TCPA-Compliant Intake for Personal Injury Firms: What Every PI Firm Must Ask (2026)

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) is the single largest compliance exposure in modern legal intake. Statutory damages of $500–$1,500 per violation, aggressive plaintiffs' bar, and a 2025–2026 wave of FCC rule changes around one-to-one consent have made intake — not marketing — the most-audited part of a PI firm's operation. This guide is the plain-English playbook we use to keep Sempull's law-firm clients out of trouble. It is not legal advice; your firm's ethics counsel should sign off on any script change.

What TCPA actually regulates in an intake context

TCPA covers (a) auto-dialed or pre-recorded calls and texts to cell phones, (b) any marketing call or text to a number on the National Do-Not-Call registry, and (c) any call recording without proper disclosure under state two-party consent laws. For a PI firm, the most common violations are outbound follow-up texts to inbound callers without documented consent, and post-intake nurture sequences that keep going after the client has said 'stop.'

The 2024–2025 FCC one-to-one consent rule and where it landed

The FCC's one-to-one consent rule — which would have required separate consent for each business a lead-generator sells to — was vacated by the Eleventh Circuit in early 2025 but the underlying prior-express-written-consent standard remains fully in force. Practical impact for PI firms: lead-gen and click-to-call funnels still need clear, specific, opt-in consent naming your firm before you can auto-text or auto-dial an inbound lead. Do not rely on generic 'partners' language on a landing page.

The 6 things your intake script must capture

(1) Confirm the number the caller is on and whether it is a cell. (2) Get explicit verbal consent to text and call at that number for case-related communication. (3) Disclose call recording in the opening seconds — two-party-consent states (CA, FL, IL, MD, MA, MT, NH, PA, WA and others) require it. (4) Confirm the caller is 18+ or a parent/guardian. (5) Note the source of the lead (LSA, PPC, referral) — TCPA defenses hinge on documented consent trail from source to signed engagement. (6) Log the timestamp, agent ID, and full recording — that is your evidentiary package if a demand letter arrives.

Sample TCPA-compliant opening (English)

'Thank you for calling [Firm]. This call is recorded for quality and training. This is Maria — is it okay if I call or text you at the number you're on today to help with your case?' Wait for an audible yes. If the caller says no to text, log it and switch the CRM channel to email/voice only. That single question, captured on the recording, is your prior-express-written-consent equivalent for the case-related communications that follow.

Sample TCPA-compliant opening (Spanish)

'Gracias por llamar a [Firm]. Esta llamada se está grabando para calidad. Le habla María — ¿me da permiso para llamarle o enviarle mensajes de texto a este número para ayudarle con su caso?' Same rule — wait for an audible 'sí,' log it, and honor 'no' immediately.

Do-Not-Call scrubbing for outbound follow-up

Any outbound call or text your firm makes to a number that did not originate as an inbound lead must be scrubbed against the National DNC registry (and applicable state DNCs) within 31 days of the call. Established Business Relationship (EBR) exemptions are narrow and time-limited — 18 months from last transaction, 3 months from last inquiry. Most PI firms should treat DNC as a hard rule, not an exemption exercise.

Texting rules that catch PI firms off guard

SMS is a call under TCPA. That means: (a) prior express written consent before the first marketing text; (b) STOP/HELP handling on every campaign; (c) opt-outs honored within a reasonable time — the FCC's 10-business-day standard is now the safe harbor; (d) A2P 10DLC registration for your firm's brand and campaigns with the carriers, or your messages get filtered as spam and your consent trail becomes unprovable.

Call-recording disclosure by state

Federal law and 38 states allow one-party consent — the caller is enough. The remaining two-party-consent states require both parties to be notified before the recording starts. Because you often will not know where the caller is physically located, safest posture is universal disclosure in the first 10 seconds of every call, in both English and Spanish where applicable, with the disclosure captured on the recording itself.

What to do when a demand letter arrives

Pull the full call recording, the CRM consent timestamps, the DNC scrub log, the A2P 10DLC campaign registration, and the lead-source consent language for the specific caller. If the file has all five artifacts, most TCPA demand letters settle for nuisance value or are withdrawn. If any artifact is missing, the exposure is real — talk to defense counsel immediately, do not respond directly.

How Sempull operationalizes TCPA compliance for law firms

Every Sempull agent script captures consent verbally on the recording, disclosures are two-party-consent by default, DNC scrubbing runs on all outbound follow-up, A2P 10DLC is registered per firm, and the full consent-and-recording package pushes to your CRM with every lead. Ask about the compliance addendum on your discovery call — it is included in every engagement.