A Buyer's Checklist for Legal Lead Vendors

Direct answer

Before you buy legal leads, confirm in writing: exclusivity, consent certificates, return rules, geo filters, CRM delivery, and first-party vs aggregated sourcing. Compare vendors on cost per signed case from your intake data—not sticker price. Broadside Co. pricing is quoted on the call for your states.

Why use a checklist instead of a sales demo?

Legal lead sales calls sound similar: quality, compliance, exclusivity, fast delivery. The differences show up in the contract, the sample payload, and the first thirty days of CRM data. A checklist keeps partners, intake managers, and marketing aligned on the same questions so you do not discover gaps after spend is live.

This checklist is written for plaintiff firms evaluating B2B lead vendors in motor vehicle accident (MVA), workers' compensation, and employment law—the only verticals Broadside Co. sells.

1. Exclusivity and resale terms

Ask:

• Is each lead sold to one firm only?
• For what time window?
• Is resale or recycle prohibited in the contract?
• What do "semi-exclusive," "exclusive in your market," or "priority" mean in numbers of buyers?

If the answer is vague, treat the product as shared until you see written one-firm language. More context: Exclusive vs shared legal leads.

Broadside Co. sells exclusive leads—one firm per record, not resold.

2. Practice area and qualifier gates

Confirm the vendor actually generates the case types you handle. Broadside Co. covers:

• Motor vehicle accident (MVA)
• Workers' compensation
• Employment law

Ask what screens run before you pay: injury or claim type, timing, representation status, geography, treatment or employer reporting (where relevant), and consent. Gates should match how your intake rejects files—not how a marketer describes "high intent."

If you buy multiple practice areas, require separate tracking IDs so MVA, WC, and employment do not blend into one vanity metric. Our hub on choosing a practice-area pipeline can help you map fit.

3. Consent documentation (TrustedForm / Jornaya)

Ask:

• Is there a TrustedForm and/or Jornaya certificate on every web lead?
• Is the certificate URL in the CRM payload?
• How long is it retrievable?
• Can we review live disclosure language?

A certificate documents the capture experience; it does not replace your counsel's advice. See How TrustedForm works on legal leads.

Broadside Co. delivers TrustedForm and Jornaya certificates on records so your firm can review them under your policies.

4. Returns, replacements, and dispute windows

Get returns in writing before the first invoice:

• What qualifies (wrong state, duplicate, missing phone, already represented, etc.)?
• How many hours or days do you have to file?
• Is it a credit, replacement, or refund?
• Who decides edge cases?

Without a written policy, "we'll make it right" is not a process. Align the policy with how fast your intake can review a new lead.

5. Geography and volume controls

Ask whether you can filter by state, county, or ZIP, and whether caps exist per day or week. Firms often want to start narrow, prove contact and sign rates, then expand.

Also ask what happens when you pause: do pending leads stop immediately, and how is billing handled for leads already in flight?

6. CRM delivery and data fields

Speed and completeness matter as much as media quality.

Confirm:

• Delivery method (webhook, email, API, Zapier-style, native CRM)
• Typical latency from submit to your system
• Required fields (name, phone, email, state, case notes, source ID, certificate URLs)
• After-hours handling
• Test lead process before go-live

If delivery is slow or fields are incomplete, even exclusive leads underperform.

7. First-party vs aggregator sourcing

Ask who owns the ads, landing pages, and funnel. First-party vendors run their own media and capture. Aggregators buy or ping leads from multiple publishers. Both models exist; transparency matters for quality control and certificate consistency. Read First-party vs aggregator legal leads.

Broadside Co. is first-party: our ads, our media, our funnel—described on How it works.

8. Pricing model and contract shape

Typical structures include pay-per-lead, retainers, and hybrid caps. Broadside Co. discusses pay-per-lead terms on the quote call. We do not publish prices on the website. Pricing is quoted on the call once we know your states and case types.

Ask every vendor:

• What is included in the quoted price?
• Setup fees? Minimum term? Auto-renew?
• How are taxes and disputed leads handled on the invoice?

Never sign a long term before you have tested delivery and intake fit.

9. Reporting and source transparency

You should be able to see volume, accept/reject reasons, and (where available) certificate presence by day. Require a named account contact—not only a shared inbox—when something breaks.

10. Compliance posture (without outsourcing your judgment)

Vendors can describe their consent tooling and policies. Your firm remains responsible for how you call, text, and email. Ask for documentation; have counsel review anything that will drive outbound outreach. This checklist is business diligence, not legal advice.

How to score vendors in the first 30 days

After go-live, track in your CRM by vendor and by practice area:

1. Leads purchased
2. Contact rate within your SLA
3. Consult rate
4. Sign / retain rate
5. Cost per signed case
6. Return rate and reasons

Decide continue / pause / renegotiate from those numbers—not from anecdotes on a sales call.

Where Broadside Co. fits this checklist

We do not guarantee sign rates or case results. Fit depends on your markets and intake.