It’s the seemingly never-ending argument about intake.
Should your intake specialists spend time on the phone with new leads who have suffered a devastating injury or a tragic loss in their family, even when they know the caller does not have a valid claim? Some argue (including me) that every prospective client—qualified or not—should be treated with compassion and dignity for their loss and should not be rushed off the phone. But this comes at the cost of wasted time for your intake team on unqualified leads.
Is there anything you can do to avoid the loss of time for your intake team? Have an AI agent qualify the lead for merit before your intake specialist gets on the phone with the prospective client. You set the criteria for a qualified lead and the AI agent does the rest.
Step #1: Qualify Leads with Artificial Intelligence
Give clear instructions to the AI agent. After getting the client’s name, address, and phone number, the AI agent should ask basic questions, including: (1) date of incident; (2) already working with a lawyer; (3) the State where the injury/occurrence happened.
When: When did this happen?
Where: Where did this happen?
Description of incident: Can you explain what happened?
Why: Why do you believe that there was medical malpractice?
Prior Legal Consultation: Have you consulted with a lawyer before about this?
Permanency of Injuries: [non-death cases only] How are you doing now? Are you still treating with medical providers?
Medical Records: Do you possess the medical records?
With the AI Qualifier in Intaker, you can set the criteria for a qualified lead. By way of example, our firm only handles cases involving catastrophic injury and death cases. The prospective client must meet the following criteria: brain damage, loss of limb, partial or total paralysis, blindness or death.
Criteria #1: General Inquiry
General inquiry for information where the client has not sustained an injury or injury in the family, e.g., a student doing a research article about medical malpractice.
AI Response: AI agent should decline the case.
Criteria #2: Catastrophic Injury or Death
Not a catastrophic injury or death (e.g., death, brain damage, loss of limb, brain injury, blindness or partial or total paralysis)
AI Response: AI agent should decline the case.
Rejection Email/Text/Letter:
Dear [Name],
Thank you for reaching out to us and for giving us the opportunity to review your potential claim. We are truly sorry to learn of the difficult circumstances you and your loved ones are facing.
At our firm, we focus exclusively on a small number of catastrophic injury and wrongful death cases in order to provide the highest level of service and dedication to each client. Because of this, we must be extremely selective in the cases we accept, even when the facts are compelling and the harm is very real.
After careful consideration, we regret to inform you that we are unable to take on your case. This decision in no way reflects on the merits of your claim, but rather on the limitations of our caseload and focus. Please know this was not an easy decision.
We want to remind you that every legal claim is subject to a statute of limitations. If a lawsuit is not filed within the time period allowed by law, your right to pursue compensation may be lost forever. We encourage you to promptly consult another attorney if you have not already done so.
Thank you again for considering our firm. We are deeply grateful for your trust. If there is anything further we can do to assist you—whether that be answering a question or helping you find another resource—please don’t hesitate to let us know.
Criteria #3: Expiration of the Statute of Limitations for Medical Malpractice
The alleged incident involving medical malpractice occurred more than 2 years and 6 months ago in New York.
Exceptions: There are 3 exceptions to the 2 ½ year statute of limitations for medical malpractice claims:
Minors (under the age of 18): Claims involving minors have 10 years from the date of the alleged medical malpractice to bring a claim, or 2 year and 6 months after they reach the age of 18, whichever occurs first, under New York law.
Delayed Cancer Diagnosis: For delayed diagnosis of cancer claims, the lawsuit must be brought within 2 years and 6 months from the date of the discovery of the diagnosis of cancer; and
Foreign Object Cases: Claims involving a foreign object (sponge or surgical instrument left inside the patient’s body during an operation). For “foreign object” cases, the client has 1 year from the discovery of the foreign object to file a lawsuit.
AI Response: If the claim does not meet one of the exceptions, the AI agent should decline the case.
Criteria #4: Expiration of the Statute of Limitations for Personal Injury Claims (non-medical malpractice)
The incident/accident occurred more than 3 years ago in New York.
Exception: Minors (under the age of 18): A minor can bring a claim that occurs before the age of 18 for 3 years after they reach the age of 18 (21st birthday).
AI Response: AI agent should decline the case.
Criteria #5: Claim occurred outside of New York
AI Response: AI agent should encourage prospective client to request a referral to another law firm.
“We practice in New York, but we will be happy to refer you to a trusted law firm in your state. In some cases, we co-counsel with law firms in other states and practice together with our co-counsel. Would you like a referral to one of our trusted referral partners?”
Exception: Catastrophic Injury and Death Claims: In cases involving catastrophic injury (e.g., brain damage, paralysis, blindness), the AI agent should prompt the prospective client to call our law firm to make a direct referral to a referral partner. Our firm can generate referral fees by referring out-of-state cases to our referral partners outside of New York and in some cases, we may want to co-counsel on cases outside of New York.
Step #2: Follow Up with Automated Video Responses
You can set up certain automations based on the prospective client’s qualification status. Automate follow up for qualified and unqualified leads. Show a different video for the final video based upon whether the prospective client meets your criteria for a qualified lead. You should have a video response that is specific to each one of your firm’s criteria for leads.
If the lead is unqualified, “Live Call Connect” is turned off on Intaker. Intaker just enable “Live Call Connect” for qualified leads. Intaker can automatically send a rejection text for unqualified leads.
Step #3: Organizing the Leads
Intaker integrates with Lead Docket. All Intaker leads are automatically entered into Lead Docket. All leads are entered into the dashboard in Intaker. In the Intaker dashboard, you can review chat transcripts and audio recordings of live calls of every lead.
AI Agent for Texting: A prospective client has to be on their mobile device to see the texting button. When a prospective client clicks the text button, it will automatically open their messaging app (iMessages on iPhones).
The text conversation will be handled by an AI agent. No one in your firm has to deal with the texts. You can set the personality tone for the AI agent, i.e., welcoming and casual or businesslike and formal.
You can tell the AI agent how you want to end the conversation. For qualified leads, you want to encourage the prospective client to call your firm.
