# Lead capture for lawyers Bar events, CLE seminars, chamber lunches, and the conversation after a panel: turn the people who might send you work into contacts you actually follow up, without a jacket pocket full of cards. > ConnectMachine turns bar events, CLE seminars, and client introductions into captured leads. The other person scans your QR code and shares real contact details in a second, you add a private note on what they practice and who they might send, and every lead lands in one organized list you can export to CSV, or sync to your CRM on a paid plan. Legal work arrives through people. The accountant who handles a company's books, the family lawyer who does not take commercial matters, the former client who now sits on a board: they all send work to someone, and mostly they send it to whoever they remember. Being remembered starts with the exchange being clean. Lead capture with ConnectMachine replaces the pocket of cards and the note you meant to type up with one flow: share your card, capture theirs, record why they matter, and leave the room with a list instead of a stack. ## Why referral leads die in a jacket pocket A bar association dinner or a CLE seminar puts you in a room full of people who could refer a matter. You have good conversations, collect a dozen cards, and put them in a pocket meaning to sort them out. A week later the cards are on a desk and the conversations have blurred. You can read the names, but you cannot remember which of them handles employment work, which one asked about your retainer, and which one you promised to send an article to. The relationship existed for an evening and then evaporated. - Cards in a jacket pocket, a bag, or the bottom of a laptop sleeve. - No record of practice area, so you cannot tell who refers what. - Promises made in conversation and forgotten by Monday. - Nothing to search when a conflict forces you to refer a matter out. ## Set up lead capture before the next bar event There is nothing to configure the morning of the event. Build the card once and it is ready every time you walk into a room. 1. Create your card with your practice area, direct line, firm, and calendar link. 2. Save the QR code to your phone's home screen or wallet so it opens in a second. 3. Decide what the card shows: a firm card for client work, a leaner one for bar and speaking commitments. 4. At the event, hold up the QR or hand over the link and let them save you in one tap. 5. Scan the paper cards you are handed, and add a note before you move on. Nothing to install on their side, so the exchange works with a senior partner who has never heard of a digital card as easily as with an associate who has. ## Capture the referral, not just the name A name and a firm tell you nothing six months later. What matters is what they practice, what they asked about, and whether they are someone who sends work out or takes it in. Add a line while it is fresh: "does employment defence, no commercial, asked whether we take construction disputes, said to call in the new year." That note is the difference between a cold email and a call that starts where the conversation left off. - Practice area, so you know what they would refer and what they would take. - Where you met, so the follow-up has a hook. - What they asked about, which is usually the real opening. - Anything you promised to send. ## Leave with a list, not a stack By the time you are in the car, every person from the evening is a clean contact with a note attached. There is no evening of typing cards into a phone, and nothing is lost because the handwriting was bad or the card went through the wash. Export the leads to CSV for your assistant, or sync them into the firm's CRM on a paid plan so intake sees them without a re-keying step. ## Follow up on the thing they actually raised Generic follow-up from a lawyer reads like a mailshot. Specific follow-up reads like you were listening. "You mentioned the subcontractor dispute your client is stuck in. Here is the article on the limitation point I said I would send." That is a message worth replying to, and it is only possible because the note exists. ## Lead capture beyond the conference room The same flow works for a client consultation, a chamber of commerce lunch, or a speaking slot where people come up afterwards. Anywhere you would have handed over a card, you can capture theirs as well, with the context that makes it useful. ## Frequently asked questions ### How do lawyers capture leads at bar events? Share your card by QR code so the other person saves your details in one tap, scan the paper cards you are handed, and add a note on what they practice before you move on. Every lead lands in one list you can work the next morning. ### Does the other person need an app? No. They scan your QR or open your link in a browser and save your details in one tap. Nothing to install, which matters in a room where not everyone uses the same tools. ### Can I keep client leads separate from referral contacts? Yes. Tag each contact by the event or the relationship, and search on that later. A prospective client and a referring accountant can sit in the same list without being confused for each other. ### Is any of this visible to anyone else? No. Your contacts and notes are private to you. Nothing about who you met or what you recorded is published, and nothing is shared with the person you scanned. ### Can leads go into the firm's CRM? Yes. Contacts export to CSV on any plan, and paid plans sync to CRMs and to 5,000+ apps through Zapier, so intake picks them up without re-keying. ### What about the cards I have already collected? Scan them. The AI scanner reads a stack in a sitting and keeps the original card image, so a drawer of old cards becomes a searchable list without an evening of typing. ## Getting started with lead capture Build your card, save the QR to your home screen, and take it to the next event. Scanning and exporting to CSV are free; CRM sync and unlimited scanning come with a paid plan. ## Get started Turn the next bar dinner into a referral list you can work. [Create your lawyer card free](https://www.connectmachine.ai/download-app/) ## More for Lawyers - [AI Concierge for lawyers](https://www.connectmachine.ai/for/lawyers/ai-concierge.md): The AI Concierge answers questions about a lawyer's own network in plain language. - [Business card scanning for lawyers](https://www.connectmachine.ai/for/lawyers/business-card-scanning.md): ConnectMachine's AI scanner turns a lawyer's collected business cards into clean contacts. - [Contact management for lawyers](https://www.connectmachine.ai/for/lawyers/contact-management.md): ConnectMachine keeps a lawyer's professional network in one private, searchable place. - [Digital business cards for lawyers](https://www.connectmachine.ai/for/lawyers.md): ConnectMachine gives lawyers a digital business card that shares practice area, direct line, and firm details by QR or link, an AI scanner that turns the cards collected at bar events and CLE conferences into clean contacts, and a private note on each person recording how you met.