1. Start with The Dalles service area and matter boundaries
The Dalles is a municipality in Wasco County, Oregon. The 2020–2024 ACS five-year estimate records 15,917 residents, with a margin of error of 23. That population figure describes the city; it does not establish legal demand, visitor behavior, case volume or the number of potential clients for your firm. Your intake should therefore begin with the geographic and legal boundaries you actually serve. Decide whether the flow is intended for matters in The Dalles, elsewhere in Wasco County, or another defined service area. Then identify which practice areas deserve a path and which inquiries should be declined, referred or reviewed manually.
Recommended approach
Write a plain-language service-area rule and a practice-area list before building questions. Use the consultation to test whether location should be an early qualification question, a routing field or a later review item. Do not use the city’s population as a forecast of submissions.
