AI Receptionist for Law Firms
A firm's phone has two jobs: capture new enquiries properly, and get existing clients to the right person. An AI receptionist can do both, within limits that are stricter here than in any other sector we build for.
Discuss your projectThe limits, stated first
The agent gives no legal advice, expresses no view on the merits of a matter, and makes no comment on prospects, likely outcomes or limitation periods. It gathers information and routes. Those boundaries are absolute and built into the design rather than instructed, because an automated system offering even a casual opinion on a caller's position creates professional exposure for the firm.
It also does not confirm whether a particular person is a client of the firm, which is a confidentiality trap on inbound calls. A caller asking whether you act for someone gets a neutral response and a transfer, not an answer.
On conflicts, the agent captures the details a conflict check needs — the caller, the other side, the nature of the matter — and flags the enquiry for checking before anyone engages substantively. It does not perform the check and it does not decline a matter. Where a potential conflict is apparent from the names given, the enquiry is routed to your risk contact rather than to a fee earner.
Finally, it recognises urgency: a caller describing a court deadline, an arrest, an eviction, a child protection issue or a limitation date gets a person, immediately, on a route you define. These are the calls where delay causes real harm and they are escalated ahead of everything else.
What it does
New enquiry intake
Area of law, a factual summary in the caller's own words, their contact details, how they found you, and whether they have instructed anyone else. Captured consistently, which is more than most firms achieve by hand.
Routing by practice area
To the right team or fee earner, with the enquiry already summarised. A family matter does not sit in a general queue overnight.
Existing client calls
Identified by number where possible and transferred to the fee earner on their matter, or a message taken against the matter rather than against a person.
Booking consultations
Into real diary availability, including whether the appointment type is a paid consultation and what it costs.
Published information only
Fees and funding options as you publish them, areas you act in, your offices and hours. Nothing interpretive.
Out-of-hours cover
Where much of the value sits. Enquiries captured overnight with urgent matters routed to your out-of-hours arrangement, rather than a voicemail that competes with a firm that answered.
Transfer on request
Immediately, without qualifying questions, whenever a caller asks for a person.
Practical and compliance notes
- Practice management integration — Clio, Actionstep, Leap, Smokeball, MyCase — for matters, parties and fee earner diaries, where an API is available.
- Call recording consent handled at the start of the call, with all-party consent where the jurisdictions involved require it. For a firm, getting this wrong is a regulatory matter rather than a technical one.
- Transcripts and recordings in your own storage, with retention following your matter retention schedule rather than a software default.
- Enquiry data treated as potentially privileged from the first word, with access limited by role and every access logged.
- Names, dates and references confirmed back on every call, spelled out where uncertain. A misheard name on an intake record is a conflict check performed against the wrong person.
- Your existing number forwarded, so nothing changes on your letterhead or your directory listings.
Common questions
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