Legal inbox overflowing? You’re not alone. For many in-house lawyers, juggling BAU, urgent asks, and strategic projects can feel like spinning plates — while someone keeps adding more.

But here’s the thing: it’s not just about working faster. It’s about working smarter. And that starts with triaging legal requests in a way that protects your time and delivers what the business needs.

Why triage matters

Without a clear system for triaging legal work, everything ends up feeling urgent. You spend your days firefighting, your nights worrying about what you missed, and your strategic to-dos gather dust. Sound familiar?

A smart triage process helps you:

• Cut through the noise. Quickly identify which tasks need legal input — and which don’t.
• Prioritise with purpose. Focus your time where it adds the most value.
• Set boundaries. Push back without the guilt trip (or the fire drill).
• Create consistency. Deliver a better, faster service to the business — without burning out.

Here’s how to get started.

1. Start with a single front door

If legal requests come at you from every direction — Slack, email, desk drop-bys, the classic “got a sec?” — you’ll struggle to manage the chaos. A single front door creates breathing space and structure.

That could be:

• A dedicated legal inbox.
• A self-serve form on your intranet or legal hub.
• A simple intake tool that routes requests and captures key info.

The trick is to make it easy to use and reinforce the message: “this is how to get legal input.”

2. Ask the right questions upfront

You don’t need a 20-page form. But you do need to capture just enough to understand what’s going on — without three follow-up emails.

Try asking:

• What do you need help with?
• What’s the deadline (and is it real or self-imposed)?
• Who else is involved?
• What’s the business impact?

Bonus points if you build in dropdowns or templates to standardise common asks (NDAs, contract reviews, policy advice).

3. Categorise and prioritise

Once requests come in, they need sorting. Not all legal work is created equal — so your triage system should reflect that.

You might group tasks into:

• Low-risk, self-serve (e.g. pre-approved templates or FAQs).
• Medium complexity (e.g. standard contract reviews).
• High risk or high value (e.g. strategic deals, regulatory issues, anything with external counsel involved).

Then apply prioritisation based on urgency, impact, and legal resource. A traffic-light system or simple scoring matrix can work wonders.

4. Automate the obvious

If you’re answering the same questions or doing the same reviews over and over, there’s a better way.

Automate where you can:

• Use contract playbooks or clause libraries to speed up reviews.
• Build a bank of template responses to common queries.
• Direct low-risk asks to self-serve guides or AI-powered tools.

Automation doesn’t replace your judgement — it protects it for when it’s needed most.

5. Communicate like a pro

A triage system only works if the business understands (and respects) it. So tell them what to expect:

• How and where to raise requests.
• What the process looks like.
• When they’ll hear back.

Set realistic SLAs, even if it’s just “we’ll reply within two working days.” Then stick to them. You’ll build trust and reduce the “just chasing” messages.

6. Get support where it makes sense

Not every legal request needs to land on your plate. Outsourcing routine work or getting flexible, on-demand support can take the pressure off — especially when there’s a spike in demand. That's where a subscription model like Plume's can help. You get senior, commercial lawyers who slot in as an extension of your team - no faff, no fuss, just help when and where you need it most.

Final thought

Triage isn’t about saying no — it’s about saying yes to the right things. With the right processes, tools, and support in place, you can reclaim your time, reduce risk, and deliver even more value to the business.