Choosing an AI receptionist: the rules it must follow and what to ask a vendor

What an AI receptionist does on a call

The receptionist answers in the firm's name and tells the caller the call is being transcribed. It asks what the call is about and listens to the answer. From there it does one of four things: puts the caller through to a lawyer with a one-line summary, books an appointment into the diary, takes a message with a call-back time, or ends a call that was never going to be a client. On EzyBiz LEX the whole call is then written up as a summary and a transcript and filed to the matter.

The part that matters for a law firm is what it does with the record. A human answering service emails a note that someone has to read, decide about and copy into the practice management system. An AI receptionist that is connected to Smokeball, Clio or SharePoint writes the file note itself, so the enquiry is on the matter before anyone at the firm has looked at it.

The rules it has to follow

These are the rules EzyBiz LEX is built around. Any AI receptionist for a law firm should be able to show you the same list.

• No advice. The receptionist can say what the firm does and how to make an appointment. It cannot say whether the caller has a case.
• No disclosure without verified identity. A number match is enough to greet someone by name. It is not enough to discuss a file. Nothing about a matter, including whether it exists, is disclosed to an unverified caller.
• No confirming who is a client. The answer to "do you act for X" is the same whether the firm does or not.
• Transcription disclosed at the start. Every caller is told.
• Nothing sent to a client without a person. For text messages, the service drafts a reply from the conversation so far and the lawyer reads it, changes it and sends it.
• No time recorded for the receptionist's minutes. A lawyer cannot bill a client for an AI qualifying an enquiry. On EzyBiz LEX time is captured for the lawyer's part of a call only, and only when the firm turns time capture on.

Where it beats a human answering service, and where it does not

An AI receptionist picks up on the first ring at 2am, takes ten calls at once, and never mishears a matter number because it has the contact's matter on screen before it answers. It costs a fixed amount a month rather than a per-call fee, and it writes the file note instead of an email. Those are real advantages for a small firm that cannot staff a front desk around the clock.

A good human receptionist reads a distressed caller better, handles the caller who refuses to speak to a machine, and can exercise judgement about who the principal would want interrupted. EzyBiz LEX is designed so you keep that judgement where it matters: in Screen mode the receptionist greets and qualifies, and genuine callers are put through to a person.

Questions to ask any vendor

1. Where are the transcripts stored, and under which privacy law? For an Australian firm the answer should be Australian data centres, the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles.
2. Is the caller told the call is transcribed, every time?
3. What will it say when a caller asks about a matter? The right answer is that it says nothing until identity has been verified, and that it says the same nothing whether the matter exists or not.
4. Where does the record land? An email inbox is not a file. Ask whether it files to the matter in your practice management system, and what it does with a caller it cannot match to a matter.
5. Who owns the number? You should be able to bring your own number, or take a new one with you if you leave.
6. Is time recorded for the AI's minutes? It should not be.

How EzyBiz LEX answers those questions

EzyBiz LEX is built in Melbourne by Avocado for Australian law firms. Call summaries, messages and call details are stored in Australian data centres (transcripts only until they are filed to the firm's own system, or for three months when there is nowhere to file them). Every caller is told at the start of the call that it is being transcribed. Nothing about a matter is disclosed to an unverified caller. Records file to the matter in Smokeball as a finished file note, or into a SharePoint library under the contact, with Clio filing in development, and a call the service cannot match to a matter waits in a queue in the app for someone to file with one tap. You can port your number in or take a new Australian number, and it is yours. Time is captured for the lawyer's part of a call only, and only if the firm switches time capture on.