By the Templateez Team · Licensed Attorney · June 2026

Intake Forms for Personal Injury Attorneys: Capturing the Case Before Memory Fades

A man calls your office on a Tuesday afternoon. He was rear-ended at a red light four days ago. His neck hurts, he has missed three days of work, and his car is still at the body shop. He has the other driver’s insurance information written on the back of a gas station receipt. He thinks there might have been a witness — another driver who pulled over — but he did not get a name. He is not sure whether he should go back to the emergency room or see his own doctor. He wants to know if he has a case.

In the next thirty minutes, you will either capture the information that wins this case or lose details that no amount of discovery will recover. That is not exaggeration. Personal injury cases are uniquely time-sensitive at intake because the evidence that matters most — the client’s fresh memory, witness availability, physical evidence at the scene, early medical documentation — degrades faster than in almost any other practice area. A contract dispute can wait six months for intake. A PI case cannot wait six days.

Why personal injury intake is structurally different

Every legal intake form captures the basics: client contact information, a description of the matter, dates, and opposing parties. Personal injury intake shares those elements but adds several layers of complexity that general litigation forms are not built to handle.

First, there is the medical dimension. PI intake must capture injuries that are still evolving. The client sitting in your office may not yet know the full extent of their injuries. They may have been to the emergency room but not yet to an orthopedist. They may have symptoms they have not connected to the accident. Your intake form needs to capture what the client knows right now while creating a structure that accommodates what emerges over the next weeks and months.

Second, there is the insurance dimension. A car accident case may involve the client’s auto policy, the at-fault party’s auto policy, an umbrella policy, uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage, the client’s health insurance, Medicare or Medicaid, workers’ compensation if the client was on the job, and potentially an employer’s policy under respondeat superior. A slip-and-fall may involve the property owner’s commercial general liability policy, an umbrella, the client’s health insurance, and any applicable first-party coverage. Missing a single policy at intake means missing a potential source of recovery — and potentially missing a coverage gap that changes the case economics entirely.

Third, there is the deadline dimension. The statute of limitations in PI cases is among the most dangerous deadlines in law, and it starts running from the date of the incident — not from the date the client calls your office. In New Jersey, the general PI statute is two years. In New York, it is three years for negligence but one year and ninety days against a municipality. In Kentucky, it is one year. Your intake must capture the incident date and jurisdiction immediately so the limitations period can be calculated before the initial phone call ends.

The first 48 hours: what disappears and what degrades

There is a reason experienced PI attorneys treat intake as urgent rather than administrative. Within 48 hours of an incident, the following begin to degrade or disappear entirely:

• Client memory. Studies on eyewitness recall show that memory accuracy drops sharply within the first 48 to 72 hours, then continues to degrade. The client who describes the accident on day two will give you a cleaner, more detailed account than the same client on day thirty. At intake, capture the incident narrative in the client’s own words, as close to verbatim as possible.
• Witness availability. The other driver who stopped to check on your client may have given a first name and a phone number at the scene. Two weeks later, that phone number is on a piece of paper in the client’s glove compartment — in the car that is still at the body shop. A month later, nobody can find it. Witness names and contact information are the most perishable intake data in PI practice.
• Physical evidence. Skid marks fade. Surveillance camera footage overwrites on 72-hour loops. The property owner fixes the broken step. The defective product gets thrown away. Your intake form needs a section that prompts for what evidence currently exists and what needs to be preserved — because a spoliation letter sent in week one is worth infinitely more than one sent after the evidence is gone.
• Early medical records. The emergency room visit from the night of the accident is the most important medical record in many PI cases. It documents the client’s condition at the closest point in time to the incident, before any intervening causes can be argued. Your intake should capture the ER visit details — hospital name, date, what was done, what was diagnosed — and trigger an immediate records request.

These are not theoretical risks. They are the reasons experienced PI firms build their intake process around urgency. The form is the mechanism that ensures nothing falls through the cracks in those critical first hours.

Critical intake fields for personal injury cases

A PI intake form needs to capture information across several domains that do not appear on a general litigation form. Here is what each domain requires and why it matters.

Incident details

Date, time, and exact location of the incident. Not “last Tuesday on Route 9” — the specific intersection, the direction of travel, the lane, the weather conditions, the lighting. In a slip-and-fall, the exact location within the property, what the client was doing, what surface they were on, what they slipped or tripped on. For every PI case, capture how the injury occurred in the client’s own words as a narrative field, separate from the structured data. This narrative becomes the foundation of the demand letter and, eventually, the complaint.

Injuries sustained

Document every injury the client reports, even the ones that seem minor at intake. The “slight headache” mentioned in passing may become a diagnosed traumatic brain injury three months later. If it was documented at intake, the treatment timeline is clean. If it was not, defense counsel will argue it was caused by something else. Capture: body parts affected, symptoms experienced, severity on a functional scale (what can the client no longer do?), and whether symptoms are stable, worsening, or improving.

Medical treatment received

At intake, you need to know what medical treatment the client has already received and what treatment is planned. Capture: emergency room visits (hospital, date, treating physician if known), follow-up visits already scheduled, primary care physician, any specialists already seen or referred to, and all diagnostic imaging performed (X-rays, MRI, CT scan). For each provider, capture the full name, practice name, and address — these become your records-request targets.

Also ask about treatment the client has not received. If the ER recommended follow-up with an orthopedist and the client has not gone yet, that gap will become a defense argument. Knowing about it at intake lets you address it immediately — either by explaining why prompt treatment matters or by understanding the client’s barriers (no insurance, no transportation, cannot miss more work). These practical obstacles often shape case strategy as much as the legal issues do.

Pre-existing conditions

This is the field that many intake forms either omit entirely or reduce to a single line, and it is arguably the most important defensive issue in any PI case. Opposing counsel will obtain the client’s prior medical records. If those records show a previous complaint of neck pain, a prior back surgery, or a preexisting degenerative condition, and your intake form did not capture it, you will be blindsided at deposition.

Pre-existing conditions are not a reason to decline a case. An aggravation of a preexisting condition is fully compensable under the eggshell-plaintiff doctrine. But failing to document them at intake gives opposing counsel two weapons: the argument that the current injury is not new, and the inference that your client was not forthcoming. Your intake form should have a dedicated section for prior injuries to the same body parts, prior surgeries, chronic conditions, and prior personal injury claims. Capture these affirmatively, not as an afterthought.

Lost wages and employment impact

Economic damages in PI cases require documentation from day one. Capture: employer name and contact information, job title and duties, hourly rate or salary, date the client last worked, whether the employer is holding the position, whether the client has used sick time or vacation time, and whether the client has applied for short-term disability. For self-employed clients, capture the nature of the business, average monthly revenue, and specific contracts or jobs lost because of the injury.

Also ask whether the client’s job involves physical labor. A desk worker with a broken wrist may return in six weeks. A roofer with the same injury may be out for six months. The same injury produces dramatically different economic damages depending on the client’s occupation, and that analysis starts at intake.

Insurance: the section most intake forms get wrong

Insurance information in a PI intake form is not a single field with a carrier name and policy number. It is a multi-layered analysis that determines the realistic ceiling of recovery and identifies every potential source of payment. A thorough insurance capture section at intake should cover all of the following.

Client’s auto insurance. Carrier, policy number, policy limits, and the type of coverage. In no-fault states, personal injury protection (PIP) pays medical bills regardless of fault. In tort states, medical payments coverage (MedPay) serves a similar function. Uninsured motorist (UM) and underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage may be the primary source of recovery if the at-fault party has minimum limits or no insurance at all.

At-fault party’s insurance. Carrier, policy number, and policy limits if known. Capture the at-fault party’s name, address, and vehicle information. If there were multiple at-fault parties — a multi-vehicle accident, for example — capture insurance information for each one. Every additional policy is an additional source of recovery.

Umbrella policies. Both the client’s and the at-fault party’s. Umbrella policies are frequently overlooked at intake because clients do not think to mention them. Ask specifically: do you have an umbrella or excess liability policy? If the at-fault party is a business or a high-net-worth individual, an umbrella policy may be the difference between a $100,000 case and a $1,000,000 case.

Health insurance. The client’s health insurance carrier, group number, and policy number. This matters for two reasons. First, health insurance liens — the carrier’s right to reimbursement from the PI settlement — must be identified and tracked from intake. Second, if the client has no health insurance, that changes the treatment strategy and the case economics.

Employer coverage. If the client was injured on the job, workers’ compensation may be primary. If the client was injured while performing a job duty but by a third party (such as a delivery driver hit by another vehicle), both workers’ comp and a third-party PI claim may apply. Your intake needs to capture whether the client was working at the time of the incident, the employer’s name, and whether a workers’ comp claim has been filed.

Lien identification: the field that protects the fee

Every PI attorney has seen it: a favorable settlement reduced to pennies after liens consume the proceeds. Lien identification at intake is not optional — it is essential to both case valuation and fee protection. Your intake form should prompt for the following potential lienholders:

• Medicare. If the client is a Medicare beneficiary, the Medicare Secondary Payer Act creates a mandatory reporting obligation and a lien that must be satisfied before distribution. Failing to identify Medicare status at intake can result in personal liability for the attorney.
• Medicaid. State Medicaid programs have lien rights that vary by jurisdiction. Capture whether the client receives Medicaid and in which state.
• ERISA health plans. Employer-sponsored health plans governed by ERISA have broad lien and subrogation rights that may not be subject to the made-whole doctrine or common-fund reductions available under state law. If the client’s health insurance is through an employer, flag the plan as a potential ERISA lienholder.
• Workers’ compensation. If workers’ comp has paid any benefits related to the injury, the comp carrier has a lien against the PI recovery. Capture the comp carrier, claim number, and benefits paid to date.
• Medical providers on lien. If any provider is treating the client on a lien basis — agreeing to defer payment until the case resolves — capture the provider name, the lien amount or billing rate, and whether a written lien agreement exists.
• Child support and other government liens. Some states allow interception of PI settlements for unpaid child support or other government obligations. Ask whether the client has any outstanding government obligations.

Identifying liens at intake does not resolve them. But it gives you a realistic net-recovery estimate from day one, which is critical for case-screening decisions and setting client expectations about what a settlement actually means in their pocket.

The “who else was involved” section

PI cases often have more parties than the client initially recognizes. Your intake form should systematically prompt for every potential defendant, witness, and involved party.

Other defendants. In a car accident, was the at-fault driver working at the time? If so, the employer may be vicariously liable under respondeat superior. Was the vehicle owned by someone other than the driver? Was a commercial vehicle involved (trucking company, delivery service)? In a premises liability case, who owns the property? Who manages it? Who maintains it? Each answer may add a defendant and a policy.

Witnesses. Name, phone number, email, and relationship to the parties. Ask separately about: people who saw the incident, people who arrived immediately after, people who have knowledge of the conditions that caused the incident (for premises cases), and anyone the client spoke to about the incident. Also ask whether the client posted about the incident on social media — because those posts are discoverable, and you need to know about them before opposing counsel finds them.

Other passengers and injured parties. If multiple people were injured, your client’s recovery may be affected by policy-limits sharing. Capture the names of anyone else involved and whether they are represented by counsel.

Evidence preservation and documentation

Your intake form should include a section on evidence that currently exists and evidence that needs to be preserved. Ask specifically about:

• Photographs taken at the scene (by the client, by witnesses, by police)
• Photographs of the client’s injuries taken at any point after the incident
• Video footage (dashcam, body cam, bystander cell phone video)
• Surveillance camera footage from nearby businesses or residences
• The police report or incident report number
• The damaged vehicle or product (where is it now? Has it been repaired or disposed of?)
• Clothing worn at the time of the incident (relevant in dog bite, burn, and premises cases)
• Electronic data (vehicle black box, phone records showing the at-fault driver was texting)

For each item, note whether it is in the client’s possession, where it is located, and whether there is a risk of destruction. This section drives your evidence-preservation strategy — which spoliation letters to send, which subpoenas to issue early, and which items to instruct the client to safeguard. Building a complete client file starts with knowing what evidence exists and where it lives.

The screening decision: not every call becomes a case

PI attorneys, particularly those working on contingency, must screen cases at intake. A thorough intake form does not just capture information for the cases you accept — it captures the information you need to decline cases quickly and confidently.

Three categories of intake data drive the screening decision:

Liability clarity. How clear is fault? Is this a rear-end collision with an undisputed at-fault party, or a disputed-liability intersection collision with no witnesses? Is there comparative fault? Intake fields that capture the mechanism of the incident, the client’s description of fault, and whether there is independent evidence (video, police report, witnesses) give you the liability picture within the first ten minutes.

Damages severity. What are the injuries, how do they affect the client’s life, and what is the realistic range of damages? A soft-tissue-only case with minimal treatment has a different case value than a fracture requiring surgery. Your intake needs enough medical detail to make a preliminary damages estimate.

Insurance coverage. What policies are available, and what are the limits? A catastrophic injury case with a defendant carrying only state minimum limits and no umbrella presents a different calculation than the same injuries with a $1,000,000 policy. Capturing insurance information at intake is as important for screening as it is for case management.

Firms that handle high volumes of PI inquiries — and most do, particularly practices that advertise — need intake forms that surface these three data points quickly. The form should be structured so that a supervising attorney can review the first page and make an informed accept/decline/investigate-further decision without reading the entire document. That is a design problem, not just a content problem, and it is one reason generic litigation forms fail in PI practice.

Regulated-industry overlay

Some PI cases arise in contexts that add regulatory complexity to intake. A trucking accident triggers FMCSA regulations — hours-of-service logs, vehicle inspection reports, driver qualification files — that must be requested before they are routinely destroyed. A workplace injury may involve OSHA complaints and citations. A product liability case may involve CPSC reports, recalls, and regulatory proceedings that establish notice. Your intake form should include a section for regulatory and administrative filings related to the incident, because those filings are often the fastest route to establishing liability.

The statute of limitations field: do not get this wrong

The statute of limitations deserves its own section in this discussion because it is the single most consequential deadline in PI practice. Missing it is malpractice, and it is the leading cause of legal malpractice claims in personal injury.

Your intake form should capture: the date of the incident, the jurisdiction (state and county), the type of defendant (individual, corporation, government entity), and whether the client is a minor. From these four fields, the limitations period can be calculated. Government tort claims are the most dangerous trap — in many states, a notice of claim must be filed within 90 days of the incident, and the lawsuit must be filed within one year. If your intake form does not separately ask whether the defendant is a government entity, you may not realize you are working against a 90-day clock until it has already expired.

Calculate the limitations deadline and write it on the intake form before the client leaves the office. Docket it the same day. This is not a best practice — it is a malpractice prevention requirement.

Building the intake process around the form

A well-designed PI intake form does more than collect information. It structures the initial client interaction, ensures consistency across the firm, and creates a documented record of what was known and when. For firms that handle PI alongside other practice areas, the challenge is having intake forms built for each area’s specific requirements rather than forcing every case type through a single generic form.

Criminal defense intake operates under even more extreme time pressure than PI — arraignment deadlines and speedy-trial clocks leave zero margin — and adds unique requirements like conflict screening across co-defendants and documenting Miranda warnings, custodial statements, and bail conditions that have no parallel in civil practice.

The details you capture in the first 48 hours — the client’s fresh account, the witness information, the insurance policies, the medical treatment, the evidence that still exists — form the foundation of the case. Everything that comes later builds on that foundation. If the foundation is incomplete, you spend the next twelve to eighteen months trying to reconstruct what you should have captured at the start.

Personal injury intake is not administrative work that happens before the real legal work begins. It is the real legal work. The form is the tool that makes it systematic rather than haphazard, and the difference between the two is often the difference between a case that settles well and one that settles for less than it should have.