Intake software converts the lead. The facts still need assembling.
Intake and qualification tools are built for the period before a client signs. What happens to the client’s account after that is usually handled by people, email, and a document folder.
Where the factual work sits
Illustrative
The handoff is the gap.
Intake software is measured on conversion: how many enquiries become clients, how fast, and at what cost. Everything in the category is shaped around that, and it is a real problem worth solving.
Once the client signs, the firm needs something different. It needs to know what happened, in what order, who was involved, which documents support which fact, and what is still missing. That work usually restarts from scratch in a call and an email thread.
- Intake tools optimize the decision to take a matter
- Fact development starts once that decision is made
- The client account rarely survives the handoff in usable form
Where the work restarts
- 01EnquiryCaptured and qualified
- 02RetainerMatter opened
- 03HandoffThe account is retold, by phone
- 04Case workChronology rebuilt by hand
Which job each one is built for.
| Capability | Intake and qualificationBefore the client signs | Fact developmentAfter the client signs |
|---|---|---|
| Capture an enquiry from a web form or call | Intake and qualificationYes | Fact developmentNot covered |
| Score and route a potential matter | Intake and qualificationYes | Fact developmentNot covered |
| Track conversion and referral source | Intake and qualificationYes | Fact developmentNot covered |
| Send the engagement letter | Intake and qualificationPartly | Fact developmentNot covered |
| Collect the client account in structured formEvents, people, places, and dates rather than a free-text note | Intake and qualificationPartly | Fact developmentYes |
| Record how certain each date is | Intake and qualificationNot covered | Fact developmentYes |
| Link a document to the fact it supports | Intake and qualificationNot covered | Fact developmentYes |
| Show which supporting records are missing | Intake and qualificationNot covered | Fact developmentYes |
| Place conflicting statements side by side | Intake and qualificationNot covered | Fact developmentYes |
Intake products differ, and several collect more structure than a basic form. The distinction that holds across the category is timing: qualification ends at the retainer, and fact development runs from there through review.
Common questions.
- Does this replace our intake software?
- No. If your intake tool is converting enquiries well, that is a different job and worth keeping. MatterGraph starts at the point where a signed client has an account that needs organizing.
- Our intake form already collects a lot of detail. Is that enough?
- It depends on whether the answers come back as structure or as prose. A long free-text field captures the account but still leaves someone to work out the order of events, who was involved, and which parts have documents behind them.
- Can the two run together?
- That is the expected arrangement. Qualification stays where it is, and the factual record begins once the matter is open.
Where this leads next.
Test the workflow on a representative matter.
Start with a synthetic or fully redacted matter. An initial evaluation does not require live client data.