How-To Guide: AI-Powered Client Intake with MyCase / Clio Grow

For Legal Secretaries

Generated: 2026-03-20 | Difficulty: Easy-Medium | Time to set up: 45 minutes

What You'll Accomplish

By the end of this guide, you'll have an automated client intake workflow set up in your firm's practice management system (MyCase or Clio Grow) — sending intake questionnaires automatically after a consultation is scheduled, following up on incomplete forms, and routing completed intakes into the matter system without manual data entry.

What You'll Need

• MyCase (Business plan or higher) OR Clio Grow (any plan) — both include intake automation
• Your firm's standard intake questions for each practice area
• Attorney approval of the intake form content
• Time needed: 45–60 minutes to build the first intake form; 10 minutes per subsequent form
• Cost: Included in MyCase Business or Clio Grow subscription — confirm your plan includes intake forms

Step-by-Step Instructions

Part 1: Build Your Intake Form (Clio Grow)

Step 1: Access the intake form builder

1. Log into Clio Manage → click Clio Grow in the top navigation (or log into grow.clio.com directly)
2. Go to Intake → Forms → New Form
3. Name it: "[Practice Area] New Client Intake — [Firm Name]"

Step 2: Add standard intake sections

Build your form with these sections (customize per practice area):

• Contact information: Full legal name, date of birth, address, phone, email
• Matter description: Brief description of their situation (open text, 500 char max)
• Opposing party: Name, relationship to client, contact info if known
• Incident/event details: Date of incident, location, what happened (for litigation matters)
• Prior representation: Have you been represented by another attorney for this matter?
• Urgency: Is there an upcoming court date or deadline we should know about?
• Referral source: How did you find our firm?

Step 3: Enable automated delivery

1. In Clio Grow, go to Intake → Pipelines
2. Create a pipeline stage: "Consultation Scheduled"
3. Add an automation: When a lead moves to "Consultation Scheduled" → auto-send your intake form to their email
4. Set a follow-up reminder: 24 hours before consultation if form not completed → send reminder email

Step 4: Map form fields to matter data

1. In Clio Grow, go to Settings → Field Mapping
2. Map form fields to Clio matter fields (name → contact name, incident date → matter open date, etc.)
3. When a lead is converted to a client, Clio pre-populates the new matter with the intake form data

Part 2: Build Your Intake Form (MyCase)

Step 1: Access intake forms in MyCase

1. Log into MyCase → Settings → Intake Forms
2. Click New Form → select the practice area template or start blank

Step 2: Build and publish the form

• Add sections matching your practice area intake questions
• Set each field as required or optional
• Click Publish → copy the intake form link

Step 3: Embed or send the form link

• Embed the link on your firm's website (contact page)
• Send manually via email after consultation scheduling
• Or set up an email automation in MyCase to send automatically (MyCase Business plan)

Your First Real Task

Scenario: Your personal injury practice schedules 10–15 consultations per week. Each intake requires the legal secretary to call the prospective client, gather information, and manually enter it into the system — 20–30 minutes per intake.

With automated intake:

1. Consultation is scheduled (via phone or website)
2. Clio Grow automatically sends the intake form link immediately after scheduling
3. Client completes the form on their own time before the consultation
4. Attorney walks into the consultation with the intake already in Clio — no manual data entry
5. If form is incomplete, automated reminder goes out 24 hours before the consult

Time saved per week: 10 consultations × 20 minutes manual intake = 200 minutes → 30 minutes of review and occasional follow-up calls.

Tips for Best Results

• Keep intake forms short — under 15 fields for the initial intake; gather more detail at the consultation
• Add a "Is anything time-sensitive about your matter?" field — this flags urgent cases before the consultation
• Test the form from a client's perspective (send it to your own email) before making it live
• Review completed intakes before the consultation and prepare 2–3 follow-up questions for the attorney

What to Do Next

• Today: Log into Clio Grow or MyCase and find the intake forms section — identify what templates are available
• This week: Build one intake form for your most common practice area; test it with a live consultation
• This month: Add automated follow-up reminders for incomplete forms; review the data entry time savings with your attorney

Quick Reference Card

Guide created for legal secretary professionals. Form content must be reviewed and approved by your supervising attorney before use.