What Should a Law Firm Client Intake Form Include? (And the Questions Costing You Clients)

Search for a law firm intake form template and you'll find US checklists with 18 to 25 fields: date of birth, address, employer, income, the other side's insurer, a box to describe what happened. They're written as if every person who fills in the form is already a client. Most of the people filling in your form aren't. They're deciding whether to talk to you, and every question you add is one more reason to close the tab.

An Australian law firm needs two separate things, and most templates blur them together. The first is the enquiry form on your website or Facebook ad, which should be short and only ask what you need to call the right people first. The second is the intake call record, which is where the detail goes once you're talking to them. Getting the split right lifts enquiry numbers and the quality of the calls, and it keeps you on the right side of Meta's ad policies and the Privacy Act.

This guide covers both, by practice area, with the Australian rules that the US templates leave out.

What should a law firm client intake form include?

Name and mobile first, then email, the type of matter, where they are, the key date, whether they already have a lawyer, and a privacy line with a consent tick. The form should also capture where the lead came from, automatically and out of sight. That's the core, and it fits on one screen.

Name and mobile go first because people abandon forms partway through. On many form tools, including Meta's instant forms and most CRM-built forms, a person who enters their name and number and then drops off can still be called.

The hidden fields matter as much as the visible ones. They're how you find out which campaign produced each signed client, and without them a landing page lead arrives as a name and a number with no history. Our guide to tracking law firm marketing ROI explains how they feed the reporting.

What's the difference between the enquiry form and the intake call record?

The enquiry form is what the prospect fills in. The intake call record is what your team fills in during and after the first call. They're often treated as one document, which is how firms end up with 20-field website forms.

The call is where you learn the story, the injuries, the safety concerns, the charges, the money. People tell you far more on a call than they'd type into a box, and they tell it better.

How many questions should a legal enquiry form have?

As few as you can get away with, and every question should either rule someone out or change who gets called first. On a new account we start with zero to three screening questions, and only hard deal-breakers.

The test for each question is simple. Ask yourself, "If they answered this the wrong way, would we not call them?" If the answer is yes, it's a rule-out question and it can earn a place on the form. If you'd call them anyway, it's a ranking question, and it only belongs on the form if it changes the order you call people in. If neither, leave it for the call. Company name, ABN and "how did you hear about us" don't earn their place. Tracking tells you how they heard about you, and more accurately.

Once the account is running, adjust one thing at a time:

The evidence on form length is thinner than most marketing blogs suggest. Zuko, a form analytics company, has published its finding that "the number of form fields has no effect on conversion rate" across its data. Baymard Institute found the average online checkout had 11.3 fields when most only need 8, but checkouts are a different situation to a legal enquiry. We couldn't find a credible study on law firm forms specifically.

What does cost completions, consistently, is the type of question. Anything that feels invasive, needs a document to answer, or asks for an essay ("tell us everything that happened") loses people. Three easy questions will beat one hard one.

What should you ask for each practice area?

Three questions or fewer on the form, and the rest on the call. The form questions should be the ones that rule people out or tell you how urgent the matter is.

For personal injury, separate the claim types into their own forms if you can. A total and permanent disability claim through super needs different questions from a car accident, and one form trying to cover both ends up asking the wrong things. Never put an accident time limit on a TPD form, because it rules out valid claims, and say "claim on your super" rather than "TPD", which most people don't recognise. Our guide to personal injury intake has the screening script by claim type, and personal injury marketing by claim type covers the forms.

What can't you ask on a Facebook lead form?

Meta's advertising standards say lead ads must not ask for health information, criminal or arrest history, or financial information without Meta's prior permission. Financial information includes income, net worth and debts, as well as account and card numbers.

That rules out a lot of what US templates ask. "Describe your injuries", "Have you been charged with an offence?" and "What's your household income?" can all get a lead form rejected or an ad account restricted.

Meta's personal attributes policy also applies to the ad that leads to the form. Ads can't assert or imply things about a person's health, finances or criminal record, so headlines like "Were you injured at work?" are a risk. Describe the situation instead: "If something at work has affected your health, you may be able to claim." Our guide to Facebook ads for law firms goes through the wording.

Your website form isn't bound by Meta's policies, but the same principle holds for a different reason. Don't collect health or other sensitive details on a website form. Under the Privacy Act, health information and criminal records are sensitive information and generally need consent to collect, and a contact form is the wrong place to store them.

What do you need before you can run a conflict check?

The enquirer's full name (including any former names), the other party's full name, related parties like a co-parent, a company and its directors, an employer or an insurer, and the type of matter. Collect those before you hear the detailed facts.

The reason is that a conflict can arise before any retainer exists. The conduct rules on conflicts deal with former and current clients, and in Queensland the 2023 version of the rules says a "former client" may include a person who has "previously instructed" the firm. If the other side of a family law matter rings first and tells your lawyer the whole story, you may have a problem acting for the person who rings second.

In practice that means three things. Ask for the other party's name early in the call, ideally before the story. Tell enquirers on the form and the thank-you page not to send documents or detailed facts until someone has been in touch. And record the conflict check on the call record, with who ran it and when.

Which deadlines should intake screen for?

Every form needs a date question, because time limits decide which enquiries get called first and which you can't help with. The question is easy to answer ("When did it happen?", "When is your next court date?") and it's one of the most useful fields on the form.

The deadlines below are general and vary by state and circumstance, so confirm the rules that apply to your practice. This isn't legal advice.

A person who's three days from a deadline should be called before a person with three years to spare, whatever order they enquired in. If your CRM can flag short deadlines from the date field, the intake team sees them at the top of the list.

What privacy and consent wording does an Australian enquiry form need?

A short privacy notice at the point of collection with a link to your privacy policy, and a separate consent tick for follow-up texts and emails.

Under Australian Privacy Principle 5, you need to take reasonable steps to tell people about the collection "at or before the time" you collect their information. The notice covers who you are, why you're collecting the information, who you usually share it with, how they can access or correct it, and how to complain. On a form, that's one line on the last step:

"We'll use your details to respond to your enquiry. See our [privacy policy] for how we handle your information."

Don't assume the small business exemption covers you. It applies to businesses with an annual turnover of $3 million or less, but not to businesses that are reporting entities under the anti-money laundering laws, and many law firms now have obligations under those laws following the recent reforms. Most firms should simply assume the Privacy Principles apply.

For texts and emails, the Spam Act requires consent to send commercial messages, and the firm needs to keep a record of who consented, when and how. A tick box next to wording like this does the job:

"Yes, you can contact me by SMS and email about my enquiry. I can opt out at any time."

Keep that consent separate from the privacy line, and make sure every follow-up message identifies the firm and offers a way to opt out.

What should the intake call record capture?

Whether you spoke to them, how many attempts it took, the outcome, and the estimated value of the whole matter. These fields are what turn your marketing reports from cost per lead into cost per signed client.

The estimated value catches out more firms than any other field. If you put a $250 consult against a $30,000 matter, a great lead ends up looking like a poor one, and your ads get judged on the wrong number. A rough estimate beats a blank.

"Not a fit" and "spam" also need to stay separate. Spam is a dead number or fake details, and it's a tracking or lead source problem. Not a fit is a real person you can't help, and it's a targeting or offer problem. Lump them together and you can't tell which one to fix.

The call itself should be short: three to five light questions, five to ten minutes, and every lead marked as booked, not a fit, or still chasing. When someone isn't a fit, say so kindly: "Thanks for being upfront with me. Based on that, I don't think we're the right fit, and I don't want to waste your time."

The law firm intake form template

Use this structure for your website form, your Meta instant form and your call record. The form sections should fit on one screen on a phone.

Finish the form with a thank-you screen that sets expectations. If people aren't answering when you call, tell them who will ring, roughly when, and from what number. On forms where the next step is booking, say so plainly: "Important: final step. Your call is not booked yet."

The form is only half of intake. The other half is how quickly someone calls, which we cover in the 60-second rule, and the system that holds it all together, which we cover in the best CRM for law firms. If you'd like the forms, ads and intake set up together, that's what our growth system does.