What should a law firm's AI intake assistant do, and not do?
People often reach out to a lawyer in the evening, when the office is closed. An intake assistant can answer them at any hour, as long as it stays inside clear limits. Here's where those limits sit.
For most firms, intake is where new matters are won or lost. Someone with a legal problem contacts a few firms, often after hours, and books with the one that responds clearly and quickly. An AI intake assistant can make sure every enquiry gets an answer and lands with your team in a usable form. It only works if it knows exactly what it may and may not do.
Check your intake yourself
Contact your own firm one evening the way a prospective client would: call, fill in the website form, and send a message from your Google profile if you have one. Then ask:
- Did you get a reply that evening, even an automatic one? If not, when did the first reply come?
- Did the reply say what happens next, such as a consultation and how it's booked?
- Did you have to explain your situation twice, once to the form and again on the phone?
- Who decides whether the firm can take the matter, and how quickly do they see new enquiries?
- Do your website and Google profile show the same hours and contact details?
The usual options
| Option | What the prospective client gets | What to watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Voicemail | A recorded message and a callback the next business day | Many people won't leave a detailed message, and urgent matters wait until morning. |
| Web form | A form to describe their situation | People may write more than they should about their case, and a form gives no reply until someone reads it. |
| Answering service | A person who takes a message | Operators answer for many businesses and can't explain how your consultations work. |
| AI intake assistant | A reply at any hour, the intake details your team needs, and a consultation request | Needs firm limits: no legal advice, approved answers only, and a clear handover to your team. |
What an intake assistant should do
- Answer from information you approve: your practice areas, where you work, how consultations are booked and whether there's a fee for them, office hours and how to reach you.
- Collect only intake details: name, contact details, the area of law, a short description in their own words, and any deadline or court date they mention.
- Gather the names your conflict check needs: for example, the other party's name, so your team can run the check before anyone is told the firm can help.
- Flag urgent matters such as a court date this week, and give your instructions for urgent situations word for word.
- Be clear about what happens next: that this is a request, that someone from the firm will follow up, and roughly when.
What it should not do
- Give legal advice, assess the strength of a case or suggest what someone should do.
- Say whether a person is, or was, a client of the firm.
- Promise that the firm will take the matter, quote fees you haven't approved or predict an outcome.
- Ask for more detail about the matter than intake needs, or for documents and identification.
- Pretend to be a lawyer or a person. If it's an assistant, it should say so when asked.
Confidentiality and privacy
What prospective clients tell you is sensitive even before they hire you. Before you add any intake option, ask where enquiries are stored, who can read them, how long they're kept and whether the provider uses them for anything else. Check your obligations with the Law Society of Ontario's guidance or a privacy professional, and make sure your privacy policy covers how enquiries are handled.
Questions to ask before you choose
- Can we read and approve every answer it gives? Nothing should go to the public that your firm hasn't approved.
- How do new enquiries reach us? By email, a shared inbox or your practice management software, and who checks them first thing.
- What does it say when someone asks for advice? Ask to see the exact wording.
- How are urgent deadlines flagged? Make sure a court date can't sit unread overnight.
- What happens to our data if we stop? You should keep every enquiry.
Next step
See how we set up intake and follow-up for law firms, or get a free demo built for your firm. If you're weighing a live service against AI, read AI receptionist or answering service? For the website side, see what to know about an AI chatbot, and if you'd like more people to find your firm in the first place, start with 5 signs your Google profile is losing you calls.
Written by Nuvelo Labs, Kitchener-Waterloo. General information only, not legal advice.