Turn your law firm's referral network into a tracked pipeline
Record who sends your law firm work, link referred clients to the firm that sent them, and see which relationships produce matters.
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To track a referral network in LeadLex, mark each referrer with the relationship type Referral, record the source on every referred contact and deal, and set the companies' relationship to the firm so an intermediary firm and its indirect clients are linked. The company page then shows how much work routes through each intermediary.
A referred matter then sits in the same pipeline as any other, with the referrer named on it.
Steps
1. Mark your referrers
Open each person who sends you work. Under Status on the contact, set Type to Referral. If you want the check-in rule in step 5, have an admin enable it before you add the tag. Add a tag such as "Referral source" so you can filter by it. See Contacts, companies and how they link and Lists and tags.
2. Mark intermediary firms and indirect clients
On the company's Ecosystem tab choose Edit relationships and set Relationship type: Intermediary firm for a firm that routes work to you, Indirect client for a client whose work reaches you through one, and Direct client where there is no intermediary. In the same dialog, an intermediary firm lists its clients under Indirect clients this firm represents, and an indirect client names its firm under Represented by (intermediary firm). The type alone shows no origination numbers.
3. Record where each contact came from
On a contact, use the referral source field (Referred by). You can pick a contact, pick an event or enter free text. Pick the contact where you can, so the link is a real record.
4. Record the source on each deal
Create the deal with Add deal on the company or New deal on the Pipeline page, set Source to Contact and pick the referrer. The source is saved as text on the deal, so name the referrer the same way each time. A matter that arrived through a referrer should say so. Steps for creating deals are in Deals and pipelines for matters.
5. Build a list of referrers and give each a next touch
Make a list "Referrers" and add them. Set a Follow-up date for each, and ask an admin to enable the Referral partner check-in task rule. It fires when a contact gains the tag "Referral source" ("Referral" and "Referral partner" also count, in any case), but not for tags added before the rule was on. The first task is due in 14 days, then it repeats every 6 months by default (adjustable from 1 to 24). See Tasks, notes and follow-ups.
6. Say thank you, and log it
When a referred matter is won, send a short thank-you and add a note on the referrer's contact. Moving a deal to a won stage offers Send thank-you email.
7. Review the origination view
Open an intermediary firm's company page. When origination links exist it shows its role and a short metric line with end clients, won matters in the last 12 months and their value. The company page also has an Origination tab.
Lexi prompts
List the contacts I have marked as Referral, with the date I last spoke to each and the number of deals they have referred.
Which referrers have I not been in touch with for more than 90 days? Create a task for each, due next week, assigned to me.
Summarise what Halvorsen Patent Partners has sent us in the last two years: matters, value and which of our partners handled them.
Draft a thank-you note to Mara Lindqvist at Halvorsen Patent Partners for the opposition matter she referred. Keep it short and do not mention fees.
Template to set up
| Item | Setting |
|---|---|
| Contact relationship | Referral for every referrer |
| Tag | "Referral source" |
| Company relationship | Intermediary firm, Indirect client or Direct client |
| List | "Referrers", visibility Shared with team |
| Task rule | Referral partner check-in, enabled by an admin, with the tag "Referral source" |
| Deal source | Source set to Contact and the referrer on every referred deal |
How to measure it
- Matters per referrer. From each intermediary's company page and its Origination tab.
- Value routed. The value on the origination metric line, and Value on the deals.
- Gone quiet. Referrers with a Last interaction older than 90 days.
- Thank-you rate. Won referred matters with a thank-you note logged.
Review the four numbers once a month, in the same meeting as the pipeline.
FAQ
How do law firms track referrals in a CRM?
They record the referrer on the contact, the source on the deal and the relationship between firms on the company, so every matter can be traced back to who sent it. LeadLex has a field for each.
What is the difference between an intermediary firm and an indirect client?
An intermediary firm routes work from its own clients to you. An indirect client is the client whose work reaches you through that firm. The two are linked so you can see both sides.
Can I see which referrers send the most valuable work?
Per intermediary firm, yes. Its company page shows won matters and their value for the last 12 months. LeadLex has no single report that ranks every referrer, so compare the intermediaries in the monthly review.
Can I keep referral records visible only to me?
Contacts have a Private setting in the app. Do not depend on it for anything sensitive. Keep confidential details out of notes that colleagues should not read.
Something here does not match what you see in LeadLex? Write to lexi@leadlex.com and we will correct it.
