24/7 client intake for law firms

Most law firms already have something handling calls—a receptionist, a paralegal who doubles as phone duty, voicemail, or a traditional answering service. These solutions keep the lights on, but they all share the same fundamental limitation: they take messages instead of doing real intake.

The problem shows up at the worst times. You're in a deposition when a car accident victim calls. Your receptionist is helping a walk-in when a potential client calls about a custody emergency. The answering service captures a name and number, but by the time you call back three hours later, they've already talked to two other firms and hired one.

AI answering agents work differently. Instead of taking a message, they do the actual intake work—capturing case type, incident details, injuries, timeline, and urgency. Then they book a consultation directly into your calendar. The potential client gets helped immediately, feels taken care of, and shows up to a consultation instead of disappearing into a competitor's pipeline.

From the caller's perspective, the experience is night and day. Instead of leaving a voicemail and wondering if anyone will call back, they have a conversation, answer a few questions about their situation, and walk away with a confirmed appointment. That immediate resolution is often the difference between signing a client and losing one.

For firms already paying $300-500/month for answering services that just take messages, switching to AI often costs the same or less—while actually booking consultations. The ROI math is simple: one captured case that would have gone to a competitor pays for a year of service.

This works for solo practitioners who can't afford full-time staff, and for mid-size firms whose front desk is overwhelmed. If you're losing leads to voicemail, slow callbacks, or message-taking services, AI intake is worth testing.