Legal · Intake Measurement
Which enquiries became consultations—and which became accepted matters?
Follow each enquiry through screening, a held consultation, engagement and an accepted matter without turning one stage into another.
An enquiry is not a qualified prospect. A scheduled consultation is not a held consultation. An engagement step is not always an accepted matter.
Keep each intake decision separate. Let the firm’s approved intake and legal systems own the final status. Marketing can preserve source and report aggregate stages. It should not turn a call, form or chat into a client by changing the label.
This shows a managing partner where suitable enquiries move forward and where the record breaks. It does not promise matters, fees or revenue.
A lawyer qualified in each relevant jurisdiction must approve the public stage names, rate definitions, intake boundaries and contact language. Marketing cannot define legal acceptance.
An enquiry is not a qualified prospective client.
An enquiry begins when someone contacts the firm through an approved channel about possible legal services. That is the first record, not the final decision.
Use separate stages:
- Enquiry: a usable contact record exists.
- Screened prospect: the firm completed its approved initial intake and disposition process.
- Qualified prospect: the request meets the firm’s lawyer-approved rules for practice area, jurisdiction and fit. It may move to a consultation or another approved step.
- Accepted matter: the responsible lawyer or legal system records that the firm accepted and opened the matter.
Remove spam, duplicates and vendor pitches from valid enquiry counts. Keep high-level counts for the wrong practice area, outside jurisdiction, declined and referred enquiries when the responsible lawyer allows it.
A phone call can be real and still fall outside the firm’s work. A form can describe a potentially relevant issue and still require fit, conflict and legal review. Volume alone cannot answer whether marketing reached the right prospective clients.
Screen the enquiry before reporting a useful outcome.
The screen is a firm-controlled decision. Marketing should not invent it.
The firm’s process may check practice area, jurisdiction, timing and fit. Conflict checks and client relationships are legal matters. This page does not tell a firm how to handle them.
| Intake record | What it may establish | What it does not establish |
|---|---|---|
| Enquiry | A person contacted the firm | Fit, conflict clearance or relationship |
| Initial screen complete | The approved intake step reached a disposition | Legal advice or matter acceptance |
| Qualified prospect | The request may proceed under the approved rule | Engagement or accepted matter |
| Declined/referred | The firm recorded a high-level disposition | The confidential reason for public reporting |
Keep the marketing record small. Source, channel, date and a high-level outcome may answer the business question. Do not copy legal questions, documents, conflict details or matter facts into a marketing report.
The firm’s lawyer-approved system should decide when screening is complete. If marketing software says “qualified lead,” match that label to the firm’s legal definition or rename it. A software default must not define the firm’s duties.
Separate booked consultations from consultations that happened.
A scheduled consultation shows that both sides confirmed a time. It does not show that the conversation occurred.
Use the approved intake system to distinguish:
| Stage | Recommended operating meaning |
|---|---|
| Consultation offered | The firm offered an approved consultation step |
| Scheduled consultation | A date and time were confirmed |
| Held consultation | The approved system records that the consultation occurred |
| Cancelled | The appointment was cancelled before it occurred |
| Missed/no-show | The consultation did not occur under the firm’s approved rule |
| Follow-up pending | The next approved intake action has an owner and due date |
This distinction shows whether the break occurs before scheduling, between booking and attendance, or after the conversation. It also prevents a calendar count from becoming an inflated “consultation” total.
Recent legal-AI research such as DLawBench notes that a legal consultation can require several rounds of questions and fact review. The study does not set a marketing funnel or approve automated legal intake. It simply helps show why a booked time is not the same as a completed consultation.
Let the firm’s approved system confirm an accepted matter.
The legal or approved intake system should own engagement and matter status.
Some firms may record an executed engagement step before opening the matter. Others may have additional conditions. Do not force one sequence onto every practice or jurisdiction.
| Stage | Owner | Boundary |
|---|---|---|
| Enquiry source | Approved marketing/intake record | Source is not client status |
| Screening disposition | Approved intake/legal process | Marketing cannot clear conflicts |
| Consultation status | Approved scheduling/intake system | Scheduled is not held |
| Engagement executed | Approved legal system | May not equal accepted/opened matter |
| Accepted/opened matter | Responsible lawyer or legal system | Does not prove outcome or fee collection |
Google Analytics offers event names for lead generation, qualification and closing. Those names are generic. A close_convert_lead event cannot create a client relationship or an accepted matter.
If the CRM and legal system disagree, report the discrepancy. Do not select the status that creates the stronger conversion rate.
Protect prospective-client information from the first contact.
Prospective-client duties may arise before a formal engagement.
ABA Model Rule 1.18 covers duties to prospective clients. It says duties about their information may apply even when no client relationship follows. This is a model rule. A jurisdiction may adopt, change or replace it.
The safe public-copy position is narrow:
- do not invite confidential or matter-sensitive details into a marketing form;
- do not promise confidentiality or a relationship unless the responsible lawyer approves the exact wording;
- do not publish fact patterns or detailed rejection reasons in examples;
- do not assume that “not a client” means the information has no protection; and
- route jurisdiction and ethics questions to qualified counsel.
High-level reports should answer the business question without repeating matter facts. After approval, a firm might report: “Twelve enquiries were referred because the practice area did not fit.” The report does not need names, legal questions or documents.
Treat model rules as guidance, not the controlling law.
ABA Model Rules are not binding law in every state or jurisdiction.
ABA Model Rule 7.1 covers false or misleading statements about legal services. Each jurisdiction may adopt or change the model rule. Current local rules, opinions and filing duties control.
That affects measurement copy too. “Qualified prospect,” “consultation,” “engaged client,” “signed matter” and “accepted case” can carry different implications. A disclaimer does not fix a misleading label.
Use a jurisdiction review card for the final page:
| Review field | Required record |
|---|---|
| Jurisdiction and channel | Exact place and use |
| Rule or authority checked | Current source and date |
| Stage wording approved | Exact term and definition |
| Prospective-client boundary | Approved explanation |
| Aggregate dispositions allowed | Approved categories |
| CTA wording | Approved non-confidential request |
| Responsible lawyer | Name, decision and review date |
Use the related marketing-claim review guide for testimonials, results and advertising claims. This guide focuses on intake-stage measurement.
Use intake benchmarks to ask questions, not set promises.
Intake benchmarks often come from software vendors, agencies or a small practice-area sample. Their terms, jurisdictions, staffing and rate formulas may not match the firm.
Do not import one consultation or matter-conversion rate as the target. Define the firm’s rates first:
- screen completion = screened enquiries ÷ valid enquiries eligible for screening;
- consultation-set rate = scheduled consultations ÷ qualified prospects offered consultation;
- consultation-held rate = held consultations ÷ scheduled consultations whose date passed;
- engagement rate = executed engagements ÷ held consultations eligible under the firm’s rule; and
- matter-acceptance rate = accepted matters ÷ the lawyer-approved eligible population.
Show the counts with the rates. Document the period and exclusions. Ask the jurisdiction-qualified lawyer whether the firm may use each label or rate publicly.
A vendor benchmark can help someone ask a question. It cannot prove what this firm should achieve or what Mindflow will deliver.
Report aggregate outcomes without exposing matter facts.
Build a scorecard the intake leader can use without exposing confidential detail.
| Stage | Aggregate count | Approved denominator | High-level disposition | Owner action |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Valid enquiries | Example: 120 | All approved channels | Spam/duplicate excluded | Confirm coverage |
| Screened | Example: 96 | Eligible valid enquiries | Pending/complete | Fix queue |
| Qualified prospects | Example: 42 | Screened population | Fit/refer/decline | Review source fit |
| Held consultations | Example: 24 | Scheduled dates passed | Held/cancelled/missed | Fix attendance path |
| Accepted matters | Example: 8 | Lawyer-approved denominator | Accepted/not accepted | Reconcile legal system |
Marketing may preserve an approved source at the aggregate level. The legal system owns the matter. Keep unmatched records visible.
Review the scorecard with intake and the responsible lawyer. Marketing can flag a change in enquiry quality or a broken handoff. It should not guess why someone was declined, whether a conflict existed or which legal decision mattered. Use the firm’s approved record for those answers.
Use the wider Legal marketing path, local discovery work and conversion work to clarify public pages, locations and next steps. Do not turn aggregate intake data into a client story or performance claim.
Fix the first intake stage the firm cannot reconcile.
Freeze the approved definitions for one period. Compare valid enquiries, completed screens, scheduled and held consultations, engagement steps and accepted matters.
Find the first repeated break or missing link. It may be the wrong practice area, incomplete screening, missed consultations, an open outcome or a mismatch between the CRM and legal system.
Assign the next action to the responsible firm owner. Keep the confidential facts with the approved legal process.
Mindflow can review a limited public sample from discovery to buyer action. The Free Visibility Check is not a legal, ethics, conflict, intake or matter audit.
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Do not submit confidential information, legal questions, documents, names of parties or matter-sensitive details.
Sources
Research sources checked 17 August 2026. Current jurisdiction rules and lawyer approval control every public intake label.