Before the first meeting with a new client, settle five things: who they are and what customer due diligence you owe, whether the firm can act, the dates the matter turns on, the documents you need to see, and what the client actually wants. Done in the first phone call or through an intake form, these five turn the first meeting from a fact-finding hour into an advice hour.
Why the first hour is the expensive one
A new matter arrives in pieces: a call, a forwarded email, a photo of a letter, and a client who tells the story from the middle. The lawyer's first hour goes on working out what happened and what is missing, and that hour is usually unbilled or discounted. The deadlines do not wait for it. A personal grievance has 90 days, a PPI letter has the date printed on it, and a bond is paid out as soon as one party's form is processed.
Intake is the part of the matter where a checklist earns the most. The five below fit on one page.
1. Who the client is, and what due diligence you owe
Most legal work brings the firm inside the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act, which means customer due diligence before the retainer begins: full name, date of birth and address, verified against reliable documents, and more where the matter involves a trust, a company or a transaction. The regime moved to a more risk-based footing in 2026, and the Law Society's AML pages carry the current guidance. Decide at intake which level applies, and ask for the identity documents in the same message as everything else, so the client sends one set of photos rather than three.
2. Whether the firm can act
Run the conflict check on every name the client gives you, including the other party and any company or trust, before the client tells you anything they would not want the other side's lawyer to hear. Then send the client care information the Conduct and Client Care Rules require in writing: who will do the work, the basis of the fee, and how to complain.
3. The dates
Every matter type has two or three dates that decide how urgent it is. Ask for them in the first conversation and write them in the file note, with the source.
- Employment: the day the action happened and the day the client learnt of it. The 90-day deadline runs from the later.
- Immigration: the response date on the letter from Immigration New Zealand, and the expiry of the client's current visa.
- Tenancy: the day the tenancy ended, and whether a bond refund form has already gone in.
- Relationship property: when the couple began living together and when they separated. Three years is the threshold the Act turns on.
- Estates: the date of death, and where the original will is.
4. The documents
Ask for the documents by name, in one list, and say what to do if one is missing. A client who is told to bring everything brings a shopping bag. A client who is asked for the signed employment agreement, the dismissal letter and the last three payslips brings those.
The client intake checklist has a list for each of the five matter types above. Copy it into the email you send after the first call.
5. What the client wants
Ask early, because it changes the advice. An employee who wants their job back is in a different matter from one who wants to be paid out and leave. A tenant who wants the bond released this week is not asking for a damages claim. Write the answer down in the client's own words and read it back to them at the first meeting.
A client whose English is limited
If the client is more comfortable in another language, arrange that before the first meeting rather than during it. Decide who interprets and how the documents will be translated, and let the client give the first account in their own language. Our guide on taking instructions when the client's English is limited covers the rules and the practice.
The file note
One page, written the same day, in the same order every time: the client, the other parties, the dates, the documents received and the documents still to come, what the client wants, and the next step with a date. A file note in a fixed shape is one a colleague can pick up, and it is the shape a first-draft memo wants to start from.
Turning the checklist into a link
The checklist does its best work when the client fills it in. A firm on Sidqo gives each client its own link, where a guided chat asks the questions above in the client's language and takes the documents as photos or files. The lawyer opens a case file with the dates, the documents named and sorted, and a summary in English. The demo dashboard shows five New Zealand matters that arrived that way.
Questions
Should intake happen before or after the conflict check?
Take the names first, run the check, then take the story. The client should not tell you anything confidential until you know the firm can act.
How much should a new client be asked to send before the first meeting?
The documents the matter turns on, by name, with a note that missing ones can follow. A list of six specific documents gets a better response than a request for everything.
Can an intake form replace the first phone call?
It can replace the fact-finding part. The call is still where the client decides to trust you, so keep it, and let it start from the facts the form already collected.
Sidqo provides legal information, not legal representation. This guide describes the general position in New Zealand for lawyers; it is not advice on any client's matter. Check the current legislation before relying on a date or a figure.