The Legal Answering Service
A legal answering service picks up a law firm's calls, records who called and why, and sends the details to your team. It can be live people, AI, or both. Of the options we list, Autocalls and Upfirst publish prices, Smith.ai offers an AI plan plus human receptionists, and HelloCounsel is for plaintiff firms only.
Last checked: . Not affiliated with the companies listed. Based on public information — not tested by us. We give no legal or ethics advice. How we check.
Human, AI or hybrid?
| Live human | AI | Hybrid | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who answers | A person at the vendor | Software on your number | AI first, a person for escalations |
| How vendors usually charge | Monthly plans or per minute | Per call or per minute | AI plan plus a fee for human handoff |
| Listed example | Smith.ai human plans from $300 a month | Upfirst, Autocalls | Smith.ai: human escalation costs extra |
AI and hybrid options we list
| Tool | Best for | Free plan | Easy-Start | Pricing summary (vendor) | Our label |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smith.ai | Small businesses and law firms that miss calls and want them answered and booked automatically. | Yes | 8/10 | AI Receptionist: Free $0/mo (25 real calls/mo, $3 per extra call); Pro from $150/mo (75 calls); Enterprise from $500/mo (300 calls); billed per call, month-to-month, 30 days' notice to cancel. Human receptionist plans from $300/mo | Based on public information — not tested |
| Upfirst | Small businesses that want an affordable AI receptionist priced per call — law firms, real estate, property management, contractors, salons, vets and more. | No | 8/10 | Starter $24.95/mo (30 calls, $1.50 per extra call), Premium $59.95/mo (90 calls, $1/extra), Pro $159.95/mo (300 calls, $0.75/extra), Scale $299/mo (600 calls, $0.70/extra), Custom above 600 calls; annual billing 20% off. 14-day free trial, no credit card required. | Based on public information — not tested |
| Autocalls | Law firms (and other small businesses) that want a self-serve AI phone receptionist for intake, consultation booking and after-hours calls, priced per minute. | No | 8/10 | Starter $34/mo (120 min, 3 parallel calls), Pro $129/mo (700 min), Agency $249/mo (1,700 min), Agency White Label $419/mo (3,500 min); extra minutes $0.09–$0.20; yearly billing '2 months free' (shown as $27 / $103 / $199 / $355 per month). No setup fees. No free trial stated. | Based on public information — not tested |
| MyAIFrontDesk | Small service businesses that miss calls and want appointments booked automatically. | No | 6/10 | Business-in-a-Box $99/mo billed monthly or $79/mo billed annually; Partner/Enterprise custom; 7-day free trial | Based on public information — not tested |
| Goodcall | Small service businesses that miss calls and want an AI receptionist. | No | 6/10 | From $79/month (Starter, 100 unique customers/mo); Growth $129/mo; Scale $299/mo; Enterprise volume pricing | Based on public information — not tested |
| HelloCounsel | Plaintiff law firms — personal injury, mass torts, workers' comp and Social Security disability — that drown in status calls, intake and records follow-up. | No | 2/10 | unknown — custom pricing based on your firm's call and case volume (not per seat); you pay only for completed tasks. See vendor site. | Based on public information — not tested |
Trade-offs: Smith.ai: Free AI plan is limited to 25 real calls per month; human escalation costs extra. Upfirst: Priced per answered call with overage fees ($0.70–$1.50 per extra call). White-glove onboarding and custom integrations only on Pro and Scale plans. Autocalls: Priced by minutes with overage per extra minute; no free trial stated on the pricing page. Built for calls before a matter is opened, not for document work. The pricing page is inconsistent on whether unused minutes roll over. MyAIFrontDesk: Plan includes capped usage (e.g. 200 voice minutes/mo); overage billed per credit. Goodcall: No free plan; you can test a demo agent free but pay once a phone number is connected. HelloCounsel: Only for plaintiff-side practices (personal injury, mass torts, workers' comp, disability), not general law offices. Custom pricing and demo-only onboarding; no self-serve signup.
What law firms should check
- Intake: Autocalls lists case type, contact, incident and injury details and urgency. Smith.ai lists qualifying callers against your criteria. Do the questions match your practice area?
- Handoff: Upfirst lists warm transfers to you or your team. Autocalls lists routing urgent calls to the on-call attorney. Who gets the call at 2 a.m.?
- Case software: Autocalls lists Clio, MyCase, PracticePanther and Smokeball. HelloCounsel lists Filevine, Litify, CASEpeer, SmartAdvocate, MyCase, Lawmatics and LeadDocket. Upfirst lists Clio among its calendars. Does yours appear?
- Languages: Smith.ai lists English and Spanish, Upfirst 35+ languages, Autocalls 100+.
- Confidentiality: ask where recordings and transcripts are kept and who can see them. The vendor pages we checked say little about this, so ask.
How to choose
- Few calls, mostly after hours: a per-call plan such as Upfirst's may fit; it also lets you answer only missed or after-hours calls.
- Steady intake volume: compare per-minute plans such as Autocalls's against per-call plans using your own call count.
- Personal injury, mass tort, workers' comp or disability firm: HelloCounsel also handles records and case documents; pricing is by quote.
- Want a person on hard calls: look at hybrid options and ask what handoff costs.
Want help getting an AI receptionist running? See our AI receptionist guide, the AI phone answering service comparison, or Smith.ai's page. Browse by industry.
Frequently asked questions
What is a legal answering service?
A service that answers a law firm's calls, collects the caller's details and the reason for the call, and passes them to the firm. It can be staffed by people, run by AI, or mix the two.
How much does a legal answering service cost?
It depends on how the vendor charges. Upfirst lists plans from $24.95 a month for 30 calls, Autocalls lists plans from $34 a month for 120 minutes, and Smith.ai lists a free AI plan with 25 calls a month and human receptionist plans from $300 a month. HelloCounsel uses custom pricing. Confirm each on the vendor's pricing page.
Can AI answer calls for a law firm?
Vendors say so. Autocalls describes a law-firm receptionist that runs new-client intake and routes urgent calls to the on-call attorney, and Upfirst lists law firms among its customers. We have not tested them, so try the call flow yourself before you rely on it.
Is an AI receptionist confidential enough for attorneys?
We cannot judge that for you, and we give no legal or ethics advice. Ask each vendor how it stores call recordings and transcripts, who can read them, and whether your data is used for training. HelloCounsel says in its terms that your data is not used for training; check the others directly.
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