For criminal defense and DUI firms and their intake staff
Criminal defense intake questions for the first call
The questions a criminal defense intake should ask a caller about an arrest, a charge, a DUI or a warrant, in the order our own intake agent asks them, with why they matter to the firm.
First: whose matter, and whether a lawyer is on it
The agent does not ask what happened. It takes who the matter is about, whether a private lawyer is already on it, and the names before anything else.
- Do you, or does the person charged, already have a lawyer on this, other than a public defender?A private lawyer on this charge ends the call, politely. A public defender, or nobody, does not: the intake goes on and notes which.
- What is your full name? If the person charged is someone else: their full name, and how are you related?The names are read back.
- Is anyone else named in this: someone charged along with them, or the person it is said to be against?Read back. It is the other half of the conflict check, which runs on the caller’s name and the person it is said to be against, or else someone charged along with the person; never the person charged.
- What is the best number to reach you on?Read back. A caller calling from jail gives the name and number of someone outside who can be called, and the agent takes the urgent facts before anything else in case the line is cut.
- What is the best email for you?Asked after a transfer that did not happen too, and skipped only before a transfer.
Then: custody, the charge and the court date
One question at a time, only what the agent does not have yet.
- Is the person in custody right now?If so, where they are held, the jail and its city or county, and the booking number only if the caller has it to hand.
- What is the charge, as you understand it?In the caller’s words, such as “they said DUI”. It is never corrected or explained.
- When and where was the arrest?The date, and the city and state.
- What is the next court date, and which court?If the caller knows one, noted as said.
- A DUI: was the driver’s license taken, or a paper license given?Asked on a DUI only.
What makes a criminal case urgent
An urgent case goes to the live-transfer step once the lawyer question, the names and the callback number are taken, with the reason stated as a plain fact, such as “held at the county jail now”.
- In custody now, or a court date today, tomorrow or the day afterUrgent. A case that is not urgent finishes the list, then closes like any other case.
- A minor chargedWhoever calls for them is the contact, taken the same way, and the call closes with a promised callback.
What the intake never says
An intake takes facts down. It does not take the facts of the case, and it does not answer the legal questions a caller asks.
- What the person did, said, drank or had on them, or whether they did it. The agent takes the charge’s name and nothing of the facts.
- What a charge carries, whether they’ll be released, what bail will be or how to post it, whether charges will be dropped, whether to talk to the police or plead, or any deadline.
- Anything a caller tells it anyway about what happened: it asks nothing about it, never repeats it, and keeps it out of every field.
- A fee of its own, or a promise of representation.
- “We don’t handle that.” The intake cannot know what the firm takes; the office decides.
How Intake Gateway asks them
Intake Gateway is an AI intake agent for law firms. Criminal defense is off until you switch it on in your agent settings, and the agent asks these questions on a call about an arrest, a charge, a DUI or a warrant once you do.
- Off, someone calling about an arrest or a charge leaves a message for you.
- Someone hurt by a crime, such as an assault or a drunk driver, is taken through the injury intake instead.
- The conflict check against your Clio, if you connect it.
- A caller in custody now, or with a court date today, tomorrow or the day after, can be offered a live transfer, in the hours you allow.
- Any other call closes with a promised callback, or a booked or requested consultation if you connect a calendar.
- The intake in your inbox after the call, with “Criminal defense”, or “Criminal defense -- DUI”, in the first line of its summary.
- In English, and in Spanish if you switch it on.
One plan, $149 a month, every answered call included. First month free: a 30-day free trial, every answered call included, one trial per firm. Card on file, nothing charged before day 31.
First month free, then $149 a month
- Confirm your email: we send a link that signs you in, no password.
- Set up your agent: tell us about your firm, then call your number and hear it.
- Forward your calls to your number and add a card at checkout; the first month is free.