Client Services Intake

A core element of the Collaborative Defense Model is for providers to ask the right questions so they can begin to address their client’s priorities beyond the criminal legal case. This is demonstrated by an intake process that thoroughly screens for enmeshed penalties at arrest and identifies social service needs that a client may have. This intake is distinct from a traditional intake interview conducted by public defenders in that it does not necessarily incorporate questions about a client's criminal legal proceedings. These questions serve, rather, to be incorporated into preexisting intakes or completed separately by support staff as supplements to a provider’s knowledge of the client and to guide service delivery.