AI receptionist vs AI intake
An AI receptionist for law firms answers the phone, greets the caller, and takes a message or routes the call. AI intake does that and then captures the case: practice-area questions, qualification, consent, booking, warm transfer, and a structured record your team can act on.
| Capability | Basic AI receptionist | Convos AI intake |
|---|---|---|
| Answers 24/7 | Yes | Yes |
| English and Spanish | Sometimes, translated script | Native Latin-American Spanish, auto-detected |
| Runs your firm's intake script | Generic greeting | Firm-configured, practice-area specific |
| Lead qualification and disqualifiers | No | Yes |
| Books the consult on your calendar | Rarely | Cal.com and Google Calendar |
| Warm transfer to staff | Blind transfer | Warm transfer with context on screen |
| Recording + TCPA-aligned consent prompts | Varies | Configured by jurisdiction |
| Structured summary, urgency, next step | Message slip | Central Hub record |
| Shared call and text history | No | Yes |
If you only need someone to pick up, a receptionist layer is enough. If missed calls are costing signed cases, you want AI intake for law firms.
What people mean by "AI receptionist for a law firm"
When attorneys ask about an AI receptionist, they're usually asking about three different jobs stitched together: answer the call, figure out if the caller is a real lead, and get that lead to a human or onto the calendar before the moment is lost.
A modern AI voice intake system like Convos does all three — but understanding where the line sits between "AI handles it" and "your team handles it" is what makes the difference between a tool that helps and a tool that creates malpractice risk.
What an AI receptionist should do for a law firm
- Answer every inbound call, 24/7, in English and Spanish. No after-hours voicemail black hole.
- Run your firm's intake script — not a generic one. Practice area, jurisdiction, conflict-check trigger questions, fee disclosures.
- Capture structured intake — caller name, callback number, matter type, jurisdiction, opposing party, key dates.
- Warm-transfer to staff during business hours when the caller fits and a human is available.
- Book a consult to your calendar when staff isn't available, using Cal.com or Google Calendar.
- Send a clean handoff — transcript, summary, and structured fields to your CRM or case-management system.
What it should NOT do
- Give legal advice. Ever. Not even "you probably have a case."
- Make eligibility decisions about whether a matter is worth taking.
- Run conflict checks against your matter database without an attorney reviewing the result.
- Skip consent prompts where your jurisdiction requires them (recording disclosure, TCPA-aligned messaging consent).
The "first response" win
The single biggest reason firms adopt AI intake isn't headcount — it's speed to lead. Industry research has consistently shown that the firm that responds first wins a disproportionate share of the consult. After-hours calls, lunch-hour calls, and Spanish-only calls are where most firms bleed.
An AI receptionist closes that gap without forcing you to staff a 24-hour front desk.
How to evaluate one
Ask a vendor:
- Can it speak Spanish at the same fluency as English?
- Does it run my intake script, or a generic one?
- What happens during business hours when a qualified caller wants a human?
- Where does the transcript and structured intake land?
- How is my call data handled and stored?
Confirm the answer aligns with the vendor's written privacy policy and data-processing terms before signing.
Convos is productized AI voice intake for law firms. See how it works or book a 15-minute demo.
Keep reading: AI intake for law firms · What is an AI receptionist for law firms? · Best AI intake software for law firms · Pricing · Book a demo