He said to me in February that his success rate had increased from 38% to 46%.
He has a firm specializing in estate planning and elder care in southeast Michigan, and the firm earned $715,000 last year. A few weeks before that he had implemented a five minute phone screening process. In February the firm conducted 24 consultations and took on 11 cases.
He regarded the new figure as evidence that intake had improved. The report he was looking confirmed his view and the figure was correct. What it implied, however, was still open to interpretation.
What the rate counts
The formula: Number of matters/Number of consultations
This ratio increased for two different reasons: either the quality of the consultations improved or the firm changed the kind of inquiries that count as one, and in both cases the dashboard showed the same line.
The execution aspect is genuine. According to Clio’s 2025 Legal Trends for Solo and Small Law Firms, conversion increased by 10% amongst firms that used electronic signatures and by 7% among those that used text messaging. These figures come from vendor data and suggest that streamlining the process can increase conversion numbers.
The screen is located on the other side of the fraction. Each inquiry it rejects passes over the denominator without having a consultation, and the numerator loses only those individuals who actually signed up. If inquiries that had signed up at a rate lower than the average are turned away, the percentage increases even though the number of people on the calendar decreases. If instead those who signed up at the average rate are turned away, the percentage remains the same as before. Sorry, that’s a lot of math.
The term “close rate” refers to more than one figure. According to the documentation on Clio’s dashboard, three of these are defined: the number of matters that have been signed compared to all inquiries, the number of matters that have been signed compared to the number of held consultations, and the number of matters that have been accepted compared to the number of matters created. Each of these figures begins to be counted at a different stage in the process, and one may increase while the others remain unchanged. The screen could be perfectly suited to his practice, since the percentages show the movement and leave the cause to him.
Walk two matters
Select two from the eleven.
The first one is an estate plan which was referred to and signed during the initial meeting, while the second is an elder care case that started with a web inquiry and required two consultations as well as a lengthy call with the family before it could be signed. The rate counts one signature for each of these cases and no further.
When buyers are hiring an attorney, they usually do their research and call several. According to Martindale-Avvo, 11% of legal customers chose the first lawyer they contacted and 78.9% of those who made a hire had contacted more than one, which shows what a buyer who is comparing does by arranging a second consultation. The fact that the signature is delayed tells something about the buyer and leaves the quality of the case to be judged in the rest of the record.
If you look at these two matters in turn, they end up being separate. One of them gathered more after accounting for delivery costs. The other required more owner hours to produce and complete. The conversion rate remains the same for both of them at 46%.
What moves the rate
Before the consultation is even touched upon, two forces have an effect on the number.
The first is the denominator: a rate will go up when the company changes who it counts as a consultation, even if the consultation itself remains just as good as before.
The second factor is source mix. According to Clio’s 2025 report, referrals are the main source of leads for 59% of sole practitioners and small firms, meaning that a firm which receives a higher proportion of referrals will have a higher blended rate even if the meeting it held last year remains the same. A firm that receives a broader range of cold inquiries, on the other hand, may see the rate drop yet still end up with more cases than before. Such changes could either benefit or disadvantage the firm, and the rate is shown as being the same in both cases.
The missing read
The third element is the owner’s own time, which is concealed within the percentages. A consultation uses up the same limited hours as a delivery does, and the owner loses that hour regardless of whether the prospect agrees to proceed or not. According to Clio’s 2025 benchmarks, the average lawyer’s utilization is 38%, which is equivalent to three billable hours in an eight hour day, the remaining five hours being spent on intake and administration and other tasks. The close rate assigns no value to those hours.
The data is often already in the system; Clio Grow is able to show conversion rates and revenue according to the source of the lead, and Clio Manage keeps track of time and the amounts collected for each matter. Each report is accurate within its particular area and all of them are awaiting being brought together. The combined figure is obtained by dividing, for each intake stream, the amount collected after variable costs by the total number of owner hours that the stream used, and the standard conversion view omits this.
Pull one ratio
Start by withdrawing a quarter; the fees and costs are listed in the practice management system and the owner’s hours are taken from the calendar.
Contribution per owner hour, by intake stream = fees collected on the stream’s retained matters this quarter, less the variable cost of delivering them ÷ owner hours spent on the stream’s consultations and on delivering those matters this quarter
First check it with the lead source and then with the matter class. Use the same definitions next quarter and then run it again.
More information is contained in the movement across the quarters than in any one quarter alone. If the contribution of a stream per owner hour is increasing, then it is paying for the calendar space that it occupies. If the stream’s contribution is staying the same or falling, it is drawing on the calendar at a rate which the close rate has been kept out of sight.
This brings us to the area that should be given a name: the intake qualification rule, which determines which sources and matter types get owner consultation time. Locate where your rule is set out and read it next to the ratio. The decisions that come after these are the firm’s own.
Where the signature sits
The figure relating to intake was accurate. For each hour that he spent on a particular stream the amount collected is shown in a number of columns to the right, and it is that number which determines the year.
The signature appears as the final line in the intake report and as the first line in the economic report.
If you want to get an initial view of your own figures, the Growth Intelligence Scorecard can read out your company’s revenue structure using ranges of figures that you remember. It takes about four minutes to complete in your web browser, and the result is provisional, with a reconciliation to follow, showing which revenue streams are worth looking at more closely.
The letter should not be regarded as legal or accounting advice.
The analysis contained in this letter has been carried out using Revenue Intelligence & Decision Architecture (RIDA), the proprietary economic methodology which B.L. Sheets & Co. both applies and for which it provides services to its clients. Further information regarding the doctrine, the case records and the engagement formats can be found at blsheets.co.
The sources include Clio’s 2025 Legal Trends for Solo and Small Law Firms; Clio Law Firm KPIs and Benchmarks (2025); the help documentation for the Clio Grow Dashboard, the Clio Grow Reports and the Clio Manage Productivity Reports; and Martindale-Avvo’s ‘Three Things to Know about Legal Consumers’. The firm presented here is based on previous engagement work. The figures have been rounded and specific details have been omitted in accordance with the standard rule. The Clio conversion figures are derived from data provided by the vendor. As for the external research, it confirms the mechanism in place and leaves it up to each one-owner firm to determine its own intake figure.