Legal client intake checklist: open matters with less back-and-forth
The first exchange with a prospective client sets the quality of the matter file. A structured legal client intake checklist gives the team enough context to route, assess, and begin work without treating the inbox as the system of record.
Every practice has different professional obligations and local requirements. This is an operational checklist, not legal or compliance advice. Adapt it to your matter types, jurisdiction, conflict procedures, and internal policies.
Start with the client and contact structure
Capture the legal name, preferred contact details, address, and whether the instruction comes from an individual or an organization. For an organizational client, identify the authorized contact and any people who must supply information separately.
Collect a concise matter summary
Ask what the client needs, key dates, relevant parties, and the desired outcome. The aim is enough information for the right person to triage the matter, not a long narrative that is difficult to scan later.
Request evidence by requirement, not by email
Identity documents, engagement materials, correspondence, contracts, property papers, or financial evidence should each be requested as a named item. A dedicated request lets the client see what is missing and lets the reviewer accept or request a replacement for one item.
Use declarations deliberately
Where your process requires declarations, make the language clear and collect it as a discrete acknowledgement. Do not hide important confirmations inside a general notes field where they are difficult to review or evidence later.
Build a conflict-check handoff
Client intake should make the names of relevant people, companies, and counterparties easy to find. Your internal conflict workflow may be separate, but the intake record should provide the details needed to begin that review promptly.
Make status visible to both sides
A client should not need to ask whether a document was received. A simple status model lets them see what is complete and gives the legal team a clear queue of files ready for review.
Turn recurring matter types into templates
Different services need different evidence. Create a template for each recurring intake pattern, then improve it whenever a reviewer discovers a missing question or a document request that consistently causes confusion.
Intaky helps legal and notarial teams collect matter details and supporting documents in a guided portal, while preserving review status and change requests around each file.
Also read: the client intake process checklist.