A legal answering service, done for you.
An AI virtual receptionist that takes every new-client call, in English or Spanish.
We build and run an AI legal answering service for your firm. It answers in your firm's name while you are in court, with a client or asleep, runs your intake questions, asks your conflict-check questions, books the consultation and sends you a summary. It never gives legal advice and never tells a caller whether they have a case. Every urgent call reaches the attorney you name. No software for your staff to learn.
Why do law firms lose new clients on the phone?
Because the person who should answer is in court, in a deposition or with another client, and a potential client who just had an accident, an arrest or an eviction notice may keep calling firms until someone picks up. If voicemail answers, they can call the next firm on the list.
Speed decides it. The Lead Response Management study, which analyzed more than 15,000 web leads, found the odds of qualifying a lead fall 21 times between a 5-minute and a 30-minute reply.
| What happens today | What happens with the answering service |
|---|---|
| New-client call while you are in court | Answered, your intake questions asked, consultation booked, summary sent |
| Call at 10 pm after an arrest or an accident | Your urgent-call rule applied: the on-call attorney reached, or the first consultation booked |
| Caller who prefers Spanish | The whole intake held in Spanish |
| "Do I have a case?" | No opinion given; details taken and a consultation booked with an attorney |
| Existing client asking about their matter | Identity checked, message taken for the right attorney; nothing about the matter discussed |
| Opposing party or someone with a conflict | Your conflict questions asked first, the call routed on your rule |
How does an AI legal intake answering service work?
Set up for you in the first week and written around your practice areas. You keep practicing law. Callers get a real conversation and a booked consultation.
Answers in your firm's name, 24/7
Picked up within a couple of rings, in English or Spanish, during court, at lunch, at night and on weekends. The greeting says the call may be recorded.
Runs your legal intake
Practice area, what happened, when, where, the other parties, deadlines the caller mentions: the questions your intake form asks, in the order you want, written down for the attorney.
Asks your conflict questions first
The names of the other parties are collected before anything else, so your team can run the conflict check before the consultation.
Books the consultation
On your calendar, with the length and attorney you set per practice area, and a text confirmation with anything the caller should bring.
Follows up with the ones who did not book
A caller who hung up before booking, or a web inquiry that came in at midnight, gets a text in your firm's name within a minute and follow-ups after that.
Transfers to an attorney when it should
Anything urgent on your rule, anyone who asks for a person, and every question that calls for legal judgment go to the attorney you name. You see a summary of every call.
After hours answering service for lawyers: the 10 pm new-client call
A caller was in a car accident this afternoon. The other driver's insurer has already called them. Your office closed four hours ago.
What it does not do: tell a caller whether they have a case, estimate what a case is worth, quote a fee you have not approved, or discuss an existing matter with anyone it cannot verify. Those stay with your attorneys.
How does a law firm stay within its ethics rules with an AI receptionist?
By keeping the receptionist on the intake side of the line and supervising it like any outside vendor. Your state's rules of professional conduct and your bar's guidance on nonlawyer assistance, confidentiality and AI tools are the standard, so read them before you switch anything on. In practice, we write the scripts so the receptionist collects facts rather than giving advice, asks conflict questions before details of the matter, discloses recording in the greeting, and sends summaries only to the people you name. You review and approve every script before it goes live, and you can change any of it at any time. This is a description of how we set it up, not legal advice.
How does this compare to a live legal answering service?
Live prices are from each service's own pricing page, read on September 27, 2026, and detailed in our answering service cost comparison. Several live services sell to law firms specifically: Ruby lists "Attorneys, small firms, and other legal professionals," and Smith.ai's pricing page offers conflict checks at $0.50 a call and says it supports Clio among its CRM integrations. All nine legal services we priced, side by side, are in best legal answering service.
| Live legal answering service | Self-serve AI receptionist | LeadSixty | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price for 100 calls a month | About $384 to $1,725 on published plans | About $79 to $236.50 on published plans | $297 a month after a free first 30 days, no setup fee |
| Who answers | People working from your intake script | AI you configure | AI we configure with you |
| Who writes the intake and keeps it current | You, by brief | You | Us, including every change |
| Spanish | Often included; see bilingual answering service | On some plans | Included |
| Also covers texts, web forms, website chat and DMs | Usually calls only | Usually calls only | Yes, all of it, in the same voice |
Honest note: a trained legal receptionist hears fear in a caller's voice better than any AI, and some clients will want a person. If that matters more to your practice than cost and coverage, a live legal service fits better.
What does it cost?
First 30 days free, then a flat $297 a month, no setup fee, cancel anytime. That covers the phone answering service, replies to texts, web forms, website chat and social messages within 60 seconds, consultation booking, reminders and follow-up. The full list, and what happens at unusually high volume, is on the pricing page.
Want to hear it take an intake call before the free month starts? On a free 30-minute Where AI Fits call we look at your calls by hour, your practice areas and your intake form. If a live legal service fits your clients better, we will say so.
Book a Where AI Fits callWho is this for, and who should not buy it?
Good fit: solo attorneys and small firms in practice areas where new clients call when something just happened: personal injury, criminal defense, family law, immigration, landlord-tenant, estate planning; firms that send evening and weekend calls to voicemail; firms with Spanish-speaking callers and no bilingual staff.
Not a fit: a firm that wants the receptionist to screen case merit or quote case values; it will not, by design. A firm whose clients expect a person on every call, whatever it costs.
Questions law firms ask before they start
What is a legal answering service?+
What is a legal virtual receptionist?+
Can an AI receptionist do legal intake?+
Does it work as a lawyer answering service for a solo attorney?+
Is it a bilingual legal answering service?+
What happens with an urgent after-hours call, like an arrest?+
How much does it cost, and what if we stop?+
- Lead Response Management study (InsideSales.com with Dr. James Oldroyd). More than 15,000 leads; 21-fold decrease in the odds of qualifying from 5 to 30 minutes. leadresponsemanagement.org
- Ruby and Smith.ai pricing pages, read September 27, 2026: ruby.com, smith.ai.
- Live and AI answering service prices: see the sources in answering service cost.
Published September 27, 2026. Every figure was read on its source and checked again before publishing; see how we research and write.
Every new-client call answered. Every legal question left to your attorneys.
Book a free 30-minute Where AI Fits call. We look at your calls by hour, your practice areas and your intake, and we tell you honestly whether this is worth $297 a month for your firm.
Book a Where AI Fits callOr see the full offer on the pricing page.