Legal practitioners · client intake and onboarding

Turn web enquiries into qualified, conflict-checked leads

The problem

Enquiries arrive at all hours. Fee earners spend time on calls that aren’t a fit, and conflict checks happen late or by hand.

What you get

Every enquiry is acknowledged at once, summarised, matched to the right team and conflict-checked before anyone picks up the phone.

Three ways to do it

Lowest cost

Smarter web form

AI
None needed
Runs on
Structured form (e.g. Zoho Forms) + email routing
Setup effort
Low

Asking the right questions up front, such as matter type, other parties and deadlines, does much of the qualifying for free.

£0 a month

£0 software + £0 AI and usage

Most private

Custom intake portal

AI
Local model
Runs on
Custom intake system on UK hosting
Setup effort
High

Enquiry details and conflict data never leave your own infrastructure.

£40 a month

£40 software + £0 AI and usage

Indicative monthly running costs, not quotes. They exclude VAT and any one-off build or set-up work. Claude usage is based on Anthropic’s list prices for Claude Sonnet 5.5 and Haiku 5.5; other figures are rough estimates prepared in October 2026.

How it’s built

  1. Redesign the enquiry form

    Ask for matter type, other parties, key dates and how they heard about you.

  2. Acknowledge instantly

    An automatic reply sets expectations and offers a link to book an initial call.

  3. Summarise and route

    AI writes a short summary, picks the practice area and flags urgency, such as a court date next week.

  4. Run a conflict check

    Names of the client and other parties are checked against your client and matter records. Possible matches go to a person.

  5. Book the call

    Qualified enquiries get a booking link for the right fee earner.

How it fits common tools

  • Microsoft 365 Outlook, Teams, SharePoint and Excel connect through Power Automate, and n8n, Make and Zapier all support them. Microsoft Bookings is included in most business plans.
  • Google Workspace Gmail, Calendar, Sheets and Drive have well-documented APIs and ready-made connectors in n8n, Make and Zapier.
  • Zoho Zoho Bookings, Forms, CRM and Sign all have APIs, and Zoho Flow links them together. Make and n8n have Zoho connectors too.
  • Clio Clio has an open API and integrations with Zapier and Make, so matters, contacts, tasks and time entries can all be automated.
  • Other case management API access varies by vendor and plan (e.g. LEAP, Actionstep, Osprey). Some offer full APIs, some only exports, so check before choosing an approach.
  • Xero or QuickBooks Both have open APIs and connectors in Make, n8n and Zapier, so invoices, payments and reminders can be automated.
  • Spreadsheets Fine as a starting point. Once the automation is live, move the data into a proper database or list so it doesn’t break when someone renames a column.
  • Paper forms Usually the biggest quick win: replacing paper with a phone or web form removes the re-typing entirely.

Watch-outs

  • Automatic replies must never give legal advice.
  • A person must review every possible conflict. Name matching will produce false alarms.

Want this built for your firm?

Blue Tea is a UK-based software partner. We start with the problem, not the software: if an existing system already does the job, we’ll configure it. If it doesn’t fit, we’ll design and build something that does.

  • ISO 9001 and ISO 27001 certified
  • Strategy, design and engineering under one roof
  • No obligation. Just a conversation about your process.

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