What does a law firm's intake page need to explain?

A law firm's intake page should explain what happens between "contact us" and a decision about representation: who responds, what the first conversation covers, whether it costs anything, what to have ready, and when the firm will say whether it can help. It should also state, in wording the responsible attorney has approved, how the firm treats what a person shares before they become a client.

Someone who reaches your intake page has already decided to consider you. What they do not know is what the next ten minutes, or the next week, will look like. A page that says only "Free consultation, call now" leaves the questions that cause hesitation unanswered. Will I talk to a lawyer or to staff? Do I need documents? Is this conversation confidential? What happens if you cannot take my matter?

This is a content-planning question for firm owners and marketing leads, not legal advice. Anything here that touches professional conduct rules is a topic for the attorney responsible for the firm's advertising or for ethics counsel, because each state adopts its own version of those rules.

Describe the steps your intake team already follows

The page should walk through the process the firm actually runs, in the order a caller experiences it. That usually covers how a request arrives (phone, form, chat, or text), who reviews it, whether the firm checks for conflicts before hearing details, what the first conversation covers, and what happens at the end of it. One firm schedules every caller with an attorney. Another has an intake specialist gather facts first and book a consultation only when the matter fits. Either can work, but the page has to say which one your firm does.

The fastest route to an accurate outline is the person who answers the phones. Sit with them and go through the last dozen calls, then put one question to them directly: "What did the caller not understand until we explained it?" Their answers become the sections of the page, in roughly the order callers raise them.

Response time belongs on the page only if the firm can keep the promise. If evening calls go to an answering service that takes a message, say that. A caller who expects a lawyer at 9 p.m. and reaches a message service has been told something the firm did not mean.

Explain what a first conversation is, and what it is not

A caller may assume that speaking with a lawyer means the lawyer has taken the matter. The intake page is the place to correct that gently. A consultation is not an engagement. Say what the first conversation is for (to learn the basic facts, check for conflicts, and decide whether the firm can help), and say how the firm confirms representation, for example through a signed engagement letter.

Cost belongs here too. If the first conversation is free, say what it covers and how long it usually runs. If the firm charges for it, state the fee and what the person receives. ABA Model Rule 7.1 says a lawyer "shall not make a false or misleading communication about the lawyer or the lawyer's services," and treats a communication as misleading when it contains a material misrepresentation of fact or law or leaves out a fact needed to keep the whole statement from misleading. A "free consultation" line that drops a condition the firm actually applies is worth reviewing against your state's version of that rule.

The page should also say what happens if the firm cannot help. Does it refer callers elsewhere? Does it send a letter declining the matter? A clear answer to that question respects the caller's time and the firm's.

Say how the firm treats what people share before they are clients

An open text box on an intake form invites people to share a lot. The ABA Model Rules give that situation a name: Model Rule 1.18 treats a person "who consults with a lawyer about the possibility of forming a client-lawyer relationship" about a matter as a prospective client, and says that even when no relationship results, a lawyer who learned information from that person generally "shall not use or reveal that information," with exceptions the rule describes. States vary here. The ABA's jurisdictional rules comparison charts show how each jurisdiction has modified the Model Rules, and its Rule 1.18 chart (dated December 2021) lists state versions, including New York's and Nevada's, that add language about people who send information without a reasonable expectation that the lawyer will discuss representation.

For the intake page, that means two practical decisions. What should the form ask for before a conflict check, and what should it tell people not to send yet? Those choices carry professional responsibility consequences, so the wording belongs to the responsible attorney. A writer should not have to invent the firm's confidentiality notice or guess at its conflict-check practice, since both already exist inside the firm and only need to be handed over.

Once the attorney has approved that language, put a short version beside the form and a fuller version a click away. The person filling in the form should not have to search for it.

A fictional intake page brief

Here is a planning brief for a fictional three-attorney employment law firm in Arizona. It shows the shape of the work, not any real firm's process.

Every row is a fact the firm confirms before anything is written. If a row has no answer yet, the gap is useful information: it often marks the exact question callers keep asking.

Keep the page tied to what actually happens

An intake page goes stale when the process changes and nobody tells the person who maintains the site. Give the page an owner, and ask intake to flag changes to hours, consultation format, fees, or the documents they request. Check that ads, practice area pages, and follow-up emails describe the same first step. The fee explanation needs the same discipline, and our page on whether to publish fees or a fee structure covers it.

There is also an AI angle, framed as a hypothesis rather than a promise. When an assistant summarizes a firm's site, the intake page may be one of the few places that says how to become a client. A page that states its steps plainly at least gives that summary something accurate to work from. Many intake questions also make good FAQ entries, as long as each answer is specific to the firm; our guide to law firm FAQ pages that are useful instead of generic explains the difference.

In Hudson South's process, the Authority Asset gathers approved business knowledge and evidence, such as the intake script, the engagement letter process, and the approved confidentiality wording. Hudson Twenty-One records how the firm communicates across 21 dimensions, so the page sounds like the people a caller will reach. Market Intelligence researches the questions prospective clients ask and how competing firms answer them. AEO Creation turns those inputs into answer-first content.

For a personal injury version of this problem, see the questions a personal injury website leaves for intake. More pages for firm owners are collected in our guide for law firms.

See how your intake page compares

On a free 30-minute call, Hudson South walks through how your site and competing firms' sites answer the questions people ask before they call.

Sources

1. Rule 7.1: Communications Concerning a Lawyer's Services. American Bar Association. Read 2026-10-15.
2. Jurisdictional Rules Comparison Charts. American Bar Association. Read 2026-10-15.