In short
Naelar sets up or fixes the CRM, enquiry forms and follow-up a solicitors firm uses between first enquiry and signed client care letter. Your firm signs off everything before it's built, published or sent.
CRM or case management? A CRM for law firms, often called a legal CRM, holds the people who have enquired but haven't instructed you yet. CRM is short for customer relationship management system. Case management software runs the matter after instruction, from opening the file to the final bill.
How does an enquiry become an instruction?
It usually runs in five steps: enquiry, call back, quote or consultation, instruction, client care letter. A good setup gives each step an owner and a next date, so nothing waits without someone knowing.
- EnquiryWeb form, phone call, email or chat, logged once
- Call backNamed owner, call-back time, notes from the call
- Quote or consultationFee estimate sent or meeting booked, then chased
- InstructionConflict, ID and AML checks done by your firm
- Client care letterSent, signed and filed against the matter
Each step has an owner and a next date in the CRM.
The software is seldom where it goes wrong. Common gaps look like this:
- A web enquiry sent after hours that waits until someone opens the shared inbox
- A promised call-back that lives on a sticky note, or in one person's head
- A quote sent once and never chased
- Enquiries split across an inbox, a spreadsheet and the case system
- No record of where each enquiry came from, or which ones became instructions
Conflict checks, ID and AML checks, and the client care letter stay with your firm. The CRM can remind someone they're due. It doesn't do them. Your complaints details go in the client care letter too: see SRA Transparency Rules checklist.
What should a CRM for a law firm do?
It should keep every enquiry in one place, with an owner, a source and a next date. That is the minimum before you compare features.
- One record per enquiry, whether it came by phone, form, email or chat
- A named owner and a next date on each record, with a reminder when the date passes
- A source field, so you can see which ads and pages bring instructions
- Quotes and follow-ups logged against the record, with the date of the last chase
- A simple report: enquiries in, quotes sent and instructions signed, by source
Billing and document assembly usually belong in your case system. Our conveyancing CRM guide shows what the quote stage adds.
Which systems does this work with?
We build in Clio Grow, Lawmatics, HubSpot, GoHighLevel and Salesforce, or fix the CRM your firm already owns. If you run LEAP, Actionstep, Osprey or Hoowla, tell us what you use and we'll check what it can connect to.
Of the five, Clio, HubSpot and GoHighLevel are the ones with the most of Rishabh's setups behind them. We look at what your system can connect to before we promise anything, and we don't claim builds inside LEAP, Actionstep, Osprey or Hoowla.
A CRM sits in front of the case system and holds people who haven't instructed you yet. If your case system already handles enquiries well enough, the right answer may be to keep it and add nothing.
We don't rank CRMs or call one the right pick for every firm. The choice depends on your enquiry volume, your practice areas and what you already pay for.
AI agents and automations. Agents that answer out-of-hours calls, and workflows that connect your systems, are a separate service. See AI and automation.
What Naelar does and does not do
We set up the systems and do the build. We don't give legal advice, trade in leads, or tell you your firm meets the rules.
Included
- CRM setup or repair in Clio Grow, Lawmatics, HubSpot, GoHighLevel or Salesforce
- Enquiry forms that feed straight into the CRM, on your existing site or a new one (see law firm website design)
- Follow-up emails and texts, drafted for your firm to approve
- A source field on every enquiry, so you can see where instructions came from
Not included
- Legal advice of any kind
- Buying, selling or sharing leads. Every enquiry stays exclusive to your firm.
- Saying your firm meets SRA or ICO rules
- Contacting people who haven't contacted you
- Conflict, ID and AML checks, which stay with your fee earners
Not a fit yet: a firm with a few enquiries a month and nobody free to chase them. A CRM won't create demand, so start with PPC management for solicitors. If the gap is people to answer the phone, see remote intake and admin staff. All six of our legal marketing services are listed in one place.
How does intake differ by practice area?
The five steps stay the same, but the details you record change by area. Each area below has a full page under who we serve.
Conveyancing: from quote to instruction
Conveyancing work starts with a quote request. The setup logs each quote, who sent it, and when it was last chased, then moves it to instruction once the client accepts. We check what your case system can connect to first, and we don't promise a build inside Hoowla or Osprey.
We found no UK evidence that replying first wins the instruction on its own, so the aim is a quote nobody forgets to chase. See our page on conveyancing marketing services, and our SRA Transparency Rules checklist for the price page your quotes should match.
In one conveyancing firm's CRM, recorded instructions came a median of 2.3 days after the quote, for leads from 2 September to 26 October 2026. Of its buying leads quoted from 28 September to 26 October, six instructed more than 7 days after the first quote, the latest after 23 days.
Results vary by firm, area and market, and the conveyancing lead generation case study has the rest.
Immigration: the fields that set priority
Here the CRM record adds a few fields of its own, such as visa route, expiry date and preferred language. Your fee earners decide who gets called first. The full list is on our page for immigration firms.
Claims: a clean record of how each enquiry arrived
Claims firms need to know how each enquiry reached them: the ad or page, the date, and any introducer that passed it on. The SRA warning notice on marketing to the public quotes paragraph 8.9 of its Code on approaches to the public.[3] Under the same notice, a person passed to you by a third party, such as a lead generator business, is no exception.[3]
So every claim enquiry carries a source field, and nothing we build contacts people who haven't asked. See our page on personal injury marketing for solicitors and our claims marketing due diligence guide.
Who stays accountable under SRA rules?
Your firm does. Paragraph 2.3 of the SRA Code of Conduct for Firms says a firm remains accountable where work is carried out through others.[1] That includes those it contracts with.[1]
We quote the version in effect from 11 April 2025. Its words: "your work is carried out through others, including your managers and those you employ or contract with".[1]
A builder like Naelar is someone a firm contracts with. Under the same paragraph, the forms and messages we set up for you are work your firm stays accountable for.[1] Our guide on how to choose a legal marketing agency covers what to ask any supplier.
That's why nothing is built, published or sent before your firm signs it off. We won't describe any setup as meeting SRA rules. That judgement belongs to your firm and its compliance officer (COLP).
Can follow-up emails and texts break the rules?
They can, if the person hasn't agreed to marketing. The ICO's guide to PECR (the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations) sets out when consent or the soft opt-in applies.
What the ICO says
The ICO guide to electronic mail marketing describes marketing to people who "have specifically consented to electronic mail from you".[2] It also describes the soft opt-in, a narrower route for people who have bought, or talked about buying, a similar service. The ICO says the soft opt-in "does not apply to prospective customers or new contacts (eg from bought-in lists)".[2]
The ICO page adds: "Due to changes made by the Data (Use and Access) Act, this guidance is under review and may be subject to change."[2] The page carries no date. We read it on 9 October 2026.
Whether someone who has just sent you an enquiry can get promotional follow-up is a legal question, and we don't answer it.
What we build
- A clear consent tick on enquiry forms.
- A way to opt out in every message.
- Replies to the question asked kept apart from promotional messages.
Naelar is not a law firm. Before any follow-up email or text goes live, check with your compliance officer.
Who owns the accounts and the data?
Your firm should. That's how we set it up.
The CRM and form accounts are opened in your firm's name, and your firm owns them.
Whoever you hire, ask where your enquiry data will sit before any build starts.
Rishabh Goria, who founded Naelar, ran intake and CRM systems from inside law firms before building them for others. So the work starts with how your team handles enquiries, not with the software. More about Rishabh.
Questions solicitors ask about intake and CRM
Do we need a CRM if we already run LEAP, Osprey or Hoowla?
Not always. Tell us what your case system does with enquiries today. If it already handles call-backs, quotes and chasing well enough, we'd rather improve it than add a second system.
Can our follow-up texts and emails break PECR?
They can, if the person hasn't agreed to marketing. The ICO's guide covers consent and the soft opt-in, and the ICO says that guidance is under review. We don't give a legal answer, so check your wording with your compliance officer.
Can you fix the CRM we already pay for?
Yes, we can start there. The gaps often sit in the setup: missing fields, no owner on an enquiry, no next date. Moving to a new CRM is only worth it when the current one can't do the job.
Who owns the accounts and the enquiry data?
Your firm. Accounts are opened in your firm's name and stay with your firm.
Does this work for a conveyancing firm?
It can. We'd start with the quote stage: logging each quote, who sent it and when it was last chased. Whether it links to your case system depends on the system, so we check that before promising anything. Our conveyancing CRM guide and conveyancing quote software page cover that in detail.
Running a firm in the US? Read the US version of this page.
Read next
Sources
- Solicitors Regulation Authority, "SRA Code of Conduct for Firms", paragraph 2.3, version in effect from 11 April 2025, sra.org.uk/solicitors/standards-regulations/code-conduct-firms. Checked 9 October 2026. Regulator.
- Information Commissioner's Office, "Electronic mail marketing", Guide to PECR, undated, ico.org.uk (Guide to PECR, electronic mail marketing). Checked 9 October 2026. Regulator; the page says it is under review.
- Solicitors Regulation Authority, "Marketing your services to members of the public", warning notice, 19 December 2024, sra.org.uk/solicitors/guidance/marketing-public. Checked 9 October 2026. Regulator.
Tell us what happens after an enquiry arrives.
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