Criminal Defense Intake

Criminal Defense Intake Training

Criminal defense calls are urgent, often from a family member, and sometimes at odd hours. Callers will ask what the person should say, and the answer is never intake's to give.

Start With the Call Audit Book a Conversation

What is different about criminal defense intake

The caller is often not the client, so intake has to establish who the client is and who may speak for them.
Time matters, so the next step is almost always today or tomorrow, not next week.
Callers ask what the person should say or do, and every one of those questions belongs to the attorney.

The method does not change. The five stages, the 14-item scorecard and the boundary are the same. What changes is the wording, the questions to ask and where the pressure shows up.

Two Calls

The same moment, answered two ways

"What should he say?"

The caller says: "My son was arrested last night. What should he say to the police?"

What most desks say

"Tell him not to say anything until he talks to a lawyer."

Well-meant, and it is legal advice.

What a trained desk says

"I am so sorry, that is a hard call to make. What he should do is exactly what the attorney needs to discuss with you, and I do not want to guess. Let me get you the earliest time. Can you or he be here at two this afternoon?"

Warmth first, the question handed to the attorney, and an urgent time offered.

"I need to ask my wife"

The caller says: "I have to talk to my wife before I decide."

What most desks say

"Of course. Call us back after you speak with her."

Time is short and the call is left open.

What a trained desk says

"Of course. Would she be able to join the call now, or could I hold a slot for this afternoon and call you at one? ... I will confirm what to bring and who to ask for."

The second decision-maker is brought in, and the follow-up is on the clock.

Questions that always go to the attorney

These come up on criminal defense calls all the time. Intake does not answer them; it hands them off with the fixed line and asks for the next step.

"Will he go to jail?"
"Should I go to the police station?"
"Can I get the charges dropped?"

The hand-off wording and the full boundary are on the line between intake and the attorney. Wording on this page is an example only; the firm and the attorney set the final wording against their jurisdiction's rules. Scope, plainly: everything on this site concerns the conversation that turns an inquiry into an engagement. Nothing here is legal advice, nothing touches the legal work or the attorney's judgment, and any wording a firm adopts is reviewed by the firm against its jurisdiction's rules on attorney advertising, solicitation and fee communication before it is used.

About the Author

Dr. Jeffrey Scott Stanton, DCH is a behavioral strategist and the founder and Chief Learning Officer of R2R Diagnostic Group. He is the former EVP of Learning & Development at Douglas Elliman Real Estate, where he trained sales professionals on the conversations that turn an inquiry into a commitment. He applies the same method, the R2R Assessment and a 14-item call-review scorecard, to law firm intake teams. The work is the conversation only; legal questions and judgment stay with the attorney.

More on the method, the scripts, the dialogues and the scorecard is on the legal intake pages at jeffreyscottstanton.com.