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An answer for the inquiry that comes in at 10 p.m.
The short answer
For a small law firm, AI is most useful before the first consult: a reply within minutes to every new inquiry, day or night, the intake questions your firm chooses, and a handoff to a person for the conflict check. It never gives legal advice, and an attorney reviews anything that is. Ben Johnson's founding 30-day sprint is $2,000.
Speed to reply
People look for a lawyer on the worst night of their week, and the next firm's number sits on the same search page as yours. When an inquiry waits until morning, you're betting the person hasn't called someone else by then.
The small firms I've looked at usually have a good website and a contact form. What's missing is anyone, or anything, answering that form at night. That's the first fix I'd put in.
From inquiry to consult
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Minute 1
A reply goes out
Every new call you miss, web form and after-hours message gets a reply within minutes, in words your firm approved.
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Next
Intake questions
The person answers the questions your firm picks: who they are, the other party, the kind of matter, how soon they need help.
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Before booking
Conflict check by a person
Names go to your staff with any possible matches against your client list flagged. A person clears the check. Software never decides there is no conflict.
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Then
The consult gets booked
Once your staff clear it, the person gets times on the attorney's calendar, with a reminder the day before.
Where the lawyers stay in charge
- No legal advice. The system screens and schedules. It doesn't tell anyone whether they have a case, what it's worth, or what to do next. Anything that calls for legal judgment goes to a licensed attorney.
- Your words, approved first. Your attorneys approve every message and every intake question before it goes live, including what the intake says about the attorney-client relationship.
- Conflicts cleared by a person. Software can flag a possible match. Your staff run and clear the check before anyone books time.
- Nothing promised about outcomes. I set up intake and scheduling. Nothing on this page or in the system promises anything about a legal matter.
- Client information in your accounts. Every account is opened in your firm's name, the intake asks only what the firm needs to clear conflicts and book a consult, and your firm's own rules on confidentiality and technology apply to every tool we add.
AI receptionist or answering service
Plenty of firms already pay a legal answering service, and a live person on the phone is the right call for a caller in crisis. What a service usually hands back is a message. The setup I build hands back a finished intake and a booked consult, and it texts back the callers who hang up before anyone answers.
You can run both: a live service during the day for overflow, and the text back and intake after hours. What each one costs, from published prices.
What it costs
The founding offer
$2,000 for the first 30 days
Five local businesses get it this fall. Two start in November and three in December. About four hours of your time. I pay for the tools during the sprint, and everything is set up in your firm's name.
Every sprint comes with a written guarantee, spelled out in the one-page plan before you say yes.
After day 30, keep me on for $1,500 a month at the founding rate (regular $2,500), or run it yourself. How the 30 days run.
Who's doing the work
I'm Ben Johnson. My family and I live in Montgomery. Most of my career happened on a screen, and I want the next chapter to be with businesses I can drive past.
At Amazon I managed hundreds of millions of dollars a year in business. Then I built and ran a portfolio of consumer brands that grew to $80M+ a year. Today I lead growth and operations for a handful of consumer brands and media companies, mostly by fixing how leads, orders and money move through each business.
I do the work myself. The person who walks through your business in week one is the person who builds your system.
15 yrs in growth. 0 yrs in law. You'd teach me that part.
Questions firms ask
What does an AI receptionist for a law firm do?
It answers or texts back every new inquiry within minutes, asks the intake questions your firm chooses, and passes the names to a person for the conflict check before a consult is booked. It screens and schedules. It doesn't give legal advice or evaluate anyone's case.
Is an AI answering service for a law firm allowed to give legal advice?
No, and the one I set up never does. It sticks to the script your attorneys approve, and anything that calls for legal judgment goes to a licensed attorney at your firm. Your firm decides what the intake says about the attorney-client relationship, and your lawyers review every message before it goes live.
Does it cover nights and weekends?
Yes. That's where it earns its keep. Someone who finds your firm at 10 p.m. gets a reply and the intake questions that night, and your staff see a finished intake in the morning instead of a voicemail.
What does it cost?
My founding 30-day sprint is $2,000, and it usually starts with the after-hours reply and intake. After day 30 you can keep me on at $1,500 a month (regular $2,500) or run it yourself. Packaged AI receptionist plans compared on this site start at $79 and $150 a month if all you need is the phone answered.
Next step
Answer tonight's inquiry tonight.
Pick a time on my calendar, or email me and ask for a one-page plan for your business. I'll write down what I'd fix first, what it costs, and the guarantee that comes with it.
Zygo Consulting, Ben Johnson, Montgomery, TX. AI implementation for local businesses in Montgomery, The Woodlands, Conroe, Spring, Magnolia and north Houston.