Creating and Transferring Your First Lead in Law Ruler

When you first login to Law Ruler, you will be in the "Lead Inbox" where you will be able to view, search, and sort all of your firm's leads by a variety of stackable search criteria, or click on any lead to drill down directly to that lead record.  Although Law Ruler allows you to Import Leads or Setup Web-based Lead Contact/Intake Forms and embed codes to bring your leads directly into Law Ruler without having to do any data entry, we encourage you to try the approach below so you can learn as you use Law Ruler.

To create your first new first new lead, click “New Lead” at the top left hand corner of the browser window, or from the blue menu on the right-side of your browser window and you will be asked to complete the New Lead Form to create a new lead.

1. Fill Out Data Entry Fields: As you open a new lead, be sure to obtain all of the basic contact information. Check to make sure all the information is correct by reading them back to the potential client/lead. Some of the boxes have drop down menus to help you quickly fill in the information. “State” for example drops down a list of states.  Make sure to click on Type of Case, a dropdown menu with all current practice areas comes up. 
2. Please choose the appropriate Type of Case or docket. If it is not listed please choose “New Type of Case” to create a new Type of Case.  

Please Note:  Creating a New Type of Case may be for law firm system administrators/owners only and may not be visible depending on your user account settings.

• Every new lead automatically receive a lead number based on the Type of Case/docket.

3. Please make sure that the new lead is assigned to yourself or the user of your choosing before clicking on “Create Lead” button to finalize the Contact Information part of the New Lead process.

4. After you have all of the basic Contact Information, then you may click on the “Create Lead” button at the bottom of the questions on the right side. It will open to the Inbox entry of the Lead you just created.

5. The default settings of Law Ruler only require a few of the data entry fields to be entered because the Lead Intake process can be chaotic at times, especially when a lead does not feel comfortable getting into fine detail about their incident or event.

Please Note:  If you would like to have more data entry fields be made required in the Create Lead process, then please contact Law Ruler Support and they will be happy to make this change for you, although you can do it yourself by clicking on Settings à Custom Fields.  If we can be of any further assistance in showing you how to use Law Ruler Software, or if you have any suggestions on how to improve our software, then please contact us via Phone at 1-800-431-6779, Extension 2 for Support, or you may also Email Support at: support@lawruler.com

6. The next step is to Add Notes on what happened to the potential new client/lead: It is important to tell either a 2nd level Intake person or a lawyer what happened to the potential new client/lead and enter the information in your Law Ruler Lead Portal to centralize the information and allow the entire firm to collaborate.
7. To create a new Note click on “Add Note” just below the Lead Contact Information area. A pop-up box appears.  Please get all the relevant information that can allow the next person to take action on the lead. 

• Hint: Who, what, when, and why are always good places to start when adding a note or describing an incident or event for others to read.

This is what Law Ruler Software looks like when you press the “Add Note” button:

8. Fill Out the Intake Questionnaire:  Some practice areas in Law Ruler have questionnaires already built in. These Intake Forms are completely customizable in minutes, although editing Intake Forms is generally only able to be performed by the system administrator or owner of the law firm.

Look down below the Lead Contact Information area for a blue tab called “Questionnaire” to open up the Intake Questionnaire of questions to ask the caller or lead for this Type of Case.

• Click the small plus sign next to the Intake Questionnaire as shown below to open up the questionnaire for this Type of Law or docket.

The Questionnaire pops up and you have several different options for completing the intake:

1. You can ask the lead the questions over the phone.
2. You can email the questionnaire directly to your lead so they can complete it. Once completed all the data will automatically save in Law Ruler. The email template will already be defaulted for you. You can always change your email template by selecting “Form Settings” from within the lead then -> “Edit Default email Template or jump forward to Page 44 for further instruction.
3. You can print out the blank questionnaire and complete it by hand.
4. You can print out the completed questionnaire to provide to an attorney for review or a Private Investigator on the field.

• Hint: Intake Forms improve the quality of your intake process and provide a consistent approach to collecting information and are strongly recommended.

9. Transfer Lead: After you have the basic contact and incident/accident/event information from the potential new client/lead then you need to assign the lead to either a 2^nd level Intake person, a lawyer, or the designated staff member at the firm that reviews/approves lead intakes.  Follow the protocol set forth by your firm’s management.  These are suggestions for usage of Law Ruler.

• How to Transfer Your First New Lead for Further Review or Additional Action(s)

• Click on “Transfer Lead” button as shown below to transfer the lead and assign a task to the appropriate staff member at the firm, based on your firm’s protocol.

When the “Transfer Lead” button is pressed, the “Transfer Lead” screen below will pop up and allow you to select the user to transfer the lead to, set the due date/time, and enter a description of the task that you are asking the assigned user to complete.

The Transfer Lead function in Law Ruler includes a Task assignment and will follow the same “Traffic Light” reminder system that was described earlier in the user manual.

The 3 required fields on the Transfer Lead screen are:

"Transfer To:"

"Due Date/Time"

"Task"

To use the “Transfer To:” dropdown, click on it, and find the person’s name in the dropdown list of users to assign this lead to the appropriate staff member at the firm.

To use the “Due Date/Time” selector, click on the date field and a calendar will popup which allows you to enter a due date.  Also, click on the time field, and it will open up a time clock that will allow you to set a specific time when the task should be completed.

To use the “Task” box: Please tell the person you are transferring the lead to what needs to happen next to the lead.  For example, if it is a New Lead you are sending to a 2nd Level Intake person or a lawyer.  For Example:   “Please review” or “Please review intake criteria and call to discuss medical condition.”

Notes: The “Notes” field is optional in the Transfer Lead window.  This is used to enter any other information the assigned user might need to carry out the task or understand the lead’s situation.

“Send an Email Notification” :This check box is automatically checked and will send an email to the person you are transferring the lead to which will inform them they have a new task and list the due date.

Hint:  It is suggested per best legal intake practices that you should always transfer the Lead to 2nd level Intake or directly to a lawyer for their review and action.  This should take place within 20 minutes of receiving the initial call.