Guide

What intake staff can and cannot say to callers

Intake explains the process and guides the next step. The attorney owns anything that is legal advice. Most of the risk sits in six questions.
Last reviewed October 25, 2026 · By Dr. Jeffrey Scott Stanton, DCH

Intake can always

Explain what the consultation is, how long it takes, what it costs and what happens next.
Use the caller's own words to explain why the consultation is worth their time.
State the firm's fee and fee model as the firm has approved the wording.
Ask for the next step and confirm it.

Intake never

Says whether the caller has a case or is likely to win.
Says what the caller should say or not say to an insurer, a spouse or the police.
Predicts a deadline, an outcome, a timeline or a value.
Reassures in a way that is really an opinion on the merits, such as "I am sure it will be fine."

The hand-off line

Every desk needs one fixed sentence for the moment a caller asks a legal question. It names the question as the attorney's, promises it will not be lost, and ends on a next step.

"That is exactly the question for the attorney, and I do not want to guess at it. I am writing it down so she has it in front of her and goes through it with you at the consultation. Would Thursday at ten or Friday at two be easier?"

Wording is set with the attorney. What matters is that everyone says the same thing the same way.

The mistake in the other direction

A desk afraid of crossing the line often refuses to answer questions that are not legal at all: the fee, the process, what to bring. That feels safe and costs consultations. The fee is the firm's policy and should be answered plainly.

The full table of six common questions, which go to the attorney and which get a plain answer, is on the line between intake and the attorney.

Keep reading

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.

The method, the scripts and the scorecard are on how it works, the script template and the scorecard guide.

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