AI Receptionist for Law Firms: Intake, Personal Injury Leads, Prices and Ethics (2026)
- In Clio's 2024 secret shopper test of 500 US law firms, only 40% answered the phone and Clio called 48% of firms essentially unreachable by phone 1,2.
- AI adoption is rising but uneven: 30% of lawyers in the ABA's 2024 survey used AI, and 75% named accuracy as a concern 3.
- ABA Formal Opinion 512 advises informed consent before client information goes into self-learning AI tools; boilerplate in an engagement letter is not enough 4.
- For intake the practical line is narrow: collect contact details, the matter type and opposing parties, give no legal advice, and tell the caller it is an AI.
Convocore is an AI receptionist that answers a law firm's phone around the clock, collects intake details, screens personal injury and other new matters, and books consultations without giving legal advice. Phone agents start on the Business plan at $99 a month ($66 billed annually), with a free plan to test. Convocore does not claim HIPAA or SOC 2 compliance and its call transfer is a plain forward, so this page compares it with Smith.ai, Ruby, Goodcall, Dialzara and Rosie, with prices read on 30 October 2026.
· 11 sources · Published by Convocore, which sells white label AI agents. See method and limits.
How reachable are law firms?
Clio, a legal software company, hired a third party to pose as prospective clients and contact 500 US law firms for its 2024 Legal Trends Report. 40% answered the phone, 33% replied to the email, and Clio described 48% as essentially unreachable by phone 1,2. The test measured first contact, not matters lost, and Clio sells software to firms, so read it as a signal and not a loss estimate.
AI receptionists for law firms compared, as of 30 October 2026
We read each provider's own pricing page on 30 October 2026. Prices change, so confirm on the vendor's page.
| Provider | Type | Price | Included | Law-firm features |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Convocore | AI platform | Business $99 a month; free plan to test | $0.02 a minute platform fee plus providers at cost | Intake script, lead funnel that emails qualified leads, calendar booking, webhooks; no native Clio sync |
| Smith.ai | Human or AI | Human $300 (30 calls), $810 (90), $2,100 (300); AI free (25 calls) or from $150 (75 calls) | Calls; overage $8.50 to $11.50 on human plans | Clio and CRM sync, conflict checks add-on $0.50 a call, recording add-on $0.25 |
| Ruby | Human | $250 (50 min), $395, $720, $1,725 (500 min) | Minutes | Legal intake and live chat; states HIPAA-compliant services |
| Goodcall | AI | $79, $129 or $299 a month | 100, 500 or 2,000 unique customers; no minute charges | States SOC 2 and HIPAA compliant on its homepage |
| Dialzara | AI | $29, $99, $199 or $349 a month | 60 to 1,000 minutes; overage $0.35 to $0.48 | Live transfer to your team; see their pricing page for integrations |
| Rosie | AI | $49, $149 or $299 a month | 250, 1,000 or 2,000 minutes | Warm transfers that brief your team on the middle plan; Zapier |
- NextPhone's own blog describes $199 flat; its pricing page did not load for us, so see their pricing page.
Intake, conflicts and personal injury leads
Intake. Give the agent a short script: name, phone, email, the type of matter, the date it happened and whether the caller already has a lawyer. It should say it is an AI, never assess the case and offer a callback from an attorney.
Conflict-sensitive wording. The agent should not say whether someone is or is not a client, and should avoid saying the firm will or will not take the matter. It collects the names of opposing parties for a human to run a conflict check. Smith.ai sells a conflict check add-on at $0.50 a call 6; with Convocore the check stays with your staff.
Personal injury qualifying. Ask for the incident date, injuries, whether the caller has seen a doctor, who is at fault, any insurance information and whether another firm is involved. Flag short limitation periods for a human. Convocore's lead funnel sends only leads that pass your rules to your email in real time, so staff are not woken for wrong numbers.
After hours. The agent books a consultation or takes the details, and forwards true emergencies such as an arrest or a detention to an on-call number. The forward does not brief the person who answers, so the agent also emails the summary.
Consent, recording and ethics rules to check with counsel
In July 2024 the American Bar Association issued Formal Opinion 512, which advises lawyers to get informed consent before putting information about a representation into self-learning generative AI tools, and says a boilerplate engagement letter clause is not enough. It is persuasive and not binding, and states differ 4. We could only open descriptions of it, so read the opinion itself.
Some US states require every party to agree before a call is recorded, and AI disclosure rules are spreading. Decide what the greeting says, where recordings and transcripts are stored, how long they are kept and whether the vendor trains on call data, and put it in writing. Our guide to AI calling compliance covers recording and disclosure. A caller's account of their problem is confidential, so your own ethics counsel should sign off. This is not legal advice.
AI receptionist cost versus a human
The BLS reports a median $55,570 a year for legal secretaries and administrative assistants in May 2025, before benefits and payroll tax 5. That is about $4,630 a month for one person on roughly 40 of the 168 hours in a week, our arithmetic. Convocore Business is $99 a month plus $0.02 a minute and provider costs. It covers nights and weekends, but it does not replace the person who greets clients in your office.
When a different tool is the better choice
Choose Smith.ai if you want trained humans, Clio sync and conflict checks from the vendor. Choose Ruby if you want a human on every call and bilingual coverage. Choose Goodcall if a stated SOC 2 and HIPAA claim and flat per-customer pricing matter most. Choose Rosie if briefed warm transfers matter. Choose Convocore if you want one agent across phone, website chat and WhatsApp, a free plan to test, or you are an agency building receptionists for law firms under your own brand.
What the evidence does not show
- Clio's test measures first contact response, not matters lost, and Clio sells software to law firms.
- We could not open ABA Formal Opinion 512 itself, only descriptions of it by the Florida Bar and others.
- We did not test any provider's call handling, conflict check flow or compliance claims.
- Provider pages state compliance claims we did not audit; ask each for its terms in writing.
If you are setting up an AI receptionist for a law firm
Count your unanswered calls and how long a prospect waits for a reply. Restrict the agent to intake with no legal advice, a clear AI disclosure and a fast handoff to a lawyer, and have your ethics counsel review the setup before go-live.
Method and limits
- We opened the pages we cite where the site allowed it, and mark sources we could not open as secondary.
- Provider prices were read on each provider's own page on 30 October 2026.
- Convocore sells a white label AI platform and has a commercial interest; Clio is also a vendor. If you find an error, write to support@convocore.ai.
Sources
- Future Law (Georgia Bar Center for Civility) reporting Clio. 2024.Clio's secret shopper test: 500 firms, 33% email reply, 40% phone answer, 48% unreachable.
- Marketing for law firms: where the money leaks after the clickSecondary reportLawBrokr. 2026.Law marketing vendor blog repeating Clio's 2024 figures. Corroboration only.
- ABA tech survey finds growing adoption of AI in legal practiceSecondary reportLawSites (Robert Ambrogi) on the ABA 2024 Legal Technology Survey Report. March 2025.512 private practice lawyers, 30% using AI against 11% in 2023.
- ABA issues first ethics guidance on a lawyer's use of AI toolsSecondary reportThe Florida Bar News. 2024.Describes ABA Formal Opinion 512 of 29 July 2024. Not opened; read the opinion before relying on it.
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics. May 2025 pay data.
- Plans and pricingPrimary sourceSmith.ai. Read 30 October 2026.
- Plans and pricing, and Ruby for law firmsPrimary sourceRuby. Read 30 October 2026.
- PricingPrimary sourceGoodcall. Read 30 October 2026.
- PricingPrimary sourceDialzara. Read 30 October 2026.
- PricingPrimary sourceRosie. Read 30 October 2026.
- Convocore pricingPrimary sourceConvocore. Read 30 October 2026.
Questions
What is the best AI phone answering for a small law firm?
It depends on what you need. Smith.ai offers humans, Clio sync and a conflict check add-on; Ruby offers humans; Goodcall, Dialzara and Rosie are AI from $29 to $349 a month. Convocore is an AI receptionist from $99 a month with a free plan to test.
Can an AI receptionist qualify personal injury leads?
Yes, as intake. It asks for the incident date, injuries, treatment, who is at fault, insurance and whether another firm is involved, then sends qualified leads to your team. It should not assess the case or give legal advice.
Can a law firm use an AI receptionist ethically?
With care. ABA Formal Opinion 512 advises informed consent before client information goes into self-learning AI tools and says boilerplate consent is not enough. It is persuasive, not binding, so check your state bar's rules with ethics counsel.
Does Convocore do conflict checks or sync with Clio?
No. It collects the names of opposing parties and emails them to your staff, and it can push intake to Clio or other tools by webhook, but it has no native Clio sync. Smith.ai lists Clio sync and a conflict check add-on.
Do I need to tell callers a law firm's receptionist is an AI, and can I record the call?
State it in the greeting. Some US states require all parties to consent to recording, so decide the wording, storage and retention with counsel.
How much does an AI receptionist cost compared with a legal secretary?
The BLS median for legal secretaries is $55,570 a year. On 30 October 2026 AI plans ran from $29 (Dialzara) to $349 a month, and Convocore Business is $99 a month plus usage.