An injured caller is not loyal to your firm yet. They are working down a list of names, and the firm that answers first and sounds competent usually signs the case. Everything else in your marketing depends on that one call going well.
A good personal injury intake script makes that call repeatable. Below are 20 scripts covering auto accidents, slip and fall, workers compensation, medical malpractice screening, limitations checks, insurance questions, retainers, follow up, and referring out.
This article is not legal advice. These are conversation structures for intake staff. Because case evaluation requires a licensed attorney, no script here assesses merit, value, or liability. Nothing should promise an outcome, a settlement, or a timeline.
Answer the 2 a.m. accident call.
Speed to lead decides who signs the case
Personal injury is a response time business. Because a claimant typically contacts several firms in one sitting, the delay between their call and a real conversation is the whole competition.
The Harvard Business Review study on lead response time remains the most cited work on this pattern, and it found contact rates falling sharply as response stretched from minutes to hours.
So the question is not whether your intake is good. It is whether your intake happens at all when the call arrives:
- Nights and weekends, when a large share of accidents actually occur
- During depositions and hearings, when the whole team is unavailable
- Lunch hours, when one person covers the phones
- In Spanish, when nobody on shift speaks it
Every one of those gaps sends a signed case to a competitor. A personal injury intake script cannot fix a phone nobody answers, which we will return to at the end.
The screening questions that qualify or disqualify in 4 minutes
Intake staff need to know quickly whether this is a matter for the firm. Five questions do most of the work.
- When did it happen? Limitations periods are the fastest disqualifier, and the date drives urgency.
- How did it happen? In the caller’s words. Mechanism suggests liability without anyone assessing it.
- Were you injured, and have you treated? No treatment usually means no case, though that judgment stays with the attorney.
- Has anyone else been involved yet? Prior counsel, an adjuster, a signed release. Any of these changes the conversation.
- Was a report made? Police, incident, or employer report.
Answer those five and the attorney can triage in under a minute. Notice again that none require legal judgment, which is why a personal injury intake script belongs to staff rather than attorneys.
20 case intake scripts for personal injury firms
Replace the bracketed fields with your firm’s details. In addition, every version of a personal injury intake script should open by making clear the speaker is not an attorney.
Auto accident first call (scripts 1 to 4)
1. The opening
“Thank you for calling [FIRM], this is [NAME]. I am not an attorney. I gather the details so our attorney can review your situation properly. First, are you okay right now? Do you need medical attention? … Good. When did the accident happen?”
2. The mechanism question
“Tell me what happened in your own words, from just before the impact. … Thank you. Where were you when it happened, and roughly what time?”
3. The treatment question
“Have you seen a doctor since the accident? … And are you still having symptoms today? … I am writing that down. The attorney will want to know both.”
4. The other driver question
“Do you know whether the other driver was insured? … Has anyone from their insurance company contacted you yet? … What did they ask you?”
Slip and fall (scripts 5 to 7)
5. The premises opening
“I am sorry that happened. Let me get the details our attorney needs. Where did you fall, and what was on the ground or what caused it?”
6. The notice question
“Do you know how long that condition had been there? … Did anyone say anything about it, before or after? … Did anyone see it happen?”
7. The report question
“Did you report it to anyone at the location? … Did they write anything down or give you a copy? … Do you have photos of the area?”
Workers compensation (scripts 8 to 10)
8. The workplace opening
“Let me take this in order. When did the injury happen, and were you on the clock at the time? … Did you report it to your employer, and roughly when?”
9. The employer response
“What happened after you reported it? Did they send you to a doctor, or did you go on your own? … Have you received any paperwork from a claims administrator?”
10. The status question
“Are you currently working, on modified duty, or off work? … And has anyone told you anything about wage benefits?”
Medical malpractice screening (scripts 11 to 12)
11. The initial screen
“These matters are complex and I want to set expectations honestly. They require expert review before anyone can say whether there is a case. That said, let me gather the facts. What treatment or procedure is this about, and when did it happen?”
12. The records question
“Do you have any records from that treatment, or a discharge summary? … And have you spoken with any other attorney about this? … The attorney will explain what review involves and what it costs.”
Limitations check (scripts 13 to 14)
13. The date confirmation
“I want to be precise on the date, because time limits can apply. Was it [DATE]? … Let me repeat that back to make sure I have it right.”
14. The older incident
“That was some time ago, and I want to be straight with you. There are deadlines that can apply in these matters, and whether they apply to your situation is something only the attorney can tell you. I do not want to guess either way. Can we get you a review soon rather than let more time pass?”
Insurance contact questions (scripts 15 to 16)
15. The adjuster contact
“You mentioned the insurance company called. Did you give a recorded statement? … Did you sign anything, including anything they emailed? … Thank you, that is important for the attorney to know.”
16. The settlement offer
“They offered you an amount. I am not able to tell you whether that is reasonable, and I would not want to guess. What I would say is please do not sign anything before you speak with our attorney. Can I get you in today?”
Signing the retainer over the phone (scripts 17 to 18)
17. The transition to signing
“Based on what you have told me, our attorney would like to review your case. The next step is a representation agreement, which I can send to your phone or email right now. It explains the fee arrangement, which is [STRUCTURE]. Do you want me to walk you through it?”
18. The fee explanation
“There is no fee to you upfront. Our fee is [PERCENTAGE] of any recovery, and if there is no recovery there is no fee. Costs are handled [HOW]. I want to be clear that signing does not guarantee any result. Do you have questions before I send it?”
Following up on an unsigned lead (script 19)
19. The follow up call
“Hi [NAME], this is [YOU] from [FIRM]. We spoke on [DATE] about your accident and you did not move forward. I am not calling to push you. I am calling because deadlines can apply in these matters and I did not want time to pass quietly. Where did you land?”
Referring out a case you cannot take (script 20)
20. The decline
“After reviewing what you shared, this is not a matter our firm can take on. I would rather tell you that directly than leave you waiting. I can give you [REFERRAL RESOURCE]. And this is not legal advice, but because time limits can apply, speaking with another attorney soon is worth doing.”
Load this script into an AI agent that answers overnight.
What to say when the caller has already spoken to an adjuster
This comes up constantly, and it is the moment where intake staff most often overstep.
The caller wants to know whether they made a mistake. The honest answer is that you do not know, so say that:
- Do say: “That is important for our attorney to know, thank you for telling me.”
- Do say: “Please do not sign anything else until you have spoken with them.”
- Do not say: “You should never have given a statement.” It frightens them and it may not be true.
- Do not say: “That probably hurt your case.” That is an assessment, and staff cannot make it.
Because the caller is already anxious, the goal is to get them in front of an attorney quickly without adding fear. Script 15 handles the facts and script 16 handles the urgency.
Documenting the call so the case manager can pick it up cold
The intake note is the product of the call. Therefore write it so someone who was not there can act on it.
Capture these every time:
- The five screening answers, with the date written exactly
- The caller’s own words on mechanism and injuries, quoted rather than paraphrased
- Every prior contact: adjusters, other firms, statements given, documents signed
- Treatment status: where, when, still symptomatic or not
- Language preference and best callback time
- What the caller is most worried about, which is often not the legal issue
That last field is the one most firms skip, and it is the one that makes the follow up call work. Because you can open with their actual concern, the second conversation does not start cold.
Answering the 2 a.m. accident call
Here is what no personal injury intake script solves on its own. Accidents happen at night and on weekends, and that is precisely when firms are least able to answer.
The math is unforgiving. A caller who reaches voicemail at 2 a.m. is not waiting until Monday. Meanwhile the answering service that takes a message without running your screening questions produces a note, not a signed case.
Dapta builds AI voice agents that answer every call, run your own intake script, and pass a structured summary to your team.
What the agent handles on an injury call
- Answers instantly, around the clock, including nights and weekends
- Runs your five screening questions, in the same order every time
- Speaks natural English and Spanish, with regional accents that sound local
- Captures the incident date exactly, the field most often lost on a rushed call
- Books the attorney consultation on your calendar during the call
- States your disclaimer, that it is not an attorney and no relationship is formed
- Escalates urgent matters, such as an incident near a limitations deadline
What it does not do is evaluate the case. It gathers and it schedules, exactly as your intake staff do. Every judgment stays with your attorneys.
For the full picture, explore our related guides:
- AI for personal injury law firms, the practice level overview
- ChatGPT prompts for personal injury lawyers, the drafting side of the same workflow
- AI intake for law firms, how automated intake runs
- AI answering service for law firms, for firms losing overnight calls
- AI voice agent for lawyers, how the voice layer works
- Best AI tools for law firms, a wider tooling roundup
- More customer success guides, the full collection
Frequently asked questions
Can non attorney staff run these intake calls?
Yes, and that is how most firms operate. A personal injury intake script gathers facts and schedules appointments. Because none of these scripts assess merit, value, or liability, they stay inside what trained staff may do.
Should intake staff ever estimate what a case is worth?
Never. Case value depends on venue, injuries, insurance limits, and negotiation, and a number said casually on an intake call becomes an expectation. Script 16 is written specifically to avoid it.
What if the caller is still at the accident scene?
Safety first, always. Ask whether they need medical attention and tell them to call emergency services if so. Get a callback number, then arrange to speak when they are safe.
How do we handle callers who already signed with another firm?
Ask directly and early. If they are represented, the conversation should end politely, since contacting a represented party raises ethical issues. Script 4 surfaces this before anything else is discussed.
Can an AI agent take personal injury intake calls?
For gathering and scheduling, yes. It should disclose it is not an attorney, run the same screening questions, and escalate urgent matters. What it must not do is evaluate the case, which is the identical rule applied to human staff.
Where should we start?
Standardize your five screening questions first. Because most firms find their intake varies by whoever answers, writing one personal injury intake script and using it on every call usually improves signing rates before any technology is added.
Stop losing overnight accident calls. , no card required.
