For personal-injury firms and their intake staff
Personal injury intake questions for the first call
The questions a personal-injury intake should ask a new caller, in the order our own intake agent asks them on a full intake, by kind of case, with why they matter to the firm.
First: what happened, and whose names
Before any checklist, let the caller tell it. Then whether another attorney is already on it, and the names before the details, for the conflict check where the firm runs one.
- What happened?An open question first, in the caller’s own words. Anything on the list below they answer here is confirmed later, not asked again.
- Are you working with another attorney on this already?Asked of an injured caller, once the call is clearly about an injury and before any names. If the caller says, then or at any later point, that they already have an attorney on this matter, the intake ends there, politely: no more questions (and no conflict check, if it hasn’t run).
- What is your full name?Read back, and spelled where it could go several ways. With the other side, it is what the conflict check runs on, where the firm runs one.
- Who is this against?The other side depends on what happened: the other driver (or the business the vehicle belonged to), whoever owns or runs the place, the dog’s owner, the employer, the maker of the product. It is the other half of the conflict check. An insurance company is never put into the conflict check.
- What is the best number to reach you on?Read back as ten digits in three groups, so a misheard digit is caught. A number still wrong after two corrections is left out, never guessed: the office uses the number the call came from.
- What is the best email for you?Spelled back. No email is asked once the caller has said someone died or that they want a lawyer now; on a call that is urgent from the start, only if it is not put through to the firm.
Then: what happened, and the injuries
One question at a time, hung off what the caller has already said. Fewer on some calls: an urgent case starts with the first five, and after a death four facts take their place (below).
- When did it happen?Taken as the caller gives it, never a date they didn’t give, and the caller is never told whether they are still in time. If what they say makes it clearly too late, the timing is flagged for the attorney and no consultation time is offered.
- Where, by city and state?Where it happened, for the attorney.
- What happened, in your own words?The caller’s words, not a summary of them.
- Who do you believe is responsible, and why?Who the claim would be against, and what the caller saw.
- Was anyone hurt, and who?Who the injured person is. The injury questions that follow are for a hurt adult; a child’s injuries are taken only as volunteered, with no follow-up.
- Have you seen a doctor: the ER, urgent care, your own?Asked on its own, like the treatment questions after it: two facts are two turns, even joined by “or”.
- Are you still being treated?Whether treatment is ongoing.
- Did you stay in the hospital?A hospital stay, asked on its own.
- Did you have surgery?Surgery, asked on its own.
- Are you missing work because of this?Acknowledged before anything else is asked: it is a check on how the caller is doing, not only a fact to log.
- Are you still in pain?Acknowledged too, then taken as fact; never a word about what it might be worth.
- Has an insurance company contacted you?Contact alone is not the sign. An adjuster already pushing for a quick settlement or a recorded statement is the clearest sign a case could be settled cheaply before an attorney sees it.
- Did you give a recorded statement?Only if an insurer has been in touch. An adjuster pushing for a statement or a quick settlement makes it an urgent case: the agent can offer a live transfer to the firm, in the hours the firm allows.
- Were you offered money?Asked whether or not an insurer has been in touch. An offer to settle quickly makes the call urgent in the same way.
- Was a government body involved in any way: a city, a county, the state, a public school, transit or a public hospital?Asked if it has not come up. Any government body makes it an urgent case: the agent can offer a live transfer to the firm, in the hours the firm allows. The caller is never told why it matters, and never given a deadline.
By kind of case
Then only the questions for what happened to this caller, both blocks if two fit.
- A crashWho was driving what; whether the police came; whether a report was filed; whether anyone was cited, and who; the other side’s insurance.
- A fall, or an injury on someone’s propertyWho owns or runs it; what caused it; whether anyone knew about it, or how long it had been like that; any incident report; photos; whether the place has cameras.
- A dog bite or another animalWho owns it; where it happened; whether animal control or the police came; whether it had done this before.
- An injury at workThe employer; whether they reported it, and when; whether a workers’ compensation claim is open; whether anyone other than the employer was involved: another company, a contractor, a driver, someone else’s equipment.
- A defective productWhether they still have it, asked early; what it is, make and model; where and when they got it; whether it had been repaired or altered.
Five kinds to take down and leave to the attorney
The agent takes these down, with the kind named in the first line of the email’s summary, and never books them a time. An urgent one can first be offered a live transfer, in the hours the firm allows. No decline, no qualifying questions and no assessment, and the caller is never told whether they have a claim.
- Medical care that went wrongAlso: which provider and facility, roughly when, and when they first realised something was wrong. Never whether the care was negligent.
- A government body on the other sideNever a notice deadline, even when the caller asks.
- Someone who diedIn place of the questions on what happened and the injuries, four facts: who died, when, what happened, and how they were related, after the caller’s name, the other side and a callback number. Never a question about injuries or treatment, and nothing more taken from a bereaved caller.
- An injured child, or an adult who can’t speak for themselvesWhoever calls for them is the contact. A child’s injuries only as the caller volunteers them, with no follow-up.
- An injury at work, unless the firm has switched workers’ compensation onNever whether it is a workers’ compensation matter or an injury case. A firm that switches workers’ compensation on has it taken like any other case.
What the intake never says
An intake takes facts down. It does not answer the legal questions a caller asks: it says who will, and puts a question about a deadline in the call’s summary.
- Whether the caller has a case, or what it is worth.
- Any deadline, or whether the caller is still in time.
- 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 built only for personal injury. It answers your firm’s line when you can’t and asks these questions on a new injury call: the ones that fit what happened, and fewer in some cases, such as a death, an urgent case put through to you, a caller who wants a lawyer now, a conflict your Clio finds, or a caller who already has a lawyer.
- One question at a time, off what the caller has already said, with the answer read back where a name or number has to be exact.
- Urgent cases can be offered a live transfer, in the hours you allow; otherwise a promised callback, or a booked or requested consultation if you connect a calendar, never for the five careful kinds or a few other cases.
- The conflict check against your Clio, if you connect it.
- The intake in your inbox after the call, with the kind named in the first line of its summary when it is one of the five careful kinds.
- 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
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