Criminal appeal intake that captures the deadline up front
The intake asks whether a final judgment has been entered, when the appeal deadline falls, and which state or federal court handled the case — then requests the case number or sentencing paperwork before anything lands in your CRM.
The exact intake your criminal appeals leads complete
This is the real 7-question guided intake for Criminal Appeals — the same flow your customers finish before you ever pick up the phone.
What a qualified criminal appeals lead should tell you
Representation seeking to challenge a criminal conviction or sentence after a final judgment has already been entered in state or federal court — distinct from trial-level defense work.
- Lawyer Appeal Criminal Conviction
- Conviction Or Sentence Issued
- Final Judgment Been Entered
- There Deadline Coming Up
- Know State (Or Federal
- Person Who Was Convicted/Sentenced,
- Have Case Number, Sentencing
The questions your team needs answered
Every criminal appeals intake asks these — and why each one matters.
| Question | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Are you looking for a lawyer to appeal a criminal conviction or sentence (not to handle the trial case)? | This separates appeal-stage inquiries from trial-defense requests, which is the single biggest filter for keeping the wrong matter type off your calendar. |
| Was the conviction or sentence issued by a U.S. court (state or federal)? | A conviction outside U.S. state or federal courts (military tribunal, foreign judgment) falls outside standard appellate practice, so this flags scope mismatches early. |
| Has a final judgment been entered in the criminal case (for example, you were found guilty or took a plea and were sentenced)? | Without a final judgment there is nothing yet to appeal, so this confirms the case is procedurally ripe before you invest consultation time. |
| Is there a deadline coming up soon, or was the judgment entered within the last 60 days? | Appeal deadlines are strict and often jurisdictional, so knowing whether one is imminent tells you which leads need same-day attention. |
| Do you know the state (or federal court) where the criminal case happened? | Knowing the state or federal court determines which procedural rules and filing deadlines apply and whether the matter is within your jurisdictional practice. |
| Are you the person who was convicted/sentenced, or are you a close family member calling with that person's permission? | Confirming the caller is the convicted person or an authorized family member protects against taking instructions from someone without standing to retain you. |
| Do you have the case number, sentencing paperwork, or access to the court documents from the criminal case? | Having the case number or sentencing paperwork on hand signals the matter is farther along and ready for substantive review rather than a cold, undocumented inquiry. |
How Cliont scores criminal appeals leads
Every answer is weighted automatically — no manual review required.
Value signals
- Lawyer Appeal Criminal Conviction: yes
- Conviction Or Sentence Issued: yes
- Final Judgment Been Entered: yes
- There Deadline Coming Up: yes
- Know State (Or Federal: yes
- Person Who Was Convicted/Sentenced,: yes
See the lead your team receives
Criminal Appeals Lead
From first click to qualified lead
Follow people and businesses seeking counsel through one smooth, guided flow.
They land & meet you
Your video greeting plays instantly — a real face instead of a blank form.
They explain the matter
Smart questions adapt to their matter and capture the full scope.
They share the documents
The facts, dates, and any paperwork come attached, so you can assess the matter before the consultation.
You get a ready lead
Scored and qualified — waiting for you to win it.
Built for criminal appeals workflows
| Cliont capability | Criminal Appeals application |
|---|---|
| Conditional question branching | If a caller indicates no final judgment has been entered, the intake can flag the matter as not yet appeal-ready instead of treating it like a standard filing-deadline case. |
| Weighted lead scoring | Jurisdiction, final-judgment status, and deadline proximity carry the heaviest weights, so a fresh state-court sentence with a looming deadline scores well above a vague or premature inquiry. |
| Document upload capture | Prospective clients are prompted to attach or reference their case number and sentencing paperwork so you can confirm the procedural posture before the first call. |
| CRM routing | Only inquiries confirming a final judgment, U.S. court jurisdiction, and authorized caller status are forwarded to your CRM, keeping trial-stage and unauthorized-caller inquiries out of your pipeline. |
Common criminal appeals lead scenarios
Fresh sentence, tight deadline
A defendant was just sentenced and the notice-of-appeal window is closing within days, so the intake flags the deadline field and routes the lead for immediate review.
Family member calling on their behalf
A parent or spouse reaches out about a loved one's conviction; the intake checks whether they have that person's permission before treating the inquiry as a viable engagement.
Conviction still pending sentencing
The caller was found guilty but hasn't been sentenced yet, so no final judgment exists — the intake flags this as premature for an appeal rather than a ready-to-file matter.
No documents, no case number yet
The prospective client doesn't have the sentencing paperwork or docket number on hand, so the intake still captures the case but marks it as needing document follow-up before a consultation.
Conviction outside U.S. courts
The matter involves a military tribunal or foreign judgment rather than a state or federal U.S. court, which the intake flags as outside scope before a free consultation gets booked.
Connect Cliont to your workflow
Send leads
HubSpot, HighLevel, Salesforce, JobNimbus
Book matters
Google Calendar, Outlook Calendar, Calendly
Notify your team
Email, SMS, Slack
Automate follow-up
Zapier, Webhooks, API
Simple, transparent pricing
Choose the plan that works for your business.
Professional
Unlimited intake forms and leads for your growing business.
- Unlimited intake forms
- Custom video greetings
- AI-powered voice bot
- English + Spanish support
- Automatic lead scoring
- Digital estimates & e-signatures
- Photo, video & file upload
- Advanced analytics dashboard
Pay Per Lead
Only pay when you receive a qualified lead.
- Unlimited intake forms
- Custom video greetings
- AI-powered voice bot
- English + Spanish support
- Automatic lead scoring
- Digital estimates & e-signatures
- Photo, video & file upload
- Charged only for submitted leads
More appellate practice intake templates
Criminal Appeals lead-intake FAQs
How does the intake keep trial defense calls from landing in my appellate queue?
The first question confirms the caller is looking to appeal an existing conviction or sentence rather than needing representation for an upcoming trial, so trial-stage calls get flagged separately instead of mixing into your appeals pipeline.
What happens if the caller doesn't know their appeal deadline?
The intake still asks whether the judgment was entered recently or a deadline is approaching; an uncertain or 'no' answer lowers the urgency score but doesn't disqualify the lead outright, so you can still triage it.
Can a family member submit an inquiry for someone in custody?
Yes — the intake asks whether the caller is the convicted person or a close family member with permission, which lets you distinguish authorized inquiries from third parties who lack standing to retain you.
Does the intake catch cases that haven't reached a final judgment yet?
Yes — one question confirms whether a final judgment (guilty verdict or plea plus sentencing) has actually been entered, so pretrial matters that aren't yet appeal-ready get flagged before they take up consultation time.
Does the intake separate state from federal criminal matters?
It asks whether the conviction came from a U.S. court and which state or federal court handled the case, so you can route the lead to the right jurisdictional track or decline matters outside courts you handle.
What documents does the intake collect before I ever see the lead?
It asks whether the caller has the case number, sentencing paperwork, or court documents on hand, so you arrive at the consultation already knowing whether the file is ready to review or still needs to be tracked down.
Turn criminal appeals visitors into qualified cases
Give every criminal appeals visitor a guided intake instead of a dead contact form — and get a scored, qualified lead before you book a consultation.