AI receptionist and intakefor law firms.
For solo lawyers and small firms. Every call and web inquiry answered, screened against your practice areas, conflict-check details gathered, and the consult booked into your calendar. You approve every word it says. A lawyer decides who becomes a client.
An AI receptionist for a law firm answers every call and web inquiry, asks the questions you approve, collects conflict-check details and books the consultation. It does not give legal advice or decide conflicts; a lawyer does. AGNT/01 builds it from $799 plus $297 a month (USD), after a free intake audit.
What an AI receptionist does for a law firm.
Short answer: an AI receptionist for a law firm is software that picks up your calls, web chats and texts at any hour, says it is an AI assistant for the firm, asks the screening questions you wrote, collects the names you need for a conflict check and books a consult into your calendar. It does not give legal advice, assess a case or decide who becomes a client. A lawyer does that.
Front desk work, the same way every time
Answers overlapping calls without a busy signal. Asks practice area, location and key dates. Records the caller, the other parties and related companies in separate fields. Offers consult times and sends a confirmation. Flags urgent matters, such as a hearing tomorrow, to the lawyer on call. Sends you a transcript of every conversation.
Anything that needs a licensee
No legal advice, no views on the merits, no promises about outcomes and no conflict decisions. It stops a caller from telling the whole story before conflicts are cleared, and it never says the caller is a client. The Law Society of Ontario compares AI help to help from a non-licensee employee, so you supervise it. For how lawyers use AI tools in drafting, see ChatGPT for lawyers in Canada.
Who it is for.
Solo lawyers and small firms where the lawyer is also the receptionist, the intake coordinator and the person who calls back at 9pm.
Solo and small firms in Ontario
One to about fifteen lawyers, consult-driven practice areas such as family, real estate, wills and estates, employment, immigration, small business and personal injury, where a missed call often means a missed consult.
Firms elsewhere in Canada
Same build and pricing. Scripts and settings are reviewed against your own provincial law society's rules before anything goes live.
Six intake leaks, and the AI employee for each.
Each one is scoped, scripted and approved by the firm. Want a rough sense of what unanswered calls are worth to you? Try the missed-call calculator.
The AI Receptionist
Answers calls, web chat and texts at night and on weekends, says it is an AI assistant for the firm, takes the caller's details and matter type, and books a consult or flags an urgent matter to you under rules you set.
The Intake Screener
Asks the screening questions you write: practice area, location, key dates, how they found you. Inquiries outside your practice get a polite referral message you approve. It never assesses the merits of a matter.
The Conflict Pre-Check
Collects the names of the caller, the other parties and any related companies before the consult is confirmed, then sends them to you. A person at the firm runs and clears the check. The AI does not decide conflicts.
The Document Chaser
Sends the checklist for the matter type, then polite reminders until ID, engagement letters and documents arrive in the place you already keep them. You approve the wording and the schedule.
The Status Line
Answers where-is-my-file calls with a short update you approve, after identity checks you set. Questions about the matter itself go to the lawyer as a message.
The Review Request
When you mark a matter closed and choose to ask, a short review request goes out by email or text with CASL basics built in. Reply drafts never confirm that someone was a client, and you approve each one.
How it works.
Four steps. Nothing goes live until a lawyer at the firm has approved it. For the detail on intake flows, read law firm intake automation in Ontario.
Free intake audit
Thirty minutes with Aniket. We map where inquiries reach the firm today, phone, web form, email, Google, and where they drop. You keep the findings either way. Book the audit.
Scripts and rules, approved by you
Every greeting, screening question, escalation rule and do-not-say list is written down and approved by a lawyer at the firm before anything goes live.
Build and test
Wired into your phone line, website, calendar and, where it allows, your practice management system. Tested against sample calls and inquiries before launch.
Live, with transcripts
You can read every conversation. We adjust scripts as you go. Typically 2 to 4 weeks from audit to a live system, depending on scope. Not a guarantee.
A sample after-hours intake call.
An example flow for a family law inquiry at 9:40 p.m. Your firm writes and approves the real wording. Names and details here are made up.
| Step | What the AI receptionist says | Why it is there |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Disclose | "You've reached the intake line for [Firm]. I'm the firm's AI assistant, and this call is recorded so a lawyer can review it."Then it offers voicemail or a callback from a person if the caller prefers. | Callers know they are talking to software and why the call is recorded. |
| 2. Route | "Which area of law is this about, and which city are you in?"Matters outside your practice get the referral message you approved. | Keeps consult time for matters you actually take. |
| 3. Conflict names | "Before we go further, what is your full name, and the full name of the other person involved?"Each name goes in its own field. | Gives the firm what it needs to run a conflict check before anyone hears the story. |
| 4. Hold the details | "Please don't share the details yet. The lawyer will go through them with you once the file is cleared." | Limits confidential information received before conflicts are checked. |
| 5. Urgency | "Is there a court date or deadline in the next 48 hours?"A yes triggers a text to the lawyer on call. | Urgent matters reach a person under rules you set. |
| 6. Book | "The lawyer has a 20 minute call Thursday at 10 or 2. Which works?"A confirmation follows by text or email. | The consult is booked while the caller is still on the line. |
AI receptionist vs human answering services, compared.
Four providers law firms often compare, using only what each vendor publishes on its own site. Checked October 2026. Prices are as listed by each vendor and may be in USD; confirm currency, tax and overage terms before you sign. Not a ranking or an endorsement.
| Provider | Model and published pricing | From the vendor's own pages |
|---|---|---|
| LEX Reception | Human legal receptionistsBills by minutes rather than by calls. No plan prices on the pages we checked; quote on request. | Says it supports clients anywhere in the US and Canada and that every call is answered by a real person, not AI. Lists integrations including Clio, MyCase and PracticePanther. LEX Reception FAQs |
| Ruby | Human virtual receptionistsPlans from $250 a month for 50 receptionist minutes, up to $1,725 a month for 500 minutes. | Lists 24/7 live answering, with bilingual answering, scheduling and client intake among plan features. Ruby pricing |
| Smith.ai | Human receptionists, or a separate AI receptionistHuman plans from $300 a month for 30 calls, then $11.50 a call. AI receptionist has a free plan with 25 calls a month ($3.00 a call after) and a Pro plan at $150 a month. | The AI plan page lists native integrations including Clio, and call recording, transcripts and summaries. Smith.ai pricing and AI receptionist pricing |
| AGNT/01 | AI receptionist, built and scripted for your firmFoundation is $1,999 to build plus $1,197 a month, USD. Starter ($799 + $297/mo) does not include the AI receptionist. | Done for you: scripts approved by a lawyer at the firm, Canadian compliance notes (LSO rules, PIPEDA, CASL, recording disclosure) and the founder builds every system. Full tiers below. |
Self-serve costs less. Done-for-you costs more.
A self-serve AI plan is cheapest if you have time to write and test the scripts yourself. Human services price by minutes or calls, so check your real volume. A done-for-you build costs more up front and includes the scripting, testing and compliance review. Put a number on your missed calls with the missed call cost calculator for law firms.
Ask every vendor the same questions
Where are calls answered and where is data stored? Is caller data used to train models? How are conflict-check names captured? What do callers hear about recording? How do you get your data back if you leave? Our guide to virtual receptionists for law firms in Canada has the full list of 12 questions, and we answer them too.
Compliance notes.
General information, not legal advice. Rules change and differ by province. Read the sources, and check with your law society before you go live.
| Topic | What it means for AI intake | Official source |
|---|---|---|
| Confidentiality | Applies from the first callIntake details are confidential information. We scope storage, access and retention with you, and status updates need identity checks. | LSO Rules, Chapter 3 (rule 3.3) |
| Marketing | No misleading claimsScripts, follow-ups and review replies avoid claims about results and never present the AI as a lawyer. | LSO Rules, Chapter 4 (section 4.2) |
| Privacy | PIPEDA consent and purposeCollect only what intake needs, say why you collect it, and keep a privacy notice callers can find. | Office of the Privacy Commissioner: PIPEDA in brief |
| Email and text | CASL for follow-ups and review asksMany follow-up and review messages are commercial electronic messages. Consent, identification and an unsubscribe are set up before sending. | Government of Canada: CASL consent |
| Call recording | Tell callers, every timeThe receptionist says it is an AI and whether the call is recorded, and why. See our call recording consent guide. | Privacy Commissioner: recording customer calls |
Pricing for law firms.
USD. CAD quotes on request. Month to month after the build. Every tier is built and reviewed by the founder.
- 5-page custom site, built, hosted and kept updated
- Google Business Profile tuned once, 4 automated posts a month
- Review requests and AI-drafted replies you approve
- Contact form to your inbox with instant auto-reply
- 24/7 AI receptionist for calls, chat and texts
- Consult screening with your questions
- Conflict-check details gathered before booking
- Consults booked into your calendar
- Review requests after a matter closes
- Everything in Foundation
- Document request and reminder sequences
- Status-update line with identity checks
- Practice management wired in where it allows
- Urgent inquiries flagged to your phone
- Everything in Growth, every office
- Custom intake per practice group
- Client portal and CRM work, scoped with you
- Delivery milestones set in the signed agreement
Results are not guaranteed; outcomes depend on each firm. Timelines are typical and confirmed in your agreement. T&C apply.
Free script · Word file
Get the after-hours intake script
The word-for-word call script, the fields to collect, conflict pre-check wording, an urgency rules table your lawyer fills in, a "never say" list and the confirmation text. Works for staff, an answering service or AI.
Law firm FAQ.
If yours isn't here, email info@agntone.ca or .