Repeating sections (for example, each child) let you add rows.
- Submit when complete.
Every answer keeps its history: who recorded it, when, and what it replaced.
Risk flags
Some answers raise a risk flag that only attorneys see in full, for example a hearing within 14 days, a prior removal order, criminal history reported or a person in immediate danger. When a flag that needs review is raised, the intake goes to needs attorney review when it is submitted, and the prospect does not move forward until an attorney decides. See Attorney review and engagement.
Document triggers
Some answers trigger a request for documents (for example, a prior application leads to a request for its receipt notice). These become document requests the firm can send. See Requesting documents from clients.
The immigration questionnaires
LegalBook ships seven questionnaires for immigration firms, all in English and Spanish:
| Questionnaire | Used for |
|---|---|
| Immigration consultation intake | The first intake: 12 sections from who needs help to an attorney pre-consultation screen, with 14 risk flags |
| Family petition questionnaire | Family-based petitions |
| Adjustment of status questionnaire | Adjustment of status |
| Immigrant visa questionnaire | Consular processing |
| Naturalization questionnaire | Naturalization |
| Humanitarian case questionnaire | Humanitarian matters; every answer is restricted, and it does not ask for an account of harm |
| Before your appointment: what has changed | Updates before a biometrics or interview appointment |
The six follow-up questionnaires are sent to clients by the immigration workflow packs and completed in the client portal.
A firm clones a LegalBook questionnaire, reviews it, and publishes its own version. Publishing needs review and an attorney's sign-off, and is refused if any label is untranslated. A publish-time check also refuses scripts containing phrases such as "you qualify", "you are eligible", "we will win" or "guaranteed". Forms are managed in Configuration → Intake forms.
Website forms
Your own website can create prospects in LegalBook through a signed form submission. The firm sets a secret in its intake settings, and only submissions signed with that secret are accepted; until a secret is set, the route does not exist. See Webhooks and website forms.