Most firms lose prospective clients in the first ten minutes: the call goes to voicemail, the web form sits until Monday, or the lawyer calls back into another voicemail. AI legal intake exists to close that gap. The catch is that intake is already regulated work, so the software has to know exactly where to stop.
This guide sets out what AI intake can and cannot do under Canadian rules, a sample flow, screening questions by practice area, the conflict-check handoff and consent scripts in English and French. For the Ontario business case, see law firm intake automation in Ontario. General information, not legal advice.
What can AI legal intake do under Canadian rules, and what can it not?
The line is the same in every province: software may collect and schedule; a licensed lawyer must advise and decide.
| Task | AI can | AI cannot | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Answer the first call or chat 24/7, in English or French | Yes | Logistics, not legal services. French is required for Quebec consumers under the Charter of the French language. | |
| Say it is automated, say the call is recorded, ask consent | Yes, and it must | OPC guidance on recording; openness under PIPEDA. | |
| Collect name, contact details, language, matter type and urgency | Yes, from fixed lists | Diagnose the legal problem | Limited collection; characterising a matter is a step toward advice. |
| Collect the other parties' names for a conflict check | Yes | Run or clear the check | Rule 3.4: conflicts are a lawyer's decision. |
| Answer "Do I have a case?" or "What is my deadline?" | No, ever | Legal services are reserved to licensees under the Law Society Act. | |
| Quote fees from an approved schedule | Yes, if a lawyer approved the wording | Negotiate or promise outcomes | Supervision under rule 6.1. |
| Book a consultation and send a confirmation text | Yes | Send promotions without consent | Service message versus commercial electronic message under CASL. |
| Accept a retainer or open a file | No | Engagement is the lawyer's act, after conflicts are cleared. | |
| Take the full story before the consult | Should not | Confidentiality under rule 3.3 attaches to everything captured. | |
| Transfer an urgent caller to a lawyer with a summary | Yes | The handoff is where judgement begins. |
Checked October 2026 against the LSO Rules of Professional Conduct, the Law Society Act, OPC guidance and the OQLF. Quebec firms should also read the Barreau's generative AI guide.
What does a sample AI intake flow look like?
A flow for a fictional small Ontario firm doing family, employment and real estate work.
| Step | What the AI says | Captures | Handoff trigger |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Greet and disclose | "Thank you for calling [Firm]. I'm the firm's automated intake assistant. Would you prefer English or French?" | Language | Caller asks for a person: transfer or callback |
| 2. Recording notice | "This call is recorded and transcribed so a lawyer can review your enquiry. Is that all right?" | Consent | No: name and number only |
| 3. Urgency check | "Have you been served with documents, arrested, or given a date you must meet?" | Urgent flag, any date | Yes: live transfer to on-call lawyer |
| 4. Contact details | "May I have your full name, best phone number and email?" | Name, phone, email | |
| 5. Matter type | "Which is closest: family, employment, buying or selling property, or something else?" | Category from a fixed list | Outside practice areas: decline script and referral |
| 6. Conflict names | "So the firm can check it is able to act, who is the other party? Please spell the surname. Any companies involved?" | Other parties, spellings, entities | Always: names go to staff before step 8 is confirmed |
| 7. Boundary | "I can't comment on the merits or deadlines; the lawyer will cover that in your consultation." | Nothing | Caller insists on advice: offer the soonest consult |
| 8. Book | "I can hold [Tuesday 10 a.m.] or [Wednesday 2 p.m.], pending a conflict check. Which works?" | Tentative slot | |
| 9. Confirm | "You'll get a text confirming the time once the check is done. Is this number okay for that?" | Consent to the text | |
| 10. Summary to firm | Internal: structured summary to intake inbox and practice software | All fields, transcript link | Staff run conflicts, confirm or cancel |
Sample only. Have a lawyer at your firm approve every line, and a fluent speaker review the French, before launch.
Which screening questions should the AI ask?
Screening questions sort callers into the right consultation without touching the merits. Keep them short, factual and from a list the lawyer wrote.
- Family: Separation, parenting, support or a marriage contract? Children under 18? An existing court order or agreement?
- Employment: Still employed? Signed anything from the employer? A date on any letter received?
- Personal injury: When did it happen? Was a report made? Is an insurer already in contact?
- Real estate: Buying, selling or refinancing? Closing date? A signed agreement of purchase and sale?
- Immigration: Which program or status? A deadline on any letter from IRCC?
- Criminal: Charged, and is there a court date? Currently detained? Always transfer live.
Questions the AI should never ask: what the other side did wrong, what evidence exists, or anything that invites a narrative. Those belong in the consultation, after conflicts are cleared.
How should the conflict-check handoff work?
This is the step most intake tools get wrong, because it cannot be automated end to end. The clean version has four parts.
- Collect only identifiers. The caller's full name and former names, the other parties spelled out, and any companies or related people the caller names when asked directly. Nothing about the dispute.
- Hold, do not confirm. The consultation slot is tentative, and the AI says so.
- A person runs the check. Staff or the lawyer search the conflicts database and closed files. The AI's summary arrives with names in their own fields so nothing is retyped.
- Two outcomes, two scripts. Clear: the confirmation text goes out. Conflict or unsure: a person calls back, says the firm is unable to act without explaining why, and offers a referral route. The AI never delivers that message.
If the caller declines recording in step 2, the handoff still works: the AI takes a name and number only, and a person collects the conflict names on the callback.
What consent scripts do you need?
Three short scripts cover the rules. Use both languages where you serve French-speaking clients.
- AI disclosure
- "You've reached [Firm]'s automated intake assistant. I can take your details and book a consultation, and you can ask for a person at any time."
« Vous êtes en communication avec l'assistant d'accueil automatisé de [Cabinet]. Je peux prendre vos coordonnées et fixer une consultation, et vous pouvez demander à parler à une personne à tout moment. » - Recording and purpose
- "This call is recorded and transcribed so a lawyer at the firm can review your enquiry and follow up. Is that all right? If not, I'll take only your name and number."
« Cet appel est enregistré et transcrit afin qu'un avocat du cabinet puisse examiner votre demande et y donner suite. Est-ce que cela vous convient? Sinon, je ne prendrai que votre nom et votre numéro. » - Text confirmation
- "May I text this number to confirm your consultation time? We won't send anything else to it without asking."
« Puis-je envoyer un texto à ce numéro pour confirmer l'heure de votre consultation? Nous n'y enverrons rien d'autre sans votre accord. »
The purpose wording matters. The Privacy Commissioner says the purpose of recording should be stated as clearly and narrowly as possible, and warns against broad labels such as quality assurance when the real use is something else. The text script keeps a service message separate from marketing, the line CASL draws; our CASL guide for law firms covers the rest.
How do Ontario and Quebec differ?
The duties are parallel; the sources differ. In Ontario, the LSO's Rules of Professional Conduct set confidentiality and conflicts rules, rule 6.1 makes the lawyer responsible for supervising non-lawyers, and the LSO's technology guideline frames vendor due diligence. Federal PIPEDA governs the personal information a private firm collects.
In Quebec, the Barreau's generative AI guide addresses professional secrecy, personal information and responsibility for supervised work; the Commission d'accès à l'information enforces the private-sector privacy law as amended by Law 25; and the OQLF requires that consumers be served in French on every channel in comparable conditions. A Gatineau firm with Ottawa clients lives under both sets, which is why our Ottawa law firm guide treats the two sides of the river separately.
Choosing a tool to run this flow? Our criteria for the best AI receptionist for law firms in Canada turn this page into a vendor scorecard. If you would rather have it built, AGNT/01 sets up the flow, the handoff and the scripts with a lawyer at your firm approving each version; plans are on the pricing page and the intake audit is free.
AI legal intake in Canada: FAQ
What is AI legal intake?
Software that answers a prospective client's first call, chat or web form, collects the details a firm needs to decide whether it can act, books a consultation and passes a structured summary to a lawyer or intake staff. It replaces voicemail and phone tag, not the lawyer's judgement.
Can AI intake give a caller legal advice?
No. Legal services in Ontario are reserved to licensees under the Law Society Act, and the lawyer is responsible for work done under their supervision. AI intake answers logistics, collects facts and redirects legal questions to the consultation.
Can AI intake clear a conflict of interest?
No. It can collect the names needed for the check. A person at the firm runs them through the conflicts system and decides whether the firm can act, as rule 3.4 requires.
What information should AI intake collect?
Name, phone, email, preferred language, matter type, the other parties' names, any deadline the caller already knows, and how they found you. Not the full story of the matter before conflicts are cleared.
Do I need consent to record intake calls in Canada?
Yes. The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada says an organization must inform the caller that it is recording, state the purpose clearly and obtain consent. Offer a way to continue without recording.
Can the AI text the prospective client afterwards?
A confirmation of the consultation they asked for is service. Marketing messages are commercial electronic messages under CASL and need consent. Keep the two in separate templates.
Does AI intake have to work in French?
For Quebec consumers, yes: the Charter of the French language gives a right to be served in French, and the OQLF says that includes the telephone. Elsewhere it is a service decision, and in bilingual regions usually worth doing.
Who is responsible if the AI makes a mistake?
The firm. Rule 6.1 of the LSO's Rules of Professional Conduct places complete professional responsibility on the lawyer, including work done by non-lawyers. That is why a lawyer should approve every script version.
Sources
Last verified October 2026. General information, not legal advice.
- Law Society of Ontario. Rules of Professional Conduct, Chapter 3 (confidentiality, rule 3.3; conflicts of interest, rule 3.4)
- Law Society of Ontario. Rules of Professional Conduct, Chapter 6 (rule 6.1: complete professional responsibility and direct supervision of non-lawyers)
- Law Society of Ontario. Practice management guideline: Technology
- Government of Ontario. Law Society Act (provision of legal services by licensees)
- Barreau du Québec. Generative AI: guide covering professional secrecy, confidentiality, personal information, and supervision of work
- Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. PIPEDA fair information principles (identifying purposes, consent, limiting collection, safeguards)
- Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. Recording of customer telephone calls
- Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. Principles for responsible, trustworthy and privacy-protective generative AI technologies
- Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada. Canada's anti-spam legislation: consent for commercial electronic messages
- Office québécois de la langue française. Langue de service (Charter of the French language, sections 5 and 50.2)
- Commission d'accès à l'information du Québec. Obligations of private businesses under Law 25
Want this flow built for your practice areas?
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