AI for law firms: an agent for intake and admin
Enquiries arrive after hours and sit in the inbox until someone has time to answer. This page describes a use case.
€70,000
in new revenue generated in 28 days, one Paris law firm
How can a small law firm use AI beyond legal research?
A custom AI agent takes over the admin work around the law. It answers and sorts new enquiries day and night. It enters new clients into Clio, MyCase or PracticePanther, files documents and drafts routine replies. It never gives legal advice and never sends email on its own. An attorney reviews and sends.
Where a small firm loses new matters
Most small and mid-sized firms don’t lose new matters on the merits. They lose them in the gap between the enquiry and the first real reply. Someone fills in the web form late at night. Someone else sends a message on a Saturday, or leaves a voicemail while the only person who could answer is in a deposition. By Monday, they have hired whoever called back first.
Behind intake, the admin load keeps growing. Attachments need filing in the right matter. The same “where is my case?” question comes back again and again. Conflict-check details get keyed from an email into the practice management system. Engagement letters sit unsigned, and nobody owns them. None of it is legal work. All of it lands on attorneys and paralegals who bill by the hour.
Larger firms are moving first. The ABA’s 2024 Legal Technology Survey, as reported by the ABA Journal, found that 46% of firms of 100 or more attorneys use AI. Among solo attorneys, the figure is 18%. A custom agent is how a small firm closes that gap without adding staff.
Clio, MyCase and PracticePanther organize matters well once they exist. They don’t read your inbox or sort a stranger’s message. They don’t chase a retainer that never came back. Someone still has to carry the facts from one screen to the next.
“Now, you’re seeing that with this tech, it’s coming from the bigger firms’ younger lawyers.”
What the agent takes over
- Intake from every channel your firm uses: web form, email, social messages. Each one is read as it arrives, day and night, and sorted by practice area and urgency.
- A first reply in your firm’s voice. It asks for the missing facts and offers a consultation slot, but never gives legal advice.
- New client details entered into your practice management software, with party names ready for your conflict check.
- Email attachments filed to the right matter. The agent suggests where they go, and a paralegal approves in one click.
- Draft answers to routine client questions, based on where the matter really stands. They stay in drafts for the attorney to send.
- Alerts on matters that have gone quiet and on retainers still unsigned, with the follow-up already written.
What it changed for one Paris law firm
We have not yet delivered an agent in the United States. Our closest reference is French. It is one Paris law firm whose enquiries came in through social media and its website faster than the team could answer.
Over its first 28 days live, the firm’s agents qualified 144 enquiries and carried out 8,090 actions: reading, sorting, replying, logging. The firm credits €70,000 in new revenue to the matters that came from that intake. These are one French firm’s measured figures, not a forecast for yours.
What carries over is the method. We start from the step where your firm loses enquiries or hours. We measure it before the agent starts, then again after, on the same basis.
Confidentiality and professional rules
The agent is installed in your environment, and your files stay stored on your machines. Only the text a task needs is sent to the AI model, over an encrypted connection.
Before anything goes live, your firm checks the setup against its duty of confidentiality under ABA Model Rule 1.6. It also checks it against the guidance of ABA Formal Opinion 512 on generative AI tools. We write down what the agent reads, what it writes and which text is sent for each task. So your review rests on facts, not on a vendor’s word.
The red line is built into the agent’s permissions, not just its instructions. It informs, qualifies and routes. It never advises on a case and never quotes a fee. It cannot send email on its own: it leaves drafts, and an attorney sends them.
Pricing
From $1,700 per agent, then $170 per month for maintenance, plus applicable taxes.
Each agent covers one task: intake, document filing or follow-ups. We scope it with you after a first call. It is priced per agent, not per seat.
Frequently asked questions
Does an AI agent work with Clio, MyCase or PracticePanther?
Yes. The agent works inside the software your firm already uses, with its own login, through the same screens your staff use. We check that it works on your own account during scoping, before you commit to anything.
How do we stop losing inbound leads after hours?
Every enquiry gets read and answered as it arrives, even at night and on weekends. The agent asks for the missing facts, offers a consultation slot and logs the lead. The attorney starts the next morning with qualified contacts, not an unread inbox.
What does ABA Formal Opinion 512 require when a firm uses AI?
ABA Formal Opinion 512 asks lawyers who use generative AI tools to understand what those tools can and cannot do. They must protect client confidentiality and supervise the output. They should communicate with clients where appropriate and charge reasonable fees. Each firm makes that assessment for itself. We give you a precise description of what the agent does to support it.
Show us where your enquiries slip through.
A thirty-minute call, set for US mornings. Walk us through your intake, and we will tell you plainly if an agent can take it over.
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