Guide
AI receptionist for law firms
Potential clients call several firms and usually retain the one that picks up and takes their information first. An AI receptionist answers every call on the first ring, runs the same intake questions every time, and reaches your team at 2am the same way it does at 2pm — without adding an after-hours answering service bill.
Consistent client intake on every call
Intake breaks down when it depends on whoever happens to be at the desk. The AI works from one checklist: caller name, best phone and email, practice area, a short description of the matter, opposing party for a conflict check, key dates or deadlines, and referral source. Every call arrives as the same structured summary, so nothing has to be chased down later.
It answers questions about your practice areas, consultation fees, office locations, and hours strictly from the documents and pages you give it — and when something falls outside that, it says so in wording you write yourself rather than improvising. It does not give legal advice, quote outcomes, or create an attorney-client relationship.
24/7 availability without an answering service
Personal injury, criminal defense, and family law calls rarely arrive between nine and five. Nights, weekends, and holidays are exactly when a first-time caller is most motivated — and most likely to keep dialing until someone answers. Your AI receptionist picks up in those hours, completes the intake, and texts the details straight to your intake system or on-call attorney so the first follow-up can happen the moment your day starts.
You choose the coverage window. Many firms run "after hours only" so staff keep answering during business hours, while others leave it always on to catch overflow when the phones stack up.
Transfers, conflicts, and urgent matters
You define which situations get a live person — an arrest, a custody emergency, a filing deadline — and those calls are transferred to your on-call number immediately. Existing clients asking about their case are routed to the right person instead of being answered. Because opposing-party details are captured up front, your team can run a conflict check before any substantive conversation happens.
What it costs versus staffing
Legal answering services typically bill per minute or per call, so a busy month or a single long intake call gets expensive. An AI receptionist is a flat monthly rate that covers unlimited calls, which makes after-hours coverage predictable instead of something you ration. See current plans and pricing.
Setting it up for your firm
Setup runs in one short flow: add your firm's website so the AI can learn your practice areas and policies, review the pages it ingested, upload extra documents like fee schedules or intake forms, set your coverage hours and transfer number, then forward your main line to the number you're given. You can start the setup flow here and test the result by calling your own number before any client does.
Frequently asked questions
- Can an AI receptionist do legal intake?
- Yes — for the first-contact part of intake. It confirms the caller's name, phone number, email, case type, opposing party (for conflict checks), and how they found you, then hands a complete summary to your team. The legal judgment stays with your attorneys and paralegals.
- Will it give legal advice?
- No. It answers only from the materials you upload — practice areas, fees, locations, hours, consultation policies. When a caller asks something outside that, it says so in wording you control and offers a transfer or a callback instead of guessing.
- What happens on after-hours calls?
- It answers on the first ring, captures the full intake, and texts the details to your intake system or on-call attorney. You can also set coverage hours so it only picks up outside office hours and lets your staff answer during the day.
- Can urgent calls reach a real person?
- Yes. You set a transfer number and the situations that qualify — arrest, custody emergency, filing deadline — and those callers are connected to a live person instead of being logged for follow-up.
- Is caller information kept private?
- Call details are stored in your account and only sent where you point them, such as your intake or CRM number. Nothing is shared publicly, and you decide which documents the AI is allowed to read from.
- How long does setup take?
- About five minutes. Add your firm's website, review what was learned from it, upload any extra PDFs like fee schedules, and forward your line to your new number.
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