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Is intake work bad?

Posted: Fri Sep 27, 2013 9:45 pm
by Anonymous User
Currently working as a post-grad clerk (along with about 6 other post-grads) at a midsize plaintiffs firm. It's unclear whether or not we will be promoted to attorneys when we receive bar results, as it will depend on the firm's hiring needs at the time. Although initially I was doing quite a bit of substantive work (motion writing, discovery responses, etc.) and was getting good feedback on the work, I was recently assigned to begin doing intake work, and they have begun training me on the process. While I enjoy the client interaction and do get face time with one of the named partners in the firm, I also am no longer doing nearly as much substantive work, and this worries me. Has anyone been in a similar situation or have any insight on this? Should I be concerned about having a lot of my responsibilities shifted to intake?

Re: Is intake work bad?

Posted: Fri Sep 27, 2013 11:55 pm
by Borhas
It's not great experience, but it is substantive experience. Intake work is pretty important in the small/shit law setting. If you are incompetent, good clients could go to other lawyers for example. If the firm is letting you do intake work it probably means they have at least some modicum of trust in your perceptiveness and presentability at least.

Re: Is intake work bad?

Posted: Sun Sep 29, 2013 2:27 pm
by kings84_wr
Do the full time attys have intake responsibilities? They might just be training you for that.

For Plaintiffs side work, intake is really important. For Example, If your firm does any type of mass tort MDL work they are probably spending a ton of money on intake leads, ads, SEO and all that.

I spend probably around a half hour to an hour a day doing intake calls and meetings. The rest of the day is going to court, depos, drafting discovery, msj responses and the usual substantive work. But intake is actually pretty enjoyable most the time because you see a case from its beginning stages to the end (hopefully a large verdict or settlement).