A personal injury firm in the Loop with four attorneys learned, from a month of phone records, that a quarter of its new-case calls came in after six in the evening or on weekends, mostly from people who had just come home from urgent care. The firm's answering service took names and numbers, and by the time a paralegal called back the next morning, a fair number of those callers had already signed with a firm whose ads were on the same bus shelters.
The businesses in this article are illustrative examples, not named StartAutomate clients.
Key takeaways
- Law firms that rely on new client calls lose cases to response time, especially in personal injury, family law, and criminal defense.
- An AI receptionist can run the firm's intake questions, capture the details needed for a conflict check, and book a consultation while the caller is still on the line.
- It never gives legal advice or says whether someone has a case, and it tells callers so at the start.
Intake calls for law firms
Intake is the part of a law firm's phone that matters most and is hardest to staff at seven on a Saturday evening. An AI receptionist asks the firm's own intake questions, such as what happened, when and where, whether anyone was injured, whether a police report exists, and whether the caller has spoken to another attorney, and it writes the answers into the firm's case management system, whether that is Clio, MyCase, Filevine or something else.
It then books a consultation with the attorney who handles that type of matter, or transfers the call live if the firm wants urgent matters handled that way. The Chicago firm chose live transfer for anything involving an arrest, and a booked callback for everything else.
Conflict checks and case types
Before an attorney speaks to a prospective client, the firm needs to know it can take the matter. The agent collects the names of the other parties involved and passes them to whoever runs conflict checks, and it tells the caller that someone will confirm the consultation once that is done.
The agent also knows which case types the firm does not take. A personal injury firm getting calls about divorces or immigration can give the caller a referral number, usually the local bar association's lawyer referral service, rather than just saying no.
No legal advice on the phone
The agent will not tell a caller whether they have a case, what it might be worth, or what they should do next. It says at the start that it is an assistant for the firm and cannot give legal advice, and it repeats that if the caller asks a legal question later in the call.
Firms sometimes ask whether the agent could at least say something reassuring about the statute of limitations, and the answer is that an attorney should say that, because a wrong date given confidently on a Saturday night is the kind of mistake that ends up in front of a disciplinary board.
Existing clients and court calendars
Existing clients call to ask about their next court date, whether a document arrived, or when their attorney will call back. The agent can verify who the caller is, read upcoming dates from the case management system where the firm allows it, and take a detailed message for the attorney or paralegal.
Paralegals at firms using this tend to mention the drop in calls asking simply whether anyone had received the fax.
Confidentiality and recordings
Everything a prospective client says on an intake call may be confidential, so we keep call recordings and transcripts in the firm's own systems or in accounts the firm controls, with access limited to the people who need it. The firm decides how long recordings are kept.
Illinois is an all-party consent state for recording calls, so the agent tells every caller that the call is recorded before the conversation begins. Firms in other states can set this according to their own rules.
Common questions
Can an AI receptionist do legal intake?
Yes. It asks your firm's intake questions, records the answers in your case management system, captures details for a conflict check, and books or transfers the consultation according to your rules.
Will the AI give legal advice?
No. It is set up to state that it cannot give legal advice and to pass legal questions to an attorney. It will not assess whether someone has a case.
Does it work with Clio or MyCase?
We connect to common legal practice management systems including Clio, MyCase, and Filevine so intake details and bookings land where your team already works.