For criminal defense and immigration firms
Your phone, answered after hours. Caller details captured. A provisional consultation booked. And callers are told up front that they are speaking with AI.
Arrests and detentions happen at night. Families may start calling firms right away. This service answers the calls that would otherwise ring out while your office is dark.
The problem
Most firms did not answer when called
For its 2024 Legal Trends Report, Clio hired a third-party research company to contact 500 U.S. law firms by phone and email with a prospective-client inquiry.
40%
answered when called
48%
remained unreachable by phone
67%
did not respond to an email inquiry
Source: Clio 2024 Legal Trends Report, secret-shop study of 500 U.S. law firms.
An unanswered call gives another firm the chance to respond first.
How it works
What happens when a call comes in
A typical call follows this path, with a human handoff when needed.
The service answers
A call comes in after hours or rings past your front desk during a busy stretch. The service answers with your firm's greeting, identifies itself as AI, and asks for consent to record.
It takes the caller's details
It collects the caller's name and callback number, who the call concerns, and a brief, caller-provided summary. It does not analyze the facts or ask substantive legal questions.
It books a provisional consultation
It checks the open times on your calendar and places a tentative consultation. The caller hears that your firm must confirm the appointment and has not accepted the matter.
If needed, it transfers to a person
When a call needs human judgment, or the caller asks for a person, the service attempts a live transfer to the on-call contact your firm chooses.
Your team has the details by morning
For recorded calls, the recording and transcript land in your inbox. Either way, your team receives the caller's details, and any provisional consultation appears on your calendar.
Scope
What it will not do
The service answers, collects basic details, books provisional consultations, and routes calls. Anything requiring legal judgment stays with your attorneys and staff, on purpose.
Full matter intake
It collects contact details and a short description, then stops. Your team handles intake questionnaires and conflict checks.
Case evaluation
It does not weigh the merits of a case, and it does not screen callers in or out.
Legal advice
It handles scheduling and logistics. Any question that may require legal advice follows your firm's escalation rules.
Acceptance and outcomes
It does not state whether the firm will take a case or promise a result.
Safeguards and terms
What your firm should know up front
Before a service touches your phone line, you need clear answers about data separation, recording, escalation, scope, and billing. Here are ours.
A dedicated deployment for each firm
Each firm runs in a dedicated deployment with an access-controlled data store, separated from other customer firms.
Recording consent on every call
The opening greeting identifies the service as AI and asks for consent to record. If a caller declines, no recording is made; the service collects callback details and attempts a live handoff to your on-call contact.
A human escalation path
When a call needs human judgment, the service follows your firm's escalation rules and attempts a live transfer to your designated on-call contact.
Flat monthly billing
After scoping, your monthly service fee is fixed. The included service has no per-minute metering, rounding, or overage charges.
Configured for scheduling, not legal judgment
Legal questions, case-acceptance decisions, and outcome questions follow your firm's escalation rules. Every recorded-call transcript is yours to audit.
Pricing
Fixed monthly pricing, banded by firm size
Headcount determines your price band. Your exact monthly fee is agreed during scoping and put in writing before you sign. Call volume does not change it.
5 to 10 people
$1,200 to $1,500
per month, flat
- After-hours and overflow answering
- Provisional consultation booking on your calendar
- Recordings and transcripts when callers consent
- Human escalation to your on-call contact
11 to 20 people
$1,500 to $2,000
per month, flat
- After-hours and overflow answering
- Provisional consultation booking on your calendar
- Recordings and transcripts when callers consent
- Human escalation to your on-call contact
More than 20 people
Fixed monthly pricing is available for larger firms. Book a 30-minute call and I will quote your firm.
No per-minute metering, no rounding, no overage charges. Your exact monthly price is agreed during scoping and put in writing before you sign.
Fit
Two practice areas, on purpose
The service is launching with criminal defense and immigration firms of five or more people. In both areas, urgent calls often arrive after an arrest or detention, outside office hours.
The greeting, escalation rules, and booking flow are designed for those conversations. Expanding to every practice area at launch would weaken that focus, so the initial roster stays at two.
Who runs it
An engineer, accountable by name
I'm Nathan Peel. Appalytical is my software consultancy, and I built and run this service myself.
Before this, I built software for GE Aviation's search-and-rescue drone program and rebuilt the development pipeline for an IDEMIA airport identity-verification app. Both roles demanded reliable systems in high-stakes environments—the same engineering bar I bring to an after-hours phone line.
When you email or book a call, you reach me. There is no sales team.
Next step
Talk to the person who built it
Book 30 minutes to walk through your call flow, security questions, and whether the service fits. Or email me directly. Either way, you reach me—not a sales team.