AI receptionist · law firms
A law firm’s phone is where new matters arrive and old ones get anxious. The potential client calls once, and the existing client calls the day before a hearing. The receptionist answers from the information you approve, gives no legal advice, tries the person you choose, and leaves your intake team a complete record of who called and why.
From $49/month with 250 AI minutes and one US local number included. Additional AI time is $0.09 a minute on managed plans. See full pricing
Someone was served with papers, someone’s lease is being terminated, someone needs a will. They want to know whether you handle it, what a consultation costs and how soon they can talk to a lawyer. The receptionist answers from the practice areas and consultation policy you approve, captures the type of matter and the other party’s name, and tries your intake person.
A client wants to know whether the filing went in, what the judge said, or why the paralegal has not called back. The receptionist cannot see your case files and does not try to. It takes the client’s name, the matter and the question as a message for the assigned attorney or paralegal.
A clerk confirming a hearing time, opposing counsel asking for an extension, a title company, an expert witness. These calls carry deadlines. The receptionist takes the caller’s name, firm, case name and request, and the message reaches the team immediately.
Legal directories, lead-generation services, process servers looking for work. The receptionist states your vendor policy as you set it and takes a message, so a partner is not pulled out of a deposition for a sales call.
Illustrative example A Tuesday evening call from someone who was served with a lawsuit and has a deadline to respond. The business, the caller and the policy are invented; the receptionist opens every real call with its AI disclosure.
Thanks for calling Harlow and Pike. I am an AI receptionist for the team. How can I help?
I got served with court papers today over a debt I thought was settled. It says I have twenty days to respond. Do I need a lawyer? What should I do?
I am sorry, that is a stressful thing to come home to. I am not able to give legal advice, but I can make sure your details reach the right attorney quickly. Harlow and Pike handles civil matters including debt-related lawsuits, and the firm offers a free twenty-minute initial consultation for new civil matters. Which court are the papers from, and what date is on them?
The county civil court. The papers say they were filed on the fourteenth.
Thank you. And who is the plaintiff, the party suing you? The firm asks for that name so the intake team can check for conflicts before anyone discusses the details with you.
Meridian Recovery Group. I have never heard of them.
Noted. Let me try the intake coordinator now. Please hold for a moment.
The intake coordinator has left for the day and did not pick up. Can I get your name, the best number to reach you, and a good time to call tomorrow? I will note the response deadline in the request.
Daniel Okafor. This number is fine, and mornings are better.
Thank you, Daniel. Your request is with the firm now with the twenty-day deadline noted, and the intake coordinator will call you back on this number. The firm asks new callers to keep the papers and the envelope they came in.
Synthetic example record The team inbox shows a new-matter intake: civil, a debt-collection lawsuit filed on the fourteenth in county civil court, plaintiff Meridian Recovery Group, twenty-day response deadline noted, caller Daniel Okafor at the number he called from, mornings preferred, transfer tried to the intake coordinator at 6:52 p.m. and not answered. The coordinator runs the conflict check and calls Daniel back from the record first thing.
Every answer comes from the business information you approve during setup. The receptionist does not guess at prices, areas or policies you have not given it.
Court papers are opened at the kitchen table after work, and the person who decides on a Saturday to file for divorce calls the first firm that answers. The receptionist answers immediately, states your consultation policy as you set it, captures the matter type, the other party and any deadline, and tries your intake person after hours if you want it to.
On a hearing day the front desk is empty and the paralegals are not picking up. The receptionist answers the client calls, the clerk’s call about a changed hearing time and opposing counsel’s request for an extension, and leaves each as a message with the case name attached. On holidays it plays your closed-hours message and still captures every message, so a deadline that falls during a closure is visible when you reopen.
How after-hours answering works → What happens when three people call at once →
When a caller describes danger, the receptionist uses only the safety wording you approve, tries your on-call transfer and marks the request urgent. It gives no safety advice of its own and promises no arrival time. For a life-threatening situation, approve a line that tells the caller to hang up and call emergency services.
The same table on every receptionist page, because the limits matter as much as the features when you are choosing.
| On a call | Today | What that means |
|---|---|---|
| Questions about hours, services, areas and prices | Handled on the call | Answered from the business information you approve. A question you have not covered gets a plain "I do not have that" and a message for your team, never a guess. |
| Reaching a person on your team | Handled on the call | A transfer to one eligible US destination, with the teammates you list tried in turn when the first does not pick up. |
| Closed hours, a busy line and holidays | Handled on the call | Your closed-hours message, a bounded waiting queue with position announcements, and the fallback path you configure when every AI line is busy. |
| Messages and callback requests | Captured for your team | Name, number, the request in the caller’s words and the details you ask for, in your inbox and on your webhooks the moment the call ends. |
| Appointment and estimate requests | Captured for your team | The request, the address and the caller’s preferred times. Your team confirms the time from the record; the receptionist writes no calendar. |
| Emergencies and safety | Captured for your team | Only the safety wording you approve, such as where a shutoff valve is, then the on-call transfer and an urgent request. It gives no medical, legal or electrical advice of its own. |
| Dispatching a crew or promising an arrival time | Not part of the receptionist | Not the receptionist’s job: your dispatcher assigns the work and your team confirms the visit from the record it leaves. |
| Texting the caller afterwards | Not part of the receptionist | It sends no text messages. Requests reach you in the inbox, on your signed webhooks and through the API. |
| Writing to a calendar, a CRM or a dispatch system | Not part of the receptionist | No named connector exists. Results reach other systems through signed webhooks, CSV export and the API. |
| Recording the whole call | Not part of the receptionist | Full-call recording is not part of the receptionist offer. Every call leaves a record of what was asked and what was answered. |
| Languages other than English | Not part of the receptionist | English today. |
| Guaranteed answer rates, response times or outcomes | Not part of the receptionist | Capacity is per plan on shared fleet, not reserved hardware. When every AI line is busy, callers follow the fallback path you chose. |
When a call ends without a transfer, the receptionist leaves your team a request instead of a missed-call notification. For law firms that record holds:
Requests land in the team inbox and on your configured webhooks, with the call record beside them. Read how the receptionist handles a call, see how intake questions are chosen, or see what reaches your team.
Published plans, no quote required. Each managed plan includes one standard US local number; the lower BYO price is for businesses that already run their own Twilio account.
| Plan | AI minutes included | Number included | Your own Twilio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | 250 | $49 | $39 plus your Twilio bill |
| Business | 1,000 | $139 | $109 plus your Twilio bill |
| Scale | 2,000 | $269 | $219 plus your Twilio bill |
Example from the rate card 120 calls a month averaging 3 minutes each use about 360 AI minutes after the 30-second per-call minimum. The cheapest managed plan for that month is Starter at $59: the $49 subscription plus $10 of additional AI time. With your own Twilio account the cheapest plan is Starter at $45, plus your carrier bill. Non-AI incoming time, connected transfers, extra numbers and taxes are not in these figures.
Get a supported US local business number without setting up your own Twilio account. Search by city, state or area code during paid setup; actual inventory, the number quote, accepted billing/funding and call qualification determine activation. AI time is metered per second with a 30-second minimum per AI-handled call. Every rate and term is on the pricing page.
No. It answers questions about your practice areas, hours and consultation policy from the information you approve, and it tells callers plainly that advice comes from an attorney. The facts it captures go to your intake person.
No. It captures the names the caller gives, including the other party, so your intake person can run the conflict check before the consultation. The check itself stays with the firm.
The receptionist answers, captures the matter, and tries the intake person you configured. If that person does not pick up, it tries up to three teammates you listed in turn, then leaves the complete request in your team inbox and on your webhooks immediately.
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Start with your website, review every answer before you pay, and keep your existing number.
