Client intake and onboarding for law firms
A role-based scorecard from enquiry to opened matter. Use it when administrators own intake steps but decisions and handoffs are blurred, when accepted matters arrive incomplete, or when a firm wants more work but intake and follow-up are uneven.
Boundary: this does not decide whether to accept a client or matter and does not replace regulatory checks.
Operational guidance, not legal advice. No confidential information is needed. Original PDF editions (all v1, 18 Aug 2026, now combined into this single maintained page): Client Intake and Onboarding for Legal Administrators, Client Onboarding Checklist and Law Firm Client Intake Growth Workbook.
1. Frame the decision
Review the full route from enquiry to accepted, opened and understood matter.
Specific focus - pick the line that matches your situation:
- Intake operations: make checks, escalation and system updates explicit.
- Onboarding: confirm engagement information, checks, client actions and ownership.
- Intake-led growth: measure qualified enquiries, complete information, decision time and accepted matters.
Questions to answer:
- Where do enquiries arrive?
- What minimum information is needed?
- Where are checks recorded?
- What happens to declined enquiries?
Avoid:
- unnecessary sensitive detail
- form submission treated as acceptance
- declined enquiries left unowned
2. Control sheet
Treat a blank evidence field as a reason to pause, not a reason to guess. Record sources and owners before changing the workflow.
| Area | Evidence to collect | Pass condition |
|---|---|---|
| Discover | Website and routes | Next step is clear |
| Acknowledge | Receipt and timing | Nothing disappears |
| Qualify | Minimum facts and checks | Decision recorded |
| Engage | Scope, cost and actions | Information is clear |
| Open or close | Matter or decline | Status matches outcome |
Fail closed: if an input, owner or approval is missing, record the gap and keep the affected step outside the proposed change.
3. Working record
Complete this page with counts, dates and named sources. Do not include client names, matter names, contract text or privileged material.
| Field | Evidence or answer |
|---|---|
| Channels | |
| Owner | |
| Acknowledgement time | |
| Complete rate | |
| Re-requested item | |
| Unowned enquiries |
Evidence quality check:
- The source is named and dated.
- An estimate is labelled as an estimate.
- The owner can reproduce the measure.
- The same method can be used after a change.
4. Decision record
Select the outcome that the evidence supports. A stop or no-change decision is valid.
- Stop: a required source, owner or approval is missing.
- Fix: repair the underlying route before adding technology or cost.
- Test: run one bounded change with a baseline and review date.
- Proceed: adopt only the option supported by the recorded evidence.
| Decision field | Record |
|---|---|
| Chosen outcome | |
| Reason and evidence | |
| Owner and approvers | |
| Review or expiry date |
Related pages: the marketing and enquiries worksheet (/resources/law-firm-marketing-and-enquiries/) and the guides hub (/law-firm-guides/). Questions: hello@margolegal.com.
Primary sources
- SRA - Client care letters: https://www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/guidance/client-care-letters/
- SRA - Transparency in price and service: https://www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/resources/transparency/
- SRA - Code of Conduct for Firms (confidentiality of client information, para 6.3): https://www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/standards-regulations/code-conduct-firms/
- Information Commission (formerly ICO) - Information security checklist: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/advice-for-small-organisations/getting-started-with-gdpr/data-protection-self-assessment-medium-businesses/information-security-checklist/
Source status: links checked 15 September 2026 (all four verified live 200). Confirm the current version and obtain appropriate professional advice before relying on regulated, contractual, privacy, security, insurance, financial or wellbeing conclusions.
MARGO LEGAL LTD, company number 17322603. Registered in England and Wales. Registered office: 66 Paul Street, London, England, EC2A 4NA. Originally published as three PDF guides (v1, 18 August 2026); consolidated and converted to HTML 15 September 2026.