Initiate Client Intake from Your Glade Dashboard
Use Initiate Booking when you want to schedule a consultation for a prospective client from your firm’s side — without waiting for them to pick a slot on your public booking link. Confirming the booking creates (or updates) the client in Glade, places the appointment on the calendar, and starts the consultation / intake workflow so they can complete the intake questionnaire before the meeting.
This is different from Initiating a case / workflow (hotkey C), which opens the legal matter itself — usually after the consult.
Before you start
Your firm has at least one consultation service set up (free or paid) with availability.
The attorney or team member who will take the meeting has a connected calendar and open slots. See Connect an external calendar to Glade if you need to link Google or Outlook.
Steps to initiate a consultation
Open Initiate Booking. From anywhere in the dashboard, press B. You can also open it from Create → Booking (on some Home layouts the control is labeled Initiate Booking).
Choose the consultation service (for example Bankruptcy Consultation). This controls which workflow and questionnaire the lead enters.
Enter the client’s details. Typically name, email, and phone. Depending on your firm’s configuration, you may also see fields such as lead source and address (address can help with county / court routing).
Pick who takes the meeting and when. Select the attorney or calendar, then choose an available date and time that does not conflict.
Confirm the booking. Glade creates or updates the client account, adds the appointment to the calendar, and starts the consultation / intake workflow. The client is prompted to complete the intake questionnaire before the appointment (see Intake Questionnaires Before Appointments).
After the booking
Find and manage appointments under Bookings in the left navigation. Filter Upcoming, Past, or All — see How to View Past Bookings.
To change the time later, open the booking and use Reschedule — see Reschedule an Appointment.
To record what happened on the appointment (No Show, Intake, Cancellation, and so on), use your firm’s custom booking statuses.
Booking vs initiating a case
Use when | |
|---|---|
Initiate Booking (hotkey B) | You need a consultation on the calendar and intake started for a prospective client. |
Initiate Case (hotkey C) | You are opening the bankruptcy (or other) matter — chapter, joint vs individual, owners, invoice — usually after the consult. See Initiating Workflows. |
Many firms start the matter from the intake workflow with Initiate Associated Case so consult data stays linked. Use C when you need to start a case without going through booking first.
Intake without a consultation booking
If you already met the client and only need them on a questionnaire or case workflow — not a calendar appointment — do not use Initiate Booking. Start the appropriate workflow with Initiate Case (C) instead, or continue from an existing client profile / associated case path your firm uses.
Leads can also book themselves through your Glade URL or chat widget when those are installed — see Your Glade URL and Chat Widget.
FAQ
Q: I don’t see available times.
A: Confirm the consultation service has availability and that the selected attorney’s calendar is connected and not fully booked.
Q: Is this the same as Initiate Case?
A: No. Booking schedules the consult and starts intake. Initiate Case opens the legal matter (hotkey C).
Q: Where do I mark a no-show?
A: Open the booking and set a custom booking status — that is separate from cancel/reschedule.
Q: Required fields look different at my firm.
A: Firms can configure extra booking fields (lead source, address, routing, and so on). Fill what your modal shows; the core flow is still service → client → calendar/time → confirm.