Customer Support and Voice AI
AI receptionist for small business: calls, bookings and handoffs
What an AI receptionist does on a real call, the rules that apply, a sample greeting and a pass/fail checklist to launch one safely.
Inbound
AI Voice Receptionist for Legal Operations
Clients asking for a status update or opening a new matter get answered, and legal questions always go to a lawyer.
Lawyers and legal staff lose hours to calls that are really administration: is my matter moving, which documents do you still need, can I book a consultation. This receptionist answers those calls from your matter records and approved documents, takes structured intake for new matters, and transfers anything that sounds like a legal question to a lawyer. It never gives legal advice.
- New-matter intake captured in a structured record for review
- Status updates read only from fields you mark shareable
- Every legal question transferred to a lawyer, never answered
$6,900
20–30 working days
Optional maintenance $345/mo
What it is
AI Voice Receptionist for Legal Operations answers the phone line of a law firm or in-house legal team. It handles the administrative side of legal work: new-matter intake, status updates, and questions about documents and key dates. It reads only your matter management system and approved documents, never gives legal advice, and transfers to lawyers.
Why businesses buy it
Every status call a lawyer takes is time that cannot be billed or spent on the matter itself, and every unanswered intake call is a prospective client who may ring the next firm. This receptionist handles the administrative layer of legal work so lawyers only take calls that need legal judgment. Intake arrives structured, clients hear verified status updates, and nothing resembling advice is ever given. The Scope Card lists call flows, systems and exclusions before you order, so your risk team can review exactly what it does.
Problems this solves
Lawyers break off billable work to take routine status calls
Status questions are answered from your matter management system, reading only what it contains. Lawyers are interrupted only when a caller genuinely needs one of them.
New-matter enquiries arrive with half the intake details missing
The legal operations intake flow collects the details your team asks for on a new matter. Each enquiry is logged with a transcript and summary, ready for your team's review.
Clients phone to confirm key dates and which documents to send
Questions about documents and key dates are answered from your approved documents and matter records. Clients get a consistent answer without waiting for their lawyer to call back.
Firms fear an automated line could drift into legal advice
The receptionist never gives legal advice and works only from approved content. Anything needing judgment is transferred to a lawyer, and the call summary shows what was asked.
A good fit if
Lawyers lose billable time answering calls that only ask where a matter stands.
New inquiries arrive by phone and you want the same intake details captured every time before anyone reviews them.
Your matter management system holds the status and key dates callers ask about, and it has an API.
Colleagues from other departments, not only clients, ring the legal team with routine questions about documents and process.
Not the right fit if
You want intake handled through web forms and email rather than the phone. See AI Legal Intake.
Your bigger problem is coordinating matters and tracking work, not answering calls. See AI Legal Operations Assistant.
You need contract renewal and notice dates watched for you. AI Contract Renewal Monitor, tracks those across contracts.
Clients call in more than one language. This build covers one; add the Additional Language Pack.
You are a law firm that wants phone answering, website chat and client intake set up together. See the AI Law Firm Intake Stack.
How it works
- Callers know what they are speaking to. Your greeting and recording disclosure play first, with a short statement that the line cannot give legal advice, in wording your team approves.
- New matters are taken in the same way every time. The intake flow from the Legal Operations workflow template asks your questions in your order, then writes a clean intake record for a lawyer to review.
- Status questions are answered from the record. With your matter management system connected, the receptionist reads back only the status or next step you mark as shareable, after the verification questions your rules require.
- Document questions are routed. Callers asking what to send or how to deliver it get answers from your approved documents, or are put through to the person handling the matter.
- Anything legal goes to a lawyer. Questions about merits, options, risk or what a clause means are never answered; the call transfers to the number you set or becomes a message.
- Each call is filed. Transcript, summary and outcome go to your matter management system or email, ready for review by a qualified lawyer where needed.
What you provide within 72 hours
Your portal lists these the moment you order. Delivery starts the working day after everything is in and your access is checked.
- A telephony account in the firm's name, such as Twilio, Vonage or Exotel, with the number to use, forward or port.
- Your intake questions and the order they should be asked in.
- Which matter details callers may hear, and the verification questions to ask first.
- Process documents for routine questions: how to send documents, office hours, fee and billing contacts.
- Transfer numbers for lawyers, the intake team and billing.
- Access to your matter management system and the second system to connect.
- Your preferred voice and language, plus your call-recording disclosure wording.
- One decision-maker who signs off the build.
- An API key for your own AI model account (for example OpenAI or Google Gemini), created for this build with a spending limit.
The 72-hour rule. Send everything on your checklist, including access, within 72 hours of ordering so your build starts on time.
Timeline
Start
Intake verified, shareable matter fields and the no-advice rule agreed
Weeks 1–2
Intake, status and document call flows built from the Legal Operations template
Week 3
Matter management system and second system connected
Weeks 3–4
50 test calls on legal operations scenarios, transcripts sent
Week 4
Your review and two change rounds
Go-live
Live, recorded handoff session, 30 days of support start
| Option | Delivery time | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | 20–30 working days | $6,900 |
| Express | 15–25 working days | $7,950 |
| Rush | 10–20 working days | $8,950 |
What you receive at handover
- The receptionist live on your firm's or legal team's line
- A legal operations intent library and call flow templates for intake, status and key dates
- Connections to up to two systems, such as your matter management system and calendar
- A test report from legal scenario test calls, with transcripts
- An admin guide and a recorded handoff session
- 30 days of post-launch support
Expected benefits and how to measure them
- Can protect lawyers' time from routine administrative calls.
- Helps new-matter intake arrive more complete.
- Makes client status updates more consistent.
- Routine calls reaching lawyers
- Lawyers tally routine status calls for two weeks before launch. They repeat the tally two weeks after.
- Intake complete on first contact
- Count new matters with all intake fields filled at first contact, using your matter system. Compare before and after.
- Time from enquiry to matter opened
- Use enquiry and matter-opening dates from your matter management system. Compare the quarter before and after.
Before you start: Ask lawyers to tally routine status calls for two weeks. Check how complete new-matter intake usually is on first contact.
These are things to track, not promised results. Outcomes depend on your data, your team and your market.
Running costs
The build is paid once. Afterwards the cost is call minutes, billed to your own accounts at roughly $0.13 to $0.31 per minute all in for the voice platform, the AI model and telephony, plus number rental. Short status calls cost little, and intake calls run a little longer.
AI usage during the build and test calls is billed to your accounts the same way.
Ask about running costsCustom requirements
A sixth call flow, a separate line per practice area, or a third connected system are all possible through a written Change Quote. Add a note at checkout and the quote arrives; none of that work starts until you accept it.
Request a custom versionKeep it running
Monthly maintenance covers monitoring, fixes, updates and change hours for updated intake questions, new shareable matter fields or revised process documents. It starts after the 30 days of support.
$345/mo (5% of the build price a month, includes 3 change hours)
Optional. Starts after the post-launch support period. Cancel any month.
How maintenance worksHow this compares
| Do it yourself with a SaaS tool | Hire a custom agency | Upmark Labs | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | A legal answering service usually bills monthly or per call | A custom build is quoted after discovery | Ours is one fixed price, shown on this page before you buy |
| Legal advice | Depends on operator training | Set during the project | Ours never gives it and transfers those questions to a lawyer |
| Matter status | Operators take a message | Depends on what was agreed | Ours reads shareable status from your matter management system |
| Delivery | Days to brief operators | Usually several weeks | Ours has a fixed delivery time shown before you buy, with faster options |
Questions about this product
Does AI Voice Receptionist for Legal Operations give legal advice?
No. Legal advice is excluded from this build. The receptionist handles intake, status, document and scheduling questions only, using your records and approved documents. Any question about a caller's rights, options or risks is transferred to a lawyer or taken as a message, and intake records are prepared for review by qualified lawyers.
Can the legal receptionist tell a client where their matter stands?
Yes, if your matter management system is connected and your rules allow it. It reads back the status or next step you have marked as shareable, after the caller answers the verification questions you set. If the record is unclear or the caller wants more detail, it transfers to the person handling the matter.
What does a new-matter intake call collect?
Whatever your intake form asks. You decide the questions, for example contact details, the other parties involved and what the inquiry concerns, and the receptionist asks them in order. It reads key details back to the caller and logs a structured intake record for a lawyer to review before anything is accepted.
Can other departments use the legal team's line too?
Yes, as one of the five call flows. Colleagues ringing with routine process questions, such as how to request a contract review or where to send a signed document, get answers from your approved documents. Anything that needs judgment goes straight to the right person in your legal team.
Which legal systems can the receptionist connect to?
Two systems, agreed at intake. The usual pair is your matter management system plus email or your document management system. Each needs an API and admin access you provide. A third connection is possible through a Change Quote, sent of a note at checkout.
When can the legal receptionist start taking calls?
Delivery time for each speed is shown in the panel on this page, counted from the day your intake is complete and access is verified. Your intake questions, the matter fields you mark as shareable and system access are needed within 72 hours of ordering. Late items push the delivery date back, so line up your matter system admin early.
What will running the legal line cost each month?
Call minutes in your own accounts, about $0.13 to $0.31 a minute all in, plus number rental. The total follows how many calls you take, so a busy intake month costs more. Monthly maintenance is optional, and we charge nothing per matter, per intake or per call.
Guides on this topic
All guides Keep lawyers on legal work, not status calls.
Order AI Voice Receptionist for Legal Operations and on a fixed delivery date intake, status and document calls are handled on your line, while every legal question still goes to a lawyer.
Works well with
Legal Operations
AI Legal Intake
For in-house legal teams: captures and triages incoming legal requests from the business.
Legal Operations
AI Legal Operations Assistant
Handles routine legal-ops coordination and matter tracking.
Call Intelligence
AI Call Summarization
Summarizes calls into notes, outcomes and next steps in your CRM.