ClaimVela
Preparing your workspace
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Free printable field map
Start with the minimum information your team needs to respond, then collect the fuller PI fact pattern through focused follow-up.
Published by ClaimVela · Updated October 19, 2026 · This operational resource is not legal advice or a universal form. Have authorized counsel adapt every notice, consent, conflict question, retention rule, and communication step to the firm's jurisdictions and procedures.
Stage 1 · Initial contact form
Keep the public form short enough to complete on a phone. Its job is to start safe, accountable intake—not collect the entire case file.
Create one traceable record and preserve when and where the inquiry reached the firm.
Give the team a permitted way to respond without exposing the inquiry through an unsafe channel.
Identify the general matter and facts that may require prompt escalation without asking the person to diagnose the case.
Collect enough names for early duplicate and conflict inputs while limiting unnecessary disclosure.
Surface existing attorney relationships and preserve the boundary between inquiry and representation.
Record the exact notice and communication choices presented at submission.
Stage 2 · Structured follow-up
Copyable printable template
Mobile and accessibility
Security and data minimization
Avoid highly sensitive identifiers, broad medical histories, and financial-account details on the opening screen unless the firm has a defined, reviewed reason to collect them.
Conditional questions
Show motor-vehicle, premises, workplace, product, or third-party branches only when an earlier answer makes them relevant. A branch should organize reported facts; it should not decide liability, value, deadlines, conflict clearance, or case acceptance.
Use the car accident intake form and worksheet →Consent and relationship controls
Do not preselect optional consent or bundle marketing permission into required intake. Record the disclosure version, timestamp, channel, and action. Label the record as prospective-client work until authorized engagement requirements are complete, and never imply that submitting the form means the matter was accepted.
Professional-responsibility reference
The ABA Model Rule 1.18 commentary discusses when communications may become a consultation and advises limiting an initial consultation to information reasonably necessary for the representation decision. Review the ABA Rule 1.18 commentary alongside applicable jurisdiction-specific rules and firm counsel. Do not send a full narrative or sensitive attachments through routine notification email; notify authorized staff that a private record is available instead.
Frequently asked questions
An initial PI intake form should identify the prospective client, establish a safe contact path, capture a short incident snapshot, collect the names needed for opening controls, record representation status, and preserve the displayed notice and communication choices. Detailed treatment, insurance, evidence, loss, and review fields can follow after the inquiry has an owner.
There is no universal field count. The first-contact form should be short enough to complete on a phone while collecting the information the firm actually uses for routing and response. Longer fact collection is easier to complete through conditional follow-up, save-and-resume, or an intake conversation.
Usually, the opening form can identify whether those records exist without requiring an immediate upload. If the firm needs documents later, it should explain the request and use a secure, access-controlled collection path rather than routine email.
A firm should not treat submission alone as acceptance. Its attorney-reviewed notices and engagement process should explain when representation begins. However, duties concerning information received from a prospective client may arise before an engagement, so the firm should use jurisdiction-specific conflict, confidentiality, and retention procedures.
Capture the caller's identity and relationship to the injured person, the injured person's name, and a safe route for authorized follow-up. Facts involving minors, incapacity, death, or questions about authority should be escalated under the firm's approved process rather than resolved by the form.
A printable form can be useful for internal review, phone intake, or contingency operations. A public digital form should also be mobile-friendly, accessible, able to preserve validation errors, and capable of using conditional questions so every visitor is not forced through every field.
Distinguish required from optional fields, offer an unknown choice, use conditional branches, explain sensitive requests, preserve entered data, allow secure follow-up, and give the inquiry a human owner. Completion percentage is less important than obtaining accurate facts and a clear next action.
No. AI may organize supplied facts, identify missing information, and draft focused follow-up. Attorneys remain responsible for conflicts, legal judgment, deadlines, qualification, and every representation decision.
Turn the template into accountable work
Publish a branded Smart Intake Link, keep PI facts in one record, assign every inquiry, collect documents privately, prepare attorney review, and carry retained matters forward without rebuilding the file.