Why Intake Data Quality Eats Your Routing

Routing/follow-ups only work as well as the data that comes in. In law firms, the problem is rarely "not enough AI", but:

  • Required fields missing,
  • Phone/email inconsistent,
  • Duplicates create chaos,
  • Special cases land in wrong status.

Principle: Validation at the Source (Not "Clean Up Later")

If a field is important, it must be captured cleanly at the form - otherwise you pay later every time.

Minimal Required Fields (For Most Law Firms)

  • Name
  • Email or phone (at least one, validated)
  • Concern category (dropdown, not free text)
  • Deadline/urgency (if relevant)

Artifact: Validation Rules (Copy/Paste)

Field Rule Error Message Notes
Email RFC check + lowercase "Please enter valid email" Alias/plus ok
Phone E.164 normalize "Please enter phone number" Country code DACH
Category Whitelist only "Please select category" Reduces free text
ZIP 5-digit DE / 4 AT / 4 CH "Please check ZIP" Optional

Dedup: As Simple as Possible, As Strict as Necessary

Goal: Recognize "same person/same case" without losing real new inquiries.

Dedup Strategy (Recommended)

  1. Primary key: Email (normalized)
  2. Fallback: Phone (normalized)
  3. Fallback: Name + ZIP (fuzzy)

Rule: If match → don't block, but route to a "Duplicate Review" status.

Edge Cases You Should Model Explicitly

  • Client writes from different email
  • Third party asks on behalf of client
  • Multiple concerns in short time
  • "Please urgent" without deadline date

Solution: Status model + owner decision (don't let AI guess).

KPI Block (So You See If It's Getting Better)

Next Step

If you send me 3 example inquiries (anonymized) + your current form, I can tell you which 5-10 rules have the biggest impact.

→ Schedule initial consultation

Further reading: Take our free Digitalization Check to find out how digital your firm really is. Read our comprehensive Digital Law Firm 2026 Guide or the Law Firm Software Comparison.