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AI answering service for law firms

Sarah answers your firm’s phone and website chat 24/7. She screens each new caller, takes the names your conflict check needs and books the consultation.

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Example: at 8:52 PM Alicia calls Hale & Ortiz Law. She was rear-ended on Friday and the other driver’s insurer keeps calling her. Sarah confirms it’s a new matter, takes Alicia’s name and the other driver’s name from the police report for the firm’s conflict check, and books a free consultation with Daniel Ortiz, who takes the firm’s injury cases, for 10:00 AM the next day. A confirmation text follows. Alicia replies Y and asks whether she should give the insurer a recorded statement; Sarah says she can’t give legal advice and that Mr. Ortiz will cover it at the consultation.
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How the AI answering service handles a law firm call

  1. New matter or current client, first.

    Then the questions you’ve written for that practice area: what happened, whether anything is filed or a court date set, and the full name of the person on the other side.

  2. Sarah answers from your website and your instructions: the practice areas you take, your office hours, what a consultation costs. When a caller asks what they should do, she says she can’t advise and offers the consultation instead.

  3. On the call, into your calendar.

    She offers the open consultation times, reads the chosen one back and books it before the caller hangs up. The call goes on the caller’s record in your CRM with its summary.

  4. When the call ends, a workflow reads it, picks out the other party’s name and emails it to whoever runs your conflict check, so it’s cleared or flagged before the consultation.

See Sarah on my site

An AI chatbot for law firms: the same Sarah on your website

Great receptionists don’t just answer the phone, they also answer on your site. Add an AI agent that shares the brain with your phone receptionist.

  1. 1
    Knows your practice. Your practice areas, your attorneys, where your office is and what a consultation costs, read from your own pages.
  2. 2
    Screens the same way. The questions you wrote for the phone are the ones Sarah asks in the chat.
  3. 3
    Books the consultation. Sarah picks the time with the visitor and writes it into your connected calendar, with their name, email and mobile on their record.
  4. 4
    Sends the confirmation. An email and a text from your booking workflow, with your office address and anything to bring.
Example: at 10:05 PM Grace is on Hale & Ortiz Law’s estate planning page and asks the chat whether the firm writes wills for a married couple with two children. Sarah says Rachel Hale handles wills and trusts and that the first estate planning consultation is free, as the firm’s website says, and offers Friday or Monday. Grace picks Friday at 11:00 AM and gives her name, email and mobile, the consultation is booked inside the chat, and the firm’s booking workflow confirms it by email and by text.

  1. An AI answering service for law firms is an answering service run by an AI receptionist rather than a call center. It answers a law firm’s calls and website chats 24/7, screens new callers and books the consultation.

  2. Sarah is Small Business Chatbot’s AI answering service for law firms. She answers every call and chat, tells a new matter from a current client, takes the names your conflict check needs, and books the consultation into your calendar.

Also called Law firm answering service, Answering service for attorneys, AI receptionist for law firms.

See also AI answering service AI chatbot for your website

Book consultations after the office closes

People call a lawyer the evening something happens. Sarah books the new matters that night and handles every other call the way you’ve told her to.

Example: one evening at Hale & Ortiz Law. A caller whose landlord kept his deposit is told the firm doesn’t take that kind of matter and given the referral line the firm chose. A DUI charge from the website chat becomes a Thursday consultation. A current client asking about her hearing leaves a message for her attorney. A mother whose son was arrested is put through to Daniel Ortiz at 11:20 PM. A legal marketing sales call is answered but sends no summary email.
  • New matters get a consultation.Sarah screens the caller and books the next open time.
  • Current clients leave a message.It reaches you in the summary email, with the transcript.
  • A caller who asks for a lawyer now is put through.To the one number you choose, such as the on-call attorney’s mobile.
  • Matters you don’t take get your referral.Sarah tells the caller and gives them the number you’ve chosen.
  • Sales calls never reach you.A call that matches your spam keywords is answered and filed, with no summary email.

What Sarah asks, by practice area

You write her intake questions for each practice area, the way you’d brief a new intake hire. For example:

  • Personal injury

    • When and where did it happen?
    • Were you hurt, and have you seen a doctor?
    • The other driver’s or business’s name, and their insurer
    • Was a police report filed?
    • Has another lawyer looked at it?

  • Family law

    • Divorce, custody or support?
    • Are there children, and how old are they?
    • Your spouse’s or the other parent’s full name
    • Has anything been filed, or a court date set?
    • Is there a protection order in place?

  • Criminal defense

    • Who was charged, and with what?
    • Where are they being held?
    • Has bail been set?
    • When is the next court date?
    • How are you related to the person charged?

  • Estate planning

    • Are you married, and do you have children?
    • Do you own a home or a business?
    • Any property in another state?
    • Do you have a will or a trust now?
    • Is this for you, or for a parent?

Every answer is in the call’s transcript in your summary email and on the caller’s record in your CRM. Sarah writes down the dates and deadlines a caller mentions; whether a deadline has passed is for the attorney.

AI for law firms that runs the front desk, from the first call to the follow-up

An AI virtual receptionist for law firms: Sarah schedules consultations, keeps the client record and follows up after the meeting.

  • Scheduling

    for consultations. Sarah offers the open times, books the one the caller picks, and moves or cancels it when they text or chat back, all in your connected calendar.

  • Transfers

    to the attorney on call. Add the number, and when a caller asks for a lawyer now, after an arrest or with a hearing in the morning, Sarah puts them through.

  • A legal CRM

    kept up by Sarah. Every call, chat and text lands on the person’s record with its summary, from the first intake call to the consultation.

  • Consultation follow-up

    for people who haven’t signed yet. Tag them after the consultation and a workflow checks in by text or email on the days you set.

  • A summary

    in your inbox and your intake team’s after every call: the action items, the caller’s details and the full transcript, with the recording if you turn it on.

How to set up an AI answering service for your law firm

Give Sarah your website address and she builds her own first version in about a minute. The rest is telling her how your firm runs intake.

  1. 1

    Start from your website

    Sarah reads your practice areas, your attorneys’ pages, your office hours and where you’re located, and writes her greeting and first answers from them.

  2. 2

    Make Sarah yours

    Write her instructions the way you’d brief a new intake hire: the questions for each practice area, which names to take for the conflict check, what a consultation costs, the matters you refer out, and that she never gives legal advice. Choose her voice and call her from your browser to hear it.

  3. 3

    Plug in your calendar and your number

    Google Calendar or Outlook for the consultations; your firm’s line forwarded to Sarah full-time or only on the calls nobody picks up. Workflows then send the confirmations, email the conflict check names to your office, and send each new caller to Clio, Lawmatics or MyCase.

Free preview built from your website. No signup required.

Example: Hale & Ortiz Law, set up from its website in about 60 seconds, then its own instructions, its calendar and its workflows.

Legal answering service pricing

Self Serve

Every tool. You set it up. Try the chat free for 7 days.

$99/ month

Billed monthly. Cancel any time.

Each month100 answered calls100 conversations100 follow-ups

  • AI phone receptionist that answers, books appointments, takes messages, transfers calls and sends you a summary
  • Website chat that answers from your site and books into your calendar
  • Texting and follow-ups by text, email and AI voice call
  • CRM and workflows, with every conversation in one place
  • Trained on up to 100 pages of your website
Start free trial

Managed

Done for you. Our team sets it up, meets with you and keeps tuning it.

$249/ month

Billed monthly. Cancel any time.

Each month500 answered calls300 conversations500 follow-ups

Everything in Self Serve, plus:

  • A 1:1 implementation call to set Sarah up with you
  • Set up for you: the chat installed, your calls forwarded, her answers and booking configured
  • Weekly meetings with your dedicated account manager
  • Ongoing tuning from your real conversations
  • Follow-up workflows built and published for you
  • Changes within 24 hours and priority support
  • Trained on up to 3,000 pages of your website
Book implementation call

See full pricing breakdown

One consultation that becomes a client pays for Self Serve for years.

Connect Clio, Lawmatics and MyCase

New callers go into the software your intake team already works in.

  • Clio

    New callers land in your Clio Grow lead inbox. With Clio Manage, a Zap creates the contact and the matter.

    Workflow automation How to connect it

  • Lawmatics

    Each caller goes into your intake form, so the form’s automations run.

    Workflow automation How to connect it

  • MyCase

    Each new caller becomes a MyCase lead, with the summary and the transcript as notes.

    Zapier How to connect it

Bookings go straight into Google Calendar or Outlook. Any other tool connects through our workflow automations or Zapier. See every integration.

How to choose an answering service for your law firm

You’re hiring whoever answers when a new client calls at 8:52 PM. Compare the candidates.

Candidate

A receptionist on payroll

Pay
$3,000+ a month
Hours
Weekdays, 9 to 5
New client, 8:52 PM
Goes to voicemail
Booking
Books while the caller waits
After each call
Notes, if they take them
Your website
Not covered
Candidate

Sarah, your AI receptionist

Pay
$99 a month, or $79 billed annually
Hours
Every hour, every day
New client, 8:52 PM
Answered, consultation booked
Booking
Books consultations on the call
After each call
Summary email with the transcript
Your website
Same Sarah, books the consultation

The other AI receptionists

Entry plans, from each company’s pricing page on Oct 23, 2026

  1. Sarah

    01
    $99 /mo
    $79 billed annually · 100 answered calls
    • Phone answering100 answered calls
    • Website chat100 conversations
    • TextingReplies and follow-ups
    • CRM
    • Calendar bookingIn the chat and on calls
    Small Business Chatbot

  2. Rosie

    02
    $49 /mo
    250 minutes a month
    • Phone answering250 minutes
    • Website chat
    • TextingBooking links by text
    • CRMNot listed
    • Calendar bookingFrom the $149 plan

  3. Goodcall

    03
    $79 /mo
    100 callers a month, about 150 calls
    • Phone answering100 callers
    • Website chatNot listed
    • TextingNot listed
    • CRMNot listed
    • Calendar bookingA booking agent

  4. My AI Front Desk

    04
    $99 /mo
    $79 billed annually · 200 minutes
    • Phone answering200 minutes
    • Website chat100 conversations
    • Texting400 texts
    • CRM
    • Calendar booking

  5. NextPhone

    05
    $199 /mo
    $166 billed annually · unlimited calls
    • Phone answeringUnlimited calls
    • Website chatNot listed
    • TextingLinks and confirmations
    • CRMFrom the $299 plan
    • Calendar booking

Questions law firms ask about an AI answering service

Does Sarah give legal advice?

Not when her instructions say not to. Write “never give legal advice” in them, and when a caller asks what they should do or whether they have a case, she says she can’t advise and offers a consultation with one of your attorneys instead.

Does Sarah help with conflict checks?

Yes. She asks for the names you tell her to collect, such as the other driver, the spouse or the business, and they’re in the call’s transcript. A workflow can pick the other party’s name out of the call and email it to whoever runs your conflict check as soon as the call ends.

Does Sarah book consultations on the call?

Yes. Connect your calendar and switch on phone booking. She offers the open consultation times, reads the chosen one back to the caller and books it before they hang up.

Can Sarah tell a new client from a current one?

Yes. Put the question at the start of her instructions, the way your intake team asks it. New callers go through your screening questions; current clients and callers from courts or other firms get a message taken.

What does Sarah do when a current client calls about their case?

She takes a message for their attorney. Tell her to leave case questions to the attorney, and the message reaches you in the summary email after the call, with the full transcript.

What happens with an arrest or another urgent call at night?

When a caller asks to speak to a lawyer, Sarah puts the call through to the one transfer number you set, such as the on-call attorney’s mobile.

Can Sarah take calls from courts and opposing counsel?

Yes. She takes the caller’s name, the court or firm, the case number and the message, and it reaches you in the summary email. If the caller asks for a person and transfers are on, she puts them through.

Will Sarah quote fees?

Only the fees you give her, such as a free injury consultation or $150 for a 30-minute family law consultation. Leave retainers, contingency terms and case values out of her instructions and she has nothing to quote.

What if a caller needs a type of lawyer we don’t have?

Write the matters you don’t take and where to send those callers, such as your state bar’s lawyer referral service. Sarah tells the caller the firm doesn’t handle it and gives them that number.

How does Sarah handle deadlines like the statute of limitations?

She asks when it happened and writes down any deadline or court date the caller mentions, so the attorney can weigh it at the consultation. Tell her which dates to ask for in each practice area.

What if a caller hangs up in the middle of intake?

A “Call ended” workflow reads the call summary. If no consultation was booked, it texts the caller from your number to pick the conversation back up, and with texting replies switched on, Sarah carries on the intake by text and books it.

Does Sarah speak Spanish?

When a caller speaks Spanish, Sarah carries on the call in Spanish, and the transcript and summary come through in full.

Are calls recorded?

Only if you turn recording on. Then callers hear “This call may be recorded for quality or training purposes.” and a link to the recording comes in your summary email. With recording off, you still get the full transcript.

Does it work with Clio, MyCase or Lawmatics?

Yes. A workflow automation sends each new caller to your Clio Grow lead inbox or into a Lawmatics intake form. Clio Manage and MyCase connect through Zapier: a contact and a matter in Clio Manage, or a new lead in MyCase.

Is the chat on my website the same Sarah as the phone?

Yes, one Sarah with one set of instructions and one calendar. On your site she answers from your pages, asks the same screening questions, collects the visitor’s name, email and mobile, and books the consultation in the chat.

What happens to sales calls from legal marketing companies?

Sarah answers them like any other call. Add the words they use, such as “new cases” or “leads”, to your spam keywords and those calls won’t send you a summary email.

Can I keep my firm’s phone number?

Yes. Your number stays yours. Forward it to Sarah around the clock, or only on the calls nobody picks up.

How much does an AI answering service for law firms cost?

Self Serve is $99 a month, or $79 a month on an annual plan. Managed, where our team sets Sarah up and keeps tuning her, is $249 a month, or $200 a month billed annually.

Give Sarah the calls you miss in court.

Paste your website and watch her answer as your firm. No signup required.

See Sarah on my site See pricing