AI receptionist for law firms, built only for legal intake
Firms search for a receptionist. What the 9pm caller needs is intake. Della answers in your firm's name, takes the facts of the matter and has a dossier on your desk by dawn.
Built for legal intake from the first call. Never gives legal advice. Tells callers she is an AI if asked.
Last updated
Neck and back pain, ER visit the same night. Other driver at fault, police report filed. Other driver’s insurer named. Callback number captured.
What is an AI receptionist for law firms?
An AI receptionist for law firms is software that answers the phone in the firm's name and talks to the caller. Most take a message. Della takes the intake: facts, urgency score, recording and transcript. In Clio's 2024 secret-shopper study only 40% of law firms answered a prospective client's call. (Oklahoma Bar Journal, 2025)
Where do your calls go after hours now?
- The phone rings at 9pm and goes to voicemail. The caller does not leave a message.
- An answering service takes a name and a number, and the morning starts with a cold callback.
- Someone on the team carries the phone home and takes the facts on a notepad.
What does an unanswered call cost a law firm?
An American Bar Association Law Practice Division study of calls to law firms found fewer than 10% of callers reached a lawyer, and 32% went straight to voicemail. (Lawyers Mutual NC, 2019) The caller who hits voicemail is usually still on Google, and the next firm on the page is one tap away.
What are missed calls costing your firm?
The cost of a missed call is the fee from the case that caller would have signed. Work it out for your own firm: missed calls a month × share that are new matters × your sign rate × your average fee. The sliders start on example figures. Move them to your own numbers.
For the method and what to count as a missed call, see the full missed-call cost calculator on calldella.com.
What would it change if every after-hours call was taken properly?
- If every overnight caller were qualified and on your desk at 7am, how many would you sign?
- Whose evenings come back, yours or the associate's?
- What would you do with the hours your team spends returning calls that go nowhere?
How Della meets it
| If this is happening | What Della does |
|---|---|
| Calls go to voicemail after hours | Answers in your firm's name every night, weekend and holiday |
| The service only takes a message | Works through the intake for your practice area and files a dossier by dawn, with the recording and transcript |
| Someone carries the phone home | Alerts the attorney on call by email only when a call is urgent |
What can an AI receptionist do on a legal call, and what can't it?
| Della does | Della never does |
|---|---|
| Answers in your firm's name and introduces herself | Pretends she is not an AI when asked directly |
| Asks the questions your practice area needs, one at a time | Gives legal advice |
| Scores urgency and alerts the attorney on call | Quotes fees or commits the firm to representation |
| Files the recording, transcript and summary by 7am | Argues with callers or pressures them to sign |
The line is the same one a good intake coordinator keeps: collect the facts, make no promises, get the right matter to the right attorney fast. Della is a specialist, not a receptionist, which is why this site calls her a virtual receptionist for lawyers who takes the intake, not a message.
Does an AI receptionist for lawyers give legal advice?
Della does not. She collects facts and never advises, never quotes fees, never runs your conflicts check and never tells a caller the firm has taken the case. Every call opens with a recording disclosure set for your state. The attorney reads the dossier and decides. Call Della's guide to ABA Formal Opinion 512 covers the bar rules in detail.
What happens to the recording and the caller's data?
Four things, and nothing else. Call data is encrypted in transit and at rest. Your firm owns every recording, transcript and dossier. Retention is set per firm, to your own file retention policy. Your callers' recordings, transcripts and dossiers are never used to train AI models. Call Della does not claim HIPAA compliance, because whether HIPAA applies to a firm's intake call depends on the firm and the matter. The full statement is on calldella.com/security.
AI answering service for lawyers: what to check before you sign
| Question to ask | Della's answer |
|---|---|
| Does it say it is an AI when a caller asks? | Yes |
| Is the intake built for our practice area, or generic? | Built for personal injury, criminal defense and immigration |
| What reaches us in the morning? | A dossier per call: summary, urgency score, recording and transcript, by 7am |
| How do urgent calls reach the attorney on call? | By email, straight away |
| Does it take Spanish callers? | On immigration intake, yes |
| Is our call data used to train models? | Never |
| Can we hear it take a live call before we buy? | Yes, in a 30-minute demo |
Hear Della take a call
The only fair test of an AI receptionist is to hear it. Book a demo and we run a live call for your practice area while you listen, then walk you through the dossier she files. Below is a sample, with a test caller.
Neck and back pain, ER visit the same night. Other driver at fault, police report filed. Other driver’s insurer named. Callback number captured.
Questions firms ask about AI on the phone
Does Della tell callers she is an AI?
Yes, whenever a caller asks. She introduces herself by name, speaks calmly and asks one question at a time, and she never pretends to be a person. Every call is recorded, so you can hear exactly how each caller was treated before you decide anything.
When is a person better than an AI receptionist?
For existing clients with questions about their case, for sensitive calls that need judgment, and for practice areas Della is not built for. Della takes new-client intake for personal injury, criminal defense and immigration after hours. For daytime reception across any practice area, a live service is the better choice, and the comparison page names them.
Will callers mind speaking to an AI?
Della introduces herself by name, speaks calmly and asks one question at a time. If a caller asks whether she's an AI, she tells them. Every call is recorded, so you can hear exactly how each caller was treated. Book a demo and judge the conversation for yourself.
Is this allowed under bar rules?
Della never gives legal advice, never quotes fees and never implies the firm has taken the case. She collects facts, and you decide what happens next. Every call opens with a recording disclosure set for your state. Call Della's compliance guides on calldella.com cover the detail, including ABA Formal Opinion 512 on lawyers' use of AI.
Does it work with our case management software?
Every call reaches you as a dossier in the Call Della dashboard, so Della works alongside any case management system. There is no direct Clio, MyCase or Filevine integration today. The Group plan includes a CRM webhook that can pass each dossier to your own system, and the demo is a good place to ask which fields you need.
What does Della cost?
Solo is $329 a month with 300 minutes, built for solo lawyers. Practice is $598 a month with 600 minutes. Both include the Call Della dashboard, urgent-call email alerts and a morning brief by 7am. Group is priced to your volume. Extra minutes are $0.50 each. Month-to-month, no setup fee.
See also the legal answering service page on messages against intake, and the comparison of five services, including the live ones.
Hire Della
| Solo | Practice | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $329 a month | $598 a month |
| Minutes included | 300 | 600 |
| Built for | Solo lawyers | Small and growing firms |
| Della answering in your firm's name, nights, weekends and holidays | Yes | Yes |
| The Call Della dashboard: every call as a dossier with summary, urgency score, recording and transcript | Yes | Yes |
| Urgent-call email alerts to the attorney on call | Yes | Yes |
| A morning brief by 7am in your time zone | Yes | Yes |
| Recording disclosure set for your state | Yes | Yes |
| Your own Della number, with forwarding and a test call before you go live | Yes | Yes |
| Extra minutes | $0.50 each | $0.50 each |
Group: custom minutes, priced to your volume, more than one practice area, crm webhook. Every plan is month-to-month with no setup fee.