AI receptionist · Law firm

Live

AI receptionist and intake for law firms

New enquiries qualified on your web chat and email: the matter, the jurisdiction, the deadline and who the client is. It requests the consultation for a person to confirm and leaves every legal answer to a lawyer.

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Runs on the Consulting, legal and tax job description of the AI inbound sales manager. Web chat and email today; phone is planned.

Unistaff · Law firm

Intake

Job descriptionConsulting, legal & tax

ChannelsWeb chat / Email

FeesFrom your dated card

AdviceLawyers only

StatusLive · free 30-day pilot

In one paragraph

What does an AI receptionist do at a law firm?

An AI receptionist for a law firm qualifies new enquiries on your web chat and email. It says it is the firm's AI assistant, asks only what the first message left out — the matter and jurisdiction, the deadline, who the client is and whether another adviser is involved — quotes standard fees only from your dated card, records the consultation request for a person to confirm and never gives a legal conclusion. The pilot is free for 30 days.

How much does it cost?

The first 30 days are a free pilot: one AI inbound sales manager for one company on web chat and email, no payment and no card, stop at any time. After it, one flat monthly fee per AI employee is agreed on the pilot review. Messages and minutes are unmetered, and no list price is published.

Start a free pilot Pricing

The path of one enquiry

Five steps from a message on your site to a confirmed booking. The AI works the first four; a person owns the last one and anything handed over on the way.

01
Enquiry arrives
Web chat on your site or the email address set up for the pilot
02
Reads it whole
Asks only what is missing, one question per reply
03
Qualifies
Matter and jurisdiction, deadline or court date, person or company, other adviser
04
Next step
A standard service: one line with fee and timeline; a broad question: the consultation
05
Lawyer takes it
Conflict check, the advice, the engagement and the fee

Never by itself

Giving a legal, tax or immigration conclusion on the case, promising an outcome or a faster government decision, sending the whole fee list, discussing partners or internal costs, quoting a number without a dated card.

A Trainee’s reply waits for the owner’s approval; after 3 minutes without an answer the customer gets a holding line and the conversation is escalated. A Junior sends on its own from the price list.

What arrives at a law firm desk

The mix below is an illustration of this kind of desk. The timing column shows why replies slip: a lot of it lands while the room is busy or after everyone has gone home.

“I need to incorporate in Ontario”

Evenings

A work permit that expires next month

Anytime

“How much is a will?”

Weekends

A court date or a filing deadline next week

Weekdays

A dispute, a debt or a bank refusal

Mornings

A refusal letter or a ban

Anytime

A company asking about tax for a foreign owner

Weekdays

An enquiry with one line and no detail

All day

What it takes on, what stays with a person

Read the person column as the job that remains, and staff for that job rather than for the whole desk. Every row follows the consulting, legal and tax job description as it runs today.

Task	AI receptionist	Person
The first reply	AI receptionistReads the whole message, says it is the firm's AI assistant and asks one open question when the message has no detail	PersonReads the qualified enquiry
The matter	AI receptionistAsks the task in plain words, the jurisdiction, what the client already has (a company, an employer, documents) and the outcome wanted	PersonDecides whether the matter fits
Urgency	AI receptionistAsks for a deadline, a court date or a start date; a dispute, a debt or a bank refusal is routed to the paid consultation	PersonSets the priority
Who the client is	AI receptionistPerson or company, residency and citizenship of the owner, another adviser already involved, an agent already paid	PersonRuns the conflict check
Fees	AI receptionistA standard service gets one line with fee and timeline from your dated card; a broad question gets the consultation; with no card it says “from” and offers the consultation	PersonSets the engagement and the fee
“What are my chances?”	AI receptionistGives no legal, tax or immigration conclusion and promises no outcome; offers the consultation	PersonThe lawyer advises
Refusals, bans, deportation, criminal records, family and asylum matters	AI receptionistHands over to a person at once with a summary and an email copy	PersonA lawyer answers

Where it hands over

Any request for an opinion on the case, refusals and bans, deportation, criminal records, family and asylum matters, a request for a person, and anything that needs a fee the card does not hold.

What the owner keeps

The advice, the conflict check and the engagement letter.

Three questions before the consultation

The consulting, legal and tax job description reads the first message whole and asks only for what it left out, one question per reply. These three decide whether a lawyer's first call is useful.

What do you need done, and where?

The matter in plain words and the jurisdiction decide which lawyer reads it, or whether the firm takes it at all.

Is there a deadline, a court date or a start date?

A date next week changes the priority. A dispute, a debt or a bank refusal goes to the paid consultation.

Is this for you or for a company, and is another adviser involved?

Residency, the owner's citizenship, the entity and any adviser already paid decide the service and feed the firm's conflict check.

Refusals, bans, deportation, criminal records, family and asylum matters skip the questions and go to a person at once.

Text-first: what about phone calls?

The AI receptionist plans compared on the pricing page (Dialzara, Rosie, Goodcall, Smith.ai) answer the phone first. This one is text-first: it works on the web chat on your site and on email to a dedicated address, both set up with you for the pilot. Phone and SMS are planned as a separate desk.

The practical read: if a good share of your enquiries already arrive in writing, a text-first desk covers them today. If the desk lives on the phone, keep calls with a person or an answering service, and point the repeat questions to the chat on your site.

Web chat on your site

Live

The widget goes on your site with you or your webmaster during pilot setup. Replies come in the customer's language, and the chat keeps an AI badge.

Email to a dedicated address

Live

Set up for your pilot. Answered from the same knowledge folder, with the same price check and handover rules as the chat.

Handover alerts

Live

Each handover lands in the cabinet with a summary, and an email copy goes to the handover contact agreed for the pilot.

Leads as CSV

Live

Leads carry the qualification answers and what is still missing. If you stop, the leads and the knowledge folder stay with you.

Phone answering and SMS

Planned

Planned as a separate desk. Until then, phone enquiries stay with a person or your answering service.

Calendar booking

Planned

Until a calendar is connected, a booking is a request with the details written down, and a person confirms the time.

Instagram, WhatsApp, Telegram

Planned

On the roadmap. A link from your profile to the page that carries the web chat is the bridge until then.

Every connection with its status: integrations

What the written enquiries cost you now

The table is the site’s cost model run on this desk. Ten hours a week stands for written intake at a small practice. The 50% is lower than a trade desk because every qualified enquiry still ends with a lawyer's call.

Read it as hours. The share left over carries judgement — the exception, the upset customer, the decision — and it still needs a person, who now spends the shift on those hours instead of retyping the same answers.

Run your own numbers How pricing works

Enquiry hours on the desk10 per week

Loaded hourly cost$35

Share the AI answers (assumption)50%

Hours those enquiries take5 per week

Cost of those hours, per month$758

Unistaff pilot, first 30 days$0

Model: hours and share are assumptions, $35/h sits near the BLS median total compensation (March 2026)

C$3,870

In-house receptionist in Ottawa, per month, before benefits

Job Bank Canada, NOC 14101: median $20/h plus CPP, EI and vacation pay

$29–800

AI receptionist plans for small business, per month, most with minute or call caps

Dialzara, Rosie, Goodcall and Smith.ai price pages, USD, checked 2026-10-31

The Unistaff pilot, 30 days

One AI inbound sales manager, web chat and email, no card

What you write before it starts

The Unistaff team reads your website into a five-section knowledge folder draft. You add the lines below, approve it with your price list, hours, contacts and “never” rules, and the AI reads that folder on every reply.

Practice areas and jurisdictions you take, and the ones you refer out.

Standard services with a dated fee card: what is included and the usual timeline.

The consultation: length, fee or free, and how it is booked.

The matters that go straight to a lawyer, written as “never” rules.

The handover contact and what the lawyer wants on every lead before the call.

Before release it sits an exam built from the consulting cases that fit your practice (legal.ua sat five, crystal.tax seven), each run three times, then works 30 days of probation as a Trainee whose replies you approve. Every sitting of the demo employees is in the exam log.

AI receptionist for a law firm: questions

Yes, in writing. On web chat and email it collects the matter, the jurisdiction, the deadline, who the client is and whether another adviser is involved, then books the consultation as a request a person confirms. The lawyer gets one lead with every answer and what is still missing.

Never. It gives no legal, tax or immigration conclusion on a case and promises no outcome or faster government decision. A question about chances gets the consultation, and refusals, bans, deportation, criminal records, family and asylum matters go to a person at once.

Only from your dated fee card: a standard service gets one line with the fee and the timeline. A broad question gets the consultation, and without a card it says “from” and offers the consultation. Every number is checked against the approved list before the reply goes out.

Phone and SMS are planned as a separate desk. Today it works on the web chat on your site and on email, so calls stay with your reception or answering service.

In the product database, where every record carries your company id and every read filters by it. The manager you name for the pilot sees your company only; the Unistaff operators who set up and review pilots can see every company. Connections use TLS 1.2 or 1.3, and nightly backups are kept 14 days. The security page lists what runs today and the gaps still open.

On the group's own firms, with the consulting cases that fit each one: legal.ua passed 4 of 5 on October 11 and graduated; crystal.tax passed 6 of 7 on October 9. Each case runs three times, and the mandatory ones must pass every run. Then a 30-day probation as a Trainee follows.