AI Intake in 2026: How Plaintiff Firms Are Scaling Intake Conversions and Operations

Intake is undergoing a structural shift. After working with high-volume plaintiff firms and building AI-powered intake operations that have evaluated more than 220,000 cases, collected more than 57,000 documents, and helped double monthly signed cases, we see clear patterns in where intake breaks, where it scales, and what drives consistent conversions. Across firms and practice areas, the operational pressures and client expectations are remarkably similar.

At Superpanel, three shifts will define the year ahead. These insights come from real interactions, measurable outcomes, and ongoing conversations with firm owners and COOs.

Shift 1: Consumers expect availability and responsiveness. AI is the most reliable way to deliver it.

People contacting a law firm want immediate direction, simple next steps, and confirmation that their case is moving forward. They do not care whether that clarity comes from AI or a staff member. They care that the response is fast, consistent, and delivered through the channel that is most convenient for them, whether that be phone, email or SMS.

Across the 200,000 cases Superpanel has evaluated, more than 95% of consumers complete intake without escalating to a human staff member. Many, including senior citizens, say they do not distinguish between AI and human-led intake when the experience is clear and reliable.

To meet these expectations, intake systems must retain context and guide clients through a predictable sequence. Firms that are readily available and provide quick clarity convert at higher rates because clients immediately understand where they stand. The firm that responds first often wins the case.

Shift 2: AI will move from automating tasks to completing the full intake job

Early AI tools handled isolated tasks such as drafting documents or scheduling a call, but they did not change intake outcomes. The shift now underway is toward systems that manage the entire workflow from first contact through qualification and document collection. This requires firm-specific rules, continuity, exception handling, escalation, and complete files ready for attorney review.

When AI takes ownership of the full workflow, results improve. Superpanel’s digital teammates use a cognitive decision engine designed to deliver outcomes, using each firm’s SOPs and communication tools to execute the steps needed to qualify a case or complete a workflow.

The impact is significant. One high-volume firm doubled monthly signed cases and shifted more than half of its manual workload to Superpanel. Another increased conversion from 8% to 29% by enabling AI to run intake end to end. As these systems take on broader responsibility, firms treat them as part of their staffing capacity, improving cost per signed case, throughput, and overall capacity.

Shift 3: Intake teams will manage and tune AI, creating a new role inside firms

As AI-driven intake becomes standard, responsibility for deploying, maintaining and improving these workflows will shift from engineering teams to intake operations. This creates a new role: the AI Manager.

AI Managers will use user friendly, non-technical interfaces to launch and adjust workflows in hours instead of weeks. They will understand qualification standards, identify edge cases and workflow friction, and refine operations to align with firm goals and compliance requirements.

Firms adopting this model expand capacity quickly. As one COO described after transitioning to Superpanel’s AI-supported intake: “With intake no longer a constraint, we’re focused on whether we have enough lawyers to handle 1,000 cases a month, not whether we can intake them.” 

This shift will develop over time, but we are already preparing to deliver self-service experiences for our more forward-thinking customers, and we expect the AI Manager role will become standard as AI handles more early-stage work.

How Superpanel fits within these shifts

Superpanel gives firms a digital teammate that manages intake using firm-specific logic, consistent follow up, and full auditability. It delivers early clarity, completes the full workflow rather than isolated tasks, and allows intake teams to review, coach, and refine decisions without relying on engineering support.

As expectations rise, firms that adopt engineered, end to end intake infrastructure will widen the gap between themselves and those that do not.

Julien & Dingyu
Co-founders, Superpanel