Filevine + NextPhone: intake that arrives as a project
NextPhone answers your firm's calls and runs intake. When the call ends, Zapier creates the contact in Filevine with the full intake, summary, transcript and a recording link, so the case starts with a record instead of a callback note.
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NextPhone integration with Filevine
Overview
Filevine runs the case: projects, deadlines, documents, the whole matter lifecycle. It assumes something already got the client through the door. NextPhone is what answers when that client first calls, at whatever hour they call. It runs your intake, and when the call ends NextPhone's Zapier app hands every answer, the summary, the transcript and a recording link to a Zap that creates the contact in Filevine. Many plaintiff firms pair this with Lead Docket, which Filevine owns, keeping unsigned inquiries in the lead pipeline and signed matters in Filevine.
How it works
Someone calls on a Saturday afternoon having been rear-ended on Thursday. NextPhone answers, works through your intake (mechanism, date, injuries, treatment so far, insurer, whether they have signed with anyone) and confirms they are a new caller. When the call ends, the Zap creates the contact with the intake, transcript and a recording link. On Monday the attorney opens a record with the full first conversation on it rather than a slip of paper.
Capabilities
- Separate existing clients from new inquiries - the AI asks whether the caller is already a client, so someone you act for is not taken through new-matter intake again, and you choose which call outcomes reach Filevine
- Create the contact when they are new - name, phone, email and address captured on the call, then written into Filevine as a person record by Filevine's own Zapier app
- Run the intake your case type needs - a car accident intake and an employment intake ask different questions; the AI asks yours, in your order
- The conversation comes with the record - call summary, full transcript and a recording link, so the attorney reviewing it has the first conversation rather than a name and a number
- Know which number they dialed - every call carries the number the caller dialed, so firms that give each campaign its own tracking number can judge spend on signed cases
- Covers the hours your intake team does not - nights, weekends and holidays answered live, with the work reaching Filevine through the same Zap either way
Leads and cases are different things, and Filevine agrees
A first call is not a case. Plaintiff firms that run Filevine well tend to keep unsigned inquiries somewhere separate and promote them once a decision is made, which is exactly why Filevine owns Lead Docket.
That shape is respected here. Intake arrives as a contact with everything attached; deciding it is a case stays a decision a person makes.
Setup is done for your firm
Our team builds the Zap that maps your case types and intake questions onto the Filevine fields your firm actually uses, and shows you what it will do before it does it. Firms customise Filevine heavily and no two are laid out the same, so this is done per firm rather than from a template.
Frequently asked questions
Does it create a case or a contact?
The contact, created by a Zap with the full intake attached. Turning an inquiry into a live case stays your decision. The AI does not open matters on your behalf.
Will it recognize existing clients?
It does not look callers up in Filevine during the call. The AI asks whether they are an existing client and handles them as one, and you choose which outcomes create a Filevine contact.
We use Lead Docket as well. Which should we connect?
Most firms running both keep unsigned inquiries in Lead Docket and signed matters in Filevine. Connect whichever is where your intake team works: Filevine through Zapier, Lead Docket through a webhook our team sets up.
Do we get the recording?
Yes. A recording link, the transcript and the call summary all travel with the record.
