Criminal defense
Criminal defense intake software for inquiries that cannot wait until morning
Arrests happen at night and court dates come quickly. The first firm to answer is often the firm that gets hired. Intake Efficiency replies within 60 seconds, captures the facts your lawyer needs, and alerts them at once.
No card. Setup done for you in a day.
What criminal defense inquiries are really like
Urgent, frightened, and often sent by someone other than the person charged.
Urgency is the whole story
An arrest last night, an arraignment tomorrow, a court date next week. People contact several firms at once and hire whoever answers.
The inquirer is often not the client
A parent, partner or friend writes on behalf of someone in custody. Your team needs to know who is who, and where the person is held.
After hours is prime time
Evenings and weekends are when many inquiries arrive and when most offices are closed. That gap is where cases are lost.
How Intake Efficiency handles a criminal defense inquiry
- Replies by email within 60 seconds, day or night, with your booking link and what happens next.
- Texts only if the lead consented, and only between 8am and 9pm in their time zone; a 2am inquiry gets its email reply at once and its text at 8am.
- Alerts the lawyer you nominate as soon as the inquiry is scored, so a person can decide whether to call tonight.
- Records who is inquiring and their relationship to the person charged, so your team knows who it is talking to.
- Asks for the next court date and shows it on the lead, so your team can see at a glance what is most urgent.
- Never answers “will they get bail?” or “should they plead?”. Legal questions go to a person, with an AI draft for staff to approve.
Example score reasons
- Court date in 3 days
- Charge type the firm handles
- Case in a county the firm covers
- Family member inquiring; person is in custody
Illustrative. Your firm sets the criteria during setup, and staff see every reason behind a score.
Questions the first reply can ask
Factual questions your lawyer would ask first. The wording is yours to approve, and the lead is never asked to describe what happened.
- Are you contacting us for yourself or for someone else? If someone else, what is your relationship to them?
- Is the person currently in custody? If so, where are they being held?
- What is the charge, as written on the paperwork, if you have it?
- Which county or court is the case in, and when is the next court date?
- What is the best number and time to reach you?
Intake Efficiency is software, not a law firm, and does not give legal advice. Nothing on this page is legal advice.
How an inquiry moves through
- Inquiry arrivesWeb form, email, text or WhatsApp
- Consent loggedPer channel, with wording and time
- Reply < 60 sOn channels the lead agreed to
- Qualified0–100 score with plain-English reasons
- Lawyer alertedLead gets your booking link
- Follow-upsDay 1, 3 and 7 until reply, booking or opt-out
- Into your CRMQualified leads only
Questions firms ask
Can a lawyer be alerted in the middle of the night?
Yes. Lawyer alerts go to your team as soon as an inquiry is scored. Quiet hours apply to texts sent to leads, not to alerts sent to your own staff.
Why not text the lead straight away at 2am?
Texts to leads are sent only between 8am and 9pm in the lead’s time zone. The email reply, with your booking link, goes out within 60 seconds whatever the hour.
Will it tell the family anything about the case?
No. Intake Efficiency gives no legal advice and makes no predictions. It acknowledges the inquiry, gathers facts, and puts a person in touch.
How does it handle the person charged versus the person inquiring?
The first reply asks who is inquiring and their relationship to the person charged, and both appear on the lead in your inbox.
Be the firm that answers tonight
Try Intake Efficiency on your real inquiries for 14 days, up to 50 leads. We set it up with you in a day; email replies work from day one.
No card. Setup done for you in a day.