Law firm answering service with AI intake

A law firm answering service exists for the calls that arrive when nobody at the firm can take them. For a small firm, that is a long list: the morning every attorney is at the courthouse, the lunch hour, the time after 5:30, and the whole weekend. Those are often the hours in which a prospective client decides to call, because the dispute, the arrest or the letter from the other side has just happened. The question for the firm is what that caller gets: a ring with no answer, a short message, or a real intake.

Traditional legal answering services send the call to operators who work for the service. They greet the caller in your firm's name and take a message, and depending on the service, operators can also follow an intake script you provide. That model works, and its quality rests on the script and on the operator who reads it. It is also usually billed by the minute or per call, so a busy month costs more. Asyntai takes a different route: an AI voice agent answers the forwarded calls on a number in your own Twilio account and works from your website, your documents and the AI Instructions you write. This page compares the two from the intake side, because intake is the reason a firm pays for the service at all.

Start with the questions. Every firm has an intake sheet, on paper or in a case management system: the type of matter, the county, whether a court date is already set, whether the caller has spoken to another lawyer, how they found the firm. Paste that sheet into the AI Instructions, or upload it as a PDF file, and write one sentence that tells the agent to ask the items one at a time on a new matter. It asks them in that order on every call. A divorce inquiry at 11 pm on a Sunday arrives with the same answers as one taken by your best paralegal on a Tuesday.

The conflict check comes before everything else. A firm checks for conflicts of interest before it takes on a new matter, and that check starts with names. A short rule covers this: before the intake questions, ask for the caller's full name and the full name of the other party, and say that the firm checks for conflicts before an attorney calls back. The transcript of the call stores both names, so your team can run the search first thing and call back only when the check is clear. The callback request itself reaches your escalation email with the caller's name and a number the caller confirmed after the agent read it back digit by digit.

Legal advice stays with the attorneys. Callers in a crisis ask direct questions: will I keep the house, can my ex take the children out of state, do I have to answer this letter by Friday. Your AI Instructions decide the wording of the reply. A rule can say that the agent never gives a view on a case, never says whether the firm will accept it, and never estimates a result. When such a question comes up, the agent says that an attorney reviews every new matter and offers a consultation callback. Questions about the firm itself, such as the consultation fee, the counties you cover or the address of the office, are answered from your website and documents.

Current clients need a different path. A client who calls the evening before a hearing usually wants a person, not an intake. During the hours you set under Escalate to Human, the agent tells the client it is putting them through and transfers the call to the transfer number of the line, for example the front desk or a paralegal's mobile. The receiving phone shows the client's own number. If nobody answers within 20 seconds, or the line is busy, the client returns to the agent, which apologizes and takes a callback request. Outside those hours, the callback request is taken straight away. If the firm wants the AI receptionist to run the front desk in office hours as well, the AI receptionist for law firms page covers that daytime setup.

The cost model is the clearest difference. Asyntai is a monthly plan: Standard costs $139 a month and includes 200 voice minutes and 2 calls at the same time; Pro costs $449 a month and includes 1,500 voice minutes and 5 calls at the same time. Each answer the agent gives on a call also counts as one AI reply on the plan, and Twilio bills the number and the minutes on your own account. To compare, take the invoice from your current service, note the minutes on the intake line, and set them against the plan minutes. When every line is in use, a new caller hears that the lines are busy and is asked to call again in a few minutes. The answering service overview compares the options for other kinds of business.

A switch can be gradual. Add the firm's website, upload the intake sheet, write the conflict rule and the advice rule, and make free test calls in the browser. Play the hard callers: the one who refuses to give the other party's name, the one who wants to know if they will win, the client who insists on talking to their attorney now. Read each transcript and tighten the rules. Then connect Twilio, import the intake number and forward only after-hours calls at first. When a few weeks of transcripts look like your own intake, add the hearing-morning overflow. The voice agent guide describes every setting.