Setup checklist for a law firm AI receptionist

Deploying an AI receptionist for a law firm takes 1–3 weeks depending on the number of practice areas and the depth of intake workflow configuration. This checklist covers exactly what to prepare and what to decide before go-live.

Before the kickoff call

•Case management software — which one (Clio, MyCase, PracticePanther, Lawmatics, Rocket Matter, Smokeball, Filevine, Litify) and admin credentials

•Practice areas — the list of practice areas your firm handles

•Jurisdictions — state(s) and, where relevant, federal

•Attorney roster — attorneys with their practice areas, bar admissions, new-client availability

•Intake qualification criteria — what makes a case worth taking in each practice area

•Fee structure by practice area — contingency rates, flat fees, hourly ranges, retainer requirements, consultation fees (or free)

•Statute of limitations reference — relevant SOLs for each practice area you want flagged

•Referral partners — firms you send specific matters to when outside your practice areas

•Emergency protocols — criminal custody, domestic violence, wrongful death — who's on call and how to reach them

•Top 20–30 FAQs

Decisions you'll need to make

•Voice — Marcus (professional, empathetic) is our default for legal

•Disclosure — we recommend proactive disclosure; confirm wording

•After-hours handling — AI all hours, or AI only after hours?

•Consultation model — free initial consultations, paid consultations, or mixed by practice area

•Intake depth — how much to collect by phone vs. leave for the attorney consultation

•Jurisdiction limits — do you only accept cases within your state, or do you handle multi-state?

•Referral fee handling — if you send leads to partner firms, how to capture the referral for potential fee-sharing arrangements

•Out-of-area / out-of-practice-area language — exact wording for graceful declines

Per-practice-area configuration

For each practice area, configure:

• Qualifying questions (What happened? When? Where? Who's involved? Damages?)
• Disqualifying criteria (outside jurisdiction, SOL expired, damages below threshold)
• Priority triggers (SOL close, criminal custody, active emergency)
• Referral path (if caller doesn't qualify)
• Which attorney takes which subtypes

Intake template examples

•Personal injury — date/place of incident, injuries, treatment, insurance, fault question (captured, not analyzed)

•Family law — jurisdiction, marital status, children, assets range, protective orders, urgency

•Criminal defense — charges, custody status, jurisdiction, first appearance date

•Immigration — current status, sought status, timeline, employer / family ties, deportation risk

•Estate — purpose (planning / probate / trust admin), jurisdiction, urgency, asset class

•Worker's compensation — date of injury, employer, current benefits status, medical

Compliance considerations

•State bar rules — AI intake is permissible in every U.S. state when done under attorney supervision and without providing legal advice. Review your state's specific rules.

•Advertising rules — ensure the agent's language complies with your state's lawyer advertising rules (disclaimers, "attorney advertising" where required)

•TCPA — outbound calls (appointment reminders, callbacks) require appropriate consent; inbound calling is generally fine

•Confidentiality — AI intake captures pre-retention information, which isn't technically attorney-client privileged; your intake language should reflect this appropriately

Case management integration

•Clio — API integration for intake, matter creation, calendar

•MyCase, PracticePanther, Rocket Matter — API-based intake and scheduling

•Lawmatics — native integration for intake workflow automation

•Filevine, Litify — API or Zapier-based integration

•Smokeball — integration varies by plan

Call forwarding

•Your current phone system — setup instructions in our Call forwarding collection

•Forwarding rules — always, after-hours, overflow

•On-call attorney routing — for criminal, family, and emergency matters

Go-live sequence

•Week 1: kickoff, requirements, practice area configuration, CMS integration

•Week 2: knowledge base, intake templates, internal test calls

•Week 2–3: soft launch with a subset of practice areas, daily transcript review

•Week 3–4: full rollout, refinement of qualifying questions based on real call patterns

What to measure after go-live

•Call containment rate by practice area

•Consultation booking rate (% of qualifying calls that book a consult)

•Intake quality (did the attorney get enough info to prepare for the consult?)

•Referral capture rate (for out-of-area calls)

•SOL-flagged intake response time

•Emergency escalation accuracy

Related articles

•How 365agents works for law firms

•Common calls a law firm AI handles

•How secure is an AI voice agent?

Start the process

Book a demo and our legal onboarding team will walk through this checklist with you. Most firms leave the kickoff with a 2–3 week go-live plan for their core practice areas.