The Problem
A small firm buried in intake paperwork nobody had time for.
Mercer Law Group is a 3-person firm specializing in family law. Every new client required a 45-minute intake process: phone call, manual form filling, document requests via email, follow-up calls to chase missing paperwork, and calendar coordination for the first consultation. The managing partner, David, estimated 15 hours per week went to intake admin alone.
Documents arrived in every format imaginable: email attachments, text message photos, physical papers dropped off at the office. Nothing was organized. The paralegal spent hours sorting documents into the right client folders, and things still got lost. Two clients had complained about missing documents in the same month.
David had looked into legal practice management software but the cost was $300+ per month and required migrating their entire workflow. For a 3-person firm already stretched thin, that felt like trading one problem for another.
What We Did
Automated the entire intake pipeline from first contact to first meeting.
We built a client intake system using Make.com and n8n connected to Google Workspace. New clients receive a branded intake form link via text immediately after their initial phone call. The form collects personal details, case information, and allows document uploads directly into a pre-organized Google Drive folder structure.
As soon as the form is submitted, the system creates a client folder with all documents sorted by type, sends a confirmation email with next steps, and presents available consultation times through an embedded calendar. The client books their own first meeting without a single phone call.
For missing documents, the system sends automated follow-up reminders at 24 and 72 hours. David gets a daily summary showing new intakes, pending documents, and upcoming consultations.
The Results
15 hours of admin eliminated and clients onboard 40% faster.
Intake admin dropped from 15 hours per week to under 2 hours. Client onboarding time went from an average of 5 days to 3 days, a 40% improvement. Document organization errors dropped to zero because the system files everything automatically.
David told us the biggest change was psychological. He used to dread Monday mornings because of the intake backlog from weekend inquiries. Now he opens his laptop and sees new clients already in the system, documents organized, consultations booked. He estimates the time saved is worth roughly $3,000 per month in billable hours he can now spend on actual legal work instead of admin.