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Industries · Professional Services

Every After-Hours Legal Enquiry, Answered and Intake-Ready

A prospective client calls at 9 pm with a live dispute. The AI answers first ring, captures the parties and the matter, books the consultation and prepares a conflict-check summary — intake only, never legal advice.

4.9/5 rating 1,200+ reviews 8+ years experience 500+ clients
Incoming call · AI intake agent · 9:41 PM
Thanks for calling Whitmore & Cole. This is the after-hours intake assistant — I can take your details and book a consultation. Are you calling about a new matter or an existing one?9:41 PM · answered first ring
New. My landlord wants to evict my business.9:41 PM
I’m sorry to hear that. I can capture the details for our commercial team. Is a notice on your premises already, and what is the date on it?9:42 PM
Yes — the notice is dated the 4th.9:42 PM
Thank you. To prepare a conflict check and intake summary, I’ll need the business name and the landlord’s name. Then I can offer a consultation slot.9:43 PM
Northgate Cafe LLC, and the landlord is Harlow Property Group.9:43 PM
Got it. I have Thursday 10:00 AM or Friday 2:00 PM with a commercial attorney. Which works better?9:43 PM
Thursday.9:43 PM
Booked for Thursday 10:00 AM at Northgate Cafe LLC. A confirmation with what to bring is on its way; your intake summary and conflict-check details are with the team.9:44 PM
How law firms win work today

A live dispute waits for no one

Legal demand is urgent and comparison-shopped. The firm that answers first and books the consultation usually wins the matter.

Where enquiries come from

  • Referrals from existing clients and professional networks.
  • Local and practice-area search, where three firms appear side by side.
  • Paid search and legal directories, often after hours.
  • Web forms and chat submitted with anxiety and urgency.

Illustrative: an after-hours enquiry, unanswered

  • 9:40 PMProspect calls about an urgent eviction notice — rings out to voicemail
  • 9:41 PMThey call the next firm on the list. It answers.
  • 9:55 PMConsultation booked with the competitor
  • 9:00 AMYour team hears the voicemail — too late
  • ResultSame referral market, same spend, one lost matter
Intake and follow-up leaks

Where law firms lose consultable matters

Most lost matters are not lost on credentials — they are lost on speed and follow-through.

Common leaks

  • After-hours and lunchtime calls ringing out to voicemail.
  • No structured intake, so a consult gets booked with the wrong practice group.
  • Conflict details captured late, delaying engagement by days.
  • Document requests repeated by email instead of a tracked checklist.
  • No-shows and ‘we’ll think about it’ consults never followed up.
  • Referrers get no acknowledgment, so the next referral goes elsewhere.

Illustrative: the cost of a slow reply

  • t0Prospect submits a contact form Friday 6 pm
  • Sat–SunAuto-reply only; no human, no booking
  • Mon 11 amSomeone replies asking for more detail
  • Mon 4 pmProspect has retained another firm
  • ResultA one-call-closeable matter, lost to delay
The exact AI intake system

Built for intake — not for legal advice

A configuration that a managing partner or practice manager can approve with confidence.

What the agent is allowed to do

  • Answer every call, chat and form in seconds, day or night.
  • Take a structured intake: matter type, parties, key dates, urgency, jurisdiction.
  • Offer and book a consultation into the right attorney’s calendar.
  • Prepare a conflict-check summary for your team to review.
  • Send a document checklist and nudge until it is complete.
  • Log the lead to Clio, MyCase, PracticePanther or your CRM with source detail.

Intake to consult — with human gates

  • t0Enquiry captured; source and channel recorded
  • t0Structured intake taken; practice area identified
  • t+minConflict details packaged for your review — no engagement yet
  • t+minConsultation booked; confirmation and reminder sent
  • Day 1Document checklist delivered; chase begins
  • Pre-consultAttorney receives a one-page intake and conflict brief
What the AI handles end-to-end

The admin around the matter, off your plate

Everything below is administrative coordination — never legal judgement.

24/7 call answering

After-hours and overflow calls answered and triaged without voicemail.

Structured intake

The same questions every time, captured in a consistent format.

Consultation booking

Booked into the right calendar with reminders and reschedules.

Conflict-check handoff

Party details packaged and routed to your review step.

Document collection

Checklists and polite chases for IDs, statements and records.

Retainer paperwork prep

Drafts the details for attorney review — never sends unapproved.

Follow-up sequences

No-shows and undecided consults chased without pestering.

Referrer acknowledgment

Thanks the referrer and confirms their contact was handled.

CRM updates

Every touch on the record with source and next action.

Reporting

Enquiries by source, practice area and conversion to engagement.

Sample follow-up sequence

A consultation no-show, recovered

The cadence that turns a missed appointment back into a booked one.

No-show recovery — Hour 0 to Day 10

  • Hour 1‘We missed you today — no problem. Here are two new times.’ with a booking link.
  • Day 1Short check-in offering to reschedule by phone if easier.
  • Day 3Information-only note on the practice area; stops on reply.
  • Day 6Alternative: a 15-minute intro call instead of a full consult.
  • Day 10Final check-in, then moves to nurture and is revisited later.

A human reviews and approves the wording used in outbound sequences before launch.

Human in control

What stays with your attorneys

Intake automation never crosses into legal judgement.

  • All legal advice, strategy and outcome expectations.
  • Fees, retainers, engagement terms and scope.
  • Conflict-check decisions and whether to take the matter.
  • Final approval of every outbound client communication.
  • Any caller who asks to speak with an attorney now.

Intake-only by design

The agent’s knowledge base contains only your intake script, practice-area descriptions, scheduling rules and document lists. It cannot form a legal opinion because it is never given one to give.

No fabricated advice, fees or deadlines. A person owns every legal decision.

Managing-partner visibility

Intake, conversion and source in one view

See where matters come from and where they stall.

Intake dashboard

Every enquiry with matter type, source, conflict status, consult and next action.

Conversion view

New → Qualified → Consult booked → Engaged, updated automatically.

Source reporting

Which referral, directory or campaign produced engaged matters.

The questions a managing partner asks

  • How many after-hours enquiries did we capture that used to ring out?
  • What is our enquiry-to-consultation rate by practice area?
  • Which referral sources actually produce retained matters?

Attribution on the matter

  • SourceGoogle Ads / ‘commercial lease dispute’ / landing page B
  • LeadNorthgate Cafe LLC — active eviction notice
  • Agent actionConsult booked; conflict summary routed to review
  • OutcomeEngaged after consultation → onboarding checklist sent
  • ReportingSource and outcome rolled up by practice area
FAQ

Questions, answered

Does the AI give legal advice?
Never. It is intake-only. It captures facts, identifies the practice area, books a consultation and collects documents. Any legal opinion, strategy or outcome expectation stays with your attorneys.
How does the conflict check work?
The agent captures every party name at intake and passes a structured conflict summary to your team’s conflict-check step before any engagement. It flags, it does not decide.
Can it answer questions about fees and retainers?
It shares only what you approve, such as whether there is a free consultation or a standard consultation fee. It never quotes a retainer or scope — those are drafted for attorney approval.
Is it appropriate for a firm handling sensitive matters?
Yes, with configuration. Sensitive fields can be limited, conversations stay inside your systems, and outbound communication is held for human review. We never put client data anywhere you have not approved.
Will it work with Clio, MyCase or PracticePanther?
We build around mainstream practice tools and general CRMs. Where a native connection is not available, we are honest about it and use the best available integration.
What about after-hours and weekend enquiries?
Those are covered — often where the biggest leak is. The agent answers, qualifies and books, then hands your team a clean intake summary the next morning.
Get your plan

Put this to work on your pipeline

Tell us how leads come in today. On the call we map the fastest fix — usually response time or follow-through.

  • A free 30-minute AI strategy call — no obligation.
  • A scoped blueprint: your biggest leak and the first automation to fix it.
  • Honest fit check — if automation is not your fastest win, we say so.
Current lead channels

We reply by email only. Prefer to write first? Email hello@getpraktivo.com.

Ready to capture every after-hours legal enquiry?

Book a free AI strategy call and we will map your intake, conflict handoff and consult follow-up against this system.

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