AI Receptionist for Law Firms: Intake Without Legal Advice
An AI receptionist for a law firm is an automated assistant that answers the phone and messages in natural conversation, takes the routine questions off your staff, and makes sure a prospective client who calls at 9 p.m. hears something better than voicemail. Talksy does this across phone calls, WhatsApp and Telegram. For a law firm, its job is narrow on purpose: explain what you do, how consultations work, and how to reach a person, and never drift into legal advice.
Who actually calls a small law firm?
It helps to separate callers before deciding what an assistant should say to each:
- Prospective clients. The most valuable calls and the ones most likely to come after hours, right after an accident, an arrest, an eviction notice or a fight with an ex. They want to know whether you handle their kind of matter and what happens next.
- Existing clients. They want their lawyer or paralegal, a status update, or to drop off a document.
- Other lawyers, courts and vendors. Scheduling, filings, invoices.
- Everyone else. Solicitors, wrong numbers, people looking for free advice.
Only the first group benefits from a conversation with an AI. The second and third need a clear, polite path to your staff. The assistant's instructions should treat them differently.
What should the assistant say, and what must it never say?
Write this as a two-column policy in the assistant's instructions. On phone calls, Talksy answers from those instructions, so the wording you choose is the wording callers hear.
| It may | It must never |
|---|---|
| List the practice areas you handle and those you don't | Say whether someone "has a case" |
| Explain how consultations work, whether they're free, and the fee if not | Estimate what a case is worth or how long it will take |
| Describe contingency arrangements in general terms, if you offer them | Recommend what to do about a deadline, charge or court date |
| Give office hours, address and the number for urgent matters | Promise that an attorney will take the case |
| Tell callers what documents to bring to a consultation | Ask for detailed facts before a conflict check |
| Say it's an automated assistant | Pretend to be a lawyer or a person |
The most common hard question is "do I have a case?" Here's how an assistant configured this way handles it.
Illustrative example, not a real call.
Assistant: Thank you for calling Morgan & Reyes. I'm the firm's automated assistant. The office is closed, but I can answer general questions about the firm. How can I help?
Caller: I was rear-ended two days ago and the other driver's insurance already called me. Do I have a case?
Assistant: I'm not able to give legal advice, and only one of our attorneys can assess your situation. The firm handles car accident and personal injury cases, and the first consultation is free. You can book one at morganreyes.example/consult, or call 555-0130 from 8:30 tomorrow morning.
Caller: Should I talk to the insurance company in the meantime?
Assistant: That's exactly the kind of question to ask an attorney at your consultation. I can't advise you on it. Would you like the booking link again?
What about confidentiality and professional rules?
The ABA's first formal guidance on generative AI, Formal Opinion 512 (July 2024), addresses competence, communication, fees and confidentiality under Rule 1.6. Its central point for this use case: client information stays confidential, and lawyers need to understand how a tool handles what's put into it. Practical steps for an intake assistant:
- Collect the minimum. On WhatsApp or Telegram, collect name, contact details, matter type and the names of other parties for a conflict check. Tell people not to send case details until a lawyer contacts them.
- Know where data goes. WhatsApp and Telegram conversations are stored in your Talksy dashboard, where your team can read and search them. Calls are logged by time and duration; Talksy doesn't record call audio, but speech is transcribed by software in real time so the AI can reply.
- Disclose the AI. The greeting should say it's an automated assistant.
- Check state rules. State bars issue their own AI guidance, and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press counts about 11 states that generally require all-party consent for recording, which is worth knowing when you configure any phone system.
Firms in Canada should also consider PIPEDA and their law society's guidance; UK firms, the UK GDPR lawful bases and their regulator's rules. None of this is legal advice to your firm. You know your obligations better than we do.
What should go in the knowledge base?
For WhatsApp and Telegram replies, the assistant also searches documents you upload (PDF, CSV or TXT, up to 10 MB each). Keep them public-facing:
- A one-page description of each practice area, including what you don't take on.
- Your consultation process and fees, and what to bring.
- Office locations, parking, and remote-consultation options.
- A plain-language FAQ you already publish on your website.
Don't upload client files, internal procedures or anything you wouldn't put on your website.
How do you set it up?
- Start the free 14-day trial; no card is required.
- Create an assistant and write the "may / must never" policy above into its instructions, along with practice areas, hours and consultation details.
- Buy a local number in the Channels tab. US and Canadian numbers are instant (US, Canada); UK numbers need proof of address first.
- Forward after-hours and overflow calls to it from your main line.
- Have a colleague try to extract legal advice from it. Tighten the instructions until it politely refuses every time.
What does it cost compared with a legal answering service?
Talksy's plans are flat: $19 (60 voice minutes), $49 (300) or $149 (1,000) per month, with messages, a local number and no overage charges included. See pricing.
Staffed services cost more and do more. As of October 2026, Smith.ai's human receptionist plans start at $300 a month for 30 calls, and Ruby's plans start at $250 for 50 minutes, according to their own pricing pages; both list legal-software integrations such as Clio. If your intake process depends on a person qualifying leads and pushing them into your case-management system, that's a real advantage. Our comparisons with Smith.ai and Ruby go through the trade-offs, and AI receptionist vs answering service covers the general question.
For many small firms, the answer is both: an AI assistant for nights, weekends and the lunch hour, and people for everything that needs judgment.