Personal injury intake is everything between an injured person's first call, text or form and a signed retainer: answering fast, screening for liability, damages, coverage and deadlines, and getting the agreement signed before another firm does. In PI, intake decides more of your marketing return than ad spend does. A firm that answers in the first ring and signs the same day can beat a firm spending twice as much on ads.
Why Personal Injury Intake Decides Your Return
Most PI firms that think they have a marketing problem actually have an intake problem. Pull your call logs for one month and count three things: calls that went to voicemail, callbacks that took more than an hour, and qualified callers who never signed. Those three numbers are usually more revealing than any ad report.
Injured people often contact several firms. They're in pain, possibly out of work, and getting calls from an insurance adjuster who sounds friendly. Whichever firm gives them a calm, competent human first usually earns the case. That's the whole game.
Speed: Answer Live or Lose the Case
A live answer beats a fast callback, and a fast callback beats everything else. Voicemail is close to worthless for new PI callers, because many hang up without leaving a message and call the next number on the list.
Options for a small firm
- In-house intake during business hours, with a trained person whose job is answering new-case calls, not juggling them with filing deadlines.
- A legal-specific answering service after hours that uses your script, screens for the basics and transfers or texts qualified callers to an on-call attorney or intake lead.
- Text-back for missed calls, sent within a minute: "Sorry we missed you. This is [Firm]. Can you text us what happened, or should we call you back now?"
Whatever setup you pick, test it. Call your own firm at 7:30 p.m. on a Saturday from a number they don't recognize and say you were rear-ended. What happens next is what your ads are paying for.
Screening Questions That Take Five Minutes
A good PI screening call covers five areas in plain language, without making the caller feel interrogated. Here's a sequence that works, with sample wording:
What happened, and when?
"Tell me what happened, in your own words. What date was it?" The date drives the statute of limitations check. Listen for details that point to fault.
Who was involved?
"Was it another driver, a business, a city vehicle, a company truck?" Claims against government entities often carry short notice deadlines, sometimes measured in months. Flag these for an attorney immediately.
How are you hurt, and have you seen a doctor?
"Did you go to the ER or urgent care? Are you still being treated?" Ongoing treatment is often a sign of a viable damages claim. A gap in treatment isn't automatically disqualifying, but note it.
What insurance is involved?
"Do you know if the other driver had insurance? Do you have your own auto policy?" Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage on the caller's own policy can matter a great deal.
Have you talked to a lawyer or signed anything?
"Have you spoken with another attorney about this, or signed anything from an insurance company?" Already-represented callers need to be handled carefully and respectfully. A signed release may end the conversation.
Train intake staff to gather facts, not to evaluate the case out loud. "You definitely have a case" and "That's worth a lot" are statements only an attorney should make, and usually not on a first call.
Declining Cases Without Creating Risk
Every PI firm turns away more callers than it signs, and how you decline matters as much as how you accept.
Under ABA Model Rule 1.18, a person who consults with you about possibly hiring you is a prospective client, and information they share is generally protected even if you never take the case. That can create conflicts later, so limit intake questions to what you need to decide. When you decline, many firms send a written non-engagement letter that states you're not representing them and that deadlines may apply to their claim, without calculating the deadline for them. States vary; check your own rules and your malpractice carrier's guidance. This is not legal advice.
Where it's appropriate, refer declined callers to another lawyer or a bar referral service. A caller you couldn't help may still remember how you treated them, and so might their family.
How many PI callers is your firm losing after hours?
We'll review your call tracking data and missed-call patterns and show you where qualified callers drop out before signing.
Signing Before the Next Firm Calls
Once a caller qualifies, the goal is a signed contingency agreement the same day, ideally within the hour. Things that help:
- E-signature retainers that work on a phone, with the fee percentage and case cost terms explained in plain English (ABA Model Rule 1.5(c) requires contingent fee agreements to be in writing and to explain how the fee and expenses are calculated).
- Attorney contact on day one. A short call from the lawyer who'll handle the case does more to lock in the client than any follow-up email.
- Hospital or home visits for seriously injured clients who contacted you first. Make sure the visit is at their invitation; uninvited approaches raise solicitation issues under Rule 7.3 and state law.
- A clear next-step list: stop talking to the other insurer, keep medical appointments, save photos and receipts.
Intake Numbers Worth Tracking Weekly
Track a short list every week: percentage of calls answered live, median callback time on missed calls, qualified rate by lead source, and signed rate of qualified callers. Tie each signed case back to its source so you know what your cost per signed PI case really is.
Those numbers also tell you whether to spend more. If your firm is answering live and signing qualified callers, more PPC for personal injury or pay-per-lead volume makes sense. If not, fix intake first. Our lead generation guide for lawyers and guide to measuring legal marketing ROI go further, and more PI guides live on the personal injury marketing hub.
Frequently Asked Questions
As close to immediately as possible. Answer calls live whenever your ads are running, and respond to forms and texts within minutes, not hours. Injured people commonly contact several firms, and the first one to offer a real conversation with a capable person often signs the case. A missed-call text-back can help cover the gaps.
Keep the web form short: name, phone, what happened and when. On the call, cover the date and location of the incident, who else was involved, injuries and treatment so far, insurance on both sides, whether a government entity is involved, and whether they've already spoken with another lawyer or signed anything from an insurer.
For after-hours coverage, a legal-specific answering service that follows your script and quickly connects qualified callers to someone at the firm can work well. A generic message-taking service usually doesn't, because injured callers who reach a message-taker often move on. Test any service by calling it yourself at odd hours.
Decline clearly and in writing. Many firms send a non-engagement letter confirming they don't represent the person and noting that legal deadlines may apply, without calculating those deadlines. Remember that prospective clients have confidentiality protections under ABA Model Rule 1.18. Where appropriate, refer the caller to another attorney or a bar referral service.
If the injured person or their family contacted the firm and invited the visit, meeting them in the hospital to discuss representation is common. Uninvited approaches are a different matter and raise solicitation problems under ABA Model Rule 7.3 and state rules, some of which add specific restrictions after accidents. Check your state's rules.