This is a planning framework, not a client case study, a quote or evidence of delivered results. The scenarios describe decisions to validate with the business.
A prospective matter can involve a referral, conflicts review, a fee discussion and an engagement decision. These are different states and should not be collapsed into a generic sales stage.
Legal intake: track the relationship before the matter
Relationship history
Connect contacts, organisations and referrals without assuming that every contact is a client. Apply the firm’s confidentiality and access rules.
Approval gates
Separate enquiry capture from conflicts clearance and engagement acceptance. Keep professional decisions with the authorised reviewers.
Matter hand-off
Create the matter only after the agreed gate is satisfied. Carry the approved context forward while keeping restricted notes appropriately separated.
Can intake remain separate from engagement acceptance?
Trace a referral involving related organisations and a potential conflict. Can the authorised reviewer inspect the necessary identities while business-development staff see only the permitted status? Confirm that a cleared enquiry does not create a matter until the firm’s engagement gate is satisfied.
What should the relationship system own?
Scope contacts, referral attribution, enquiry status and the matter hand-off without copying restricted matter notes into a general CRM. Specify who maintains relationship merges and approval evidence. The firm must own conflict decisions and rules for retaining declined enquiries.
The next step
The professional-services portal concept explores permissioned client coordination, not conflict-checking capability or a delivered legal CRM. Discuss legal intake with the approval gates and relationship records that need to connect.