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About Smith.ai

Smith.ai: 24/7 Receptionist Service for Law Firms

Lawyerist Rating for Smith

i

Rating Breakdown

Our Rating: 4.4/5

Our rating is based on our subjective judgment. Use our resources—including our rating and community ratings and reviews—to find the best fit for your firm.

Community Rating: 4.3/5 (based on 19 ratings)

The community rating is based on the average of the community reviews below.

Composite Rating: 4.4/5

The composite rating is a weighted average of our rating and the community ratings below.

4.4/5

Overview
Featured Rating

What is Smith.ai?

Smith.ai offers AI-powered receptionist services for law firms, combining voice AI with human-in-the-loop support to provide 24/7 call answering. The AI Receptionist blocks spam, qualifies leads, books consultations, and integrates with legal CRMs. Smith.ai blends AI and live agents to deliver professional client experiences for law firms of all sizes.

Starting Cost: $95/month for 50 calls

Pros
  • 24/7/365
  • Intake
  • Lead Qualification
Cons
  • No App
  • Not Just for Legal
Overview
Featured Ratings

Smith.ai: 24/7 Receptionist Service for Law Firms Features

Customer Experience & Support

/5

Price & Value

/5

Security

/5

Innovation & Future-Proofing

/5

Overview
Featured Rating
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Smith.ai: 24/7 Receptionist Service for Law Firms Video

Compare with Other Virtual Receptionists & Outsourced Staffing Products Download the Field Guide

Product Details

Services Offered
  • Virtual Receptionist
  • AI Receptionist
Software Integrations
  • Clio Manage
  • Clio Grow
  • Acuity
  • Calendly
  • LawPay
  • Lexicata
  • Slack
  • PracticePanther
  • Infusionsoft
  • ActiveCampaign
  • Agile CRM
  • AppToto
  • ApointmentCore
  • Appointy
  • Lawmatics
  • Capsule CRM
  • ClientRock
  • Filevine
  • Harmonizely
  • Headnote
  • HubSpot
  • Lead Docket
  • Pipedrive
  • Square Appointments
  • Rocket Matter
  • Salesforce
  • ScheduleOnce
  • Schedulista
  • Setmore
  • Woven
  • WhenWorks
  • Youcanbook.me
  • Zapier
  • ZynCal Calendar
Additional Languages
  • Spanish

Core Features

For Virtual Receptionists & Outsourced Staffing, the following are essential features, and you should therefore expect to see a check in every box in this section.

Yes
No

Free Trial

Live Receptionist

Although they are called "virtual" receptionists, the person who answers the phone is, in fact, a real person who can use your customized greeting, request information according to your instructions, make warm transfers to you, or take messages.

Appointment Scheduling

You can give your receptionist access to your calendar or scheduler so they can book appointments for you.

Client Intake

A virtual receptionist service can be a partner in your intake process rather than only and ask questions and gather information according to your intake script.

Outbound Calls

Some virtual receptionist services will make calls for you in order to relay basic information such as confirming an appointment, providing directions to your office, or making referrals.

Free Local or Toll-Free Phone Number

You may prefer to use a different phone number to help you track your callers, or a toll-free number to make it easier for some people to contact you.

Live Chat

We're using live chat to mean chat plus a team to respond to inquiries, as opposed to a chat tool you can use to respond yourself.

Chat Tool

With a chat tool you can add a chat box to your website so that visitors can chat directly with you or your firm staff when you are available.

Chatbot

A chatbot is an automated messaging tool for automated communication with visitors to your website or within commonly used messaging apps like Facebook Messenger. Some are essentially a guided form, while others might use AI to answer more complex questions.

Call Routing

With call routing you can direct incoming calls based on criteria you set. For example, you could send existing clients directly to the lawyer handling their matter. Or distribute potential client calls evenly among intake staff. Or just send calls to your virtual receptionist after hours.

Voicemail Transcription

Your phone service can transcribe your voicemails using text recognition software so you can read your messages instead of listening to them.

Call Recording

"This call may be recorded for quality control purposes." Only if you want to, of course.

Call Analytics

Use information about your calls to identify patterns, calculate the ROI of your marketing efforts, and improve your client service.

Text Messaging

Send and receive text messages using your business phone system.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is the price of Smith.ai?

Smith.ai offers AI receptionist and virtual receptionist services. AI receptionist plans begin at $95/month for 50 calls. Virtual receptionist plans begin at $292.50/month for 30 calls.

What services does Smith.ai provide?

Smith.ai is best known for its virtual receptionist services, including client intake and lead qualification, staffed 24/7. Their VR plans offer many add-on services, including appointment booking, extended intakes, and Spanish language support. AI receptionist, the newest offering, functions similarly to chats (AI first, humans on standby), but for audio.

Will I need to port my number?

No. Porting is not required but is available. For landline business customers, call forwarding often meets the need. However, for users whose business phone is a cell phone number, those customers often start with conditional call forwarding, but end up transitioning to a full number port to take advantage of services like warm call transfers.

Will Smith.ai work with my CRM?

The product integrates with many top CRM vendors, including Clio Grow, Hubspot, Lawmatics, Salesforce, and Zoho. Depending on your services and pricing tier, CRM integration may cost extra.

Does Smith.ai offer bi-lingual services?

Yes, they offer Spanish language support.

Does Smith.ai have an app?

No, they do not offer a mobile app.

Is Smith.ai focused on the legal field?

While not exclusive to the legal industry, Smith.ai has a long history of helping law firms.

What are Smith.ai's hours?

Receptionists are available 24/7/365.

Does Smith.ai offer virtual assistant services?

No, they offer receptionist services.

Is Smith.ai good for solos?

They would be good for a solo seeking help with phone calls.

Additional Details about Smith.ai

Customer Engagement Assisted by AI

Smith.ai builds on a foundation of AI technology and combines it with human agents. The company has an “early access” product called AI Receptionist that combines conversational AI tech (think ChatGPT) with live human agents for the best of both worlds.

Smith.ai trained its AI Receptionist on over 10 million phone calls, AI language models, and advanced conversational technology. Smith.ai says that AI Receptionist can handle complex call scenarios with ease, seamlessly collecting essential information and handing the call off to a human receptionist if needed. Furthermore, callers who start off with AI Receptionist have the “escape hatch” of jumping to a human receptionist at any point in their interaction.

Qualified New Leads

Smith.ai can help qualify potential clients based on your criteria, then handle the call accordingly (by transferring the call to you, scheduling a call back, booking a consultation on your calendar, or making a referral). Smith.ai can even take payment if you charge for new client consults. Additionally, Smith.ai can perform a conflict check and review on the potential clients prior to them getting to your system.

Free Spam Blocking

Smith.ai blocks spam calls for free. In addition, they’ll also block any specific numbers you want blocked.

Rotating Receptionists

There are no set receptionists for your practice. Instead, a rotating group of receptionists will handle your calls. This will be done based on the criteria and preferences you set with Smith.ai prior to enrolling. Having no set receptionists means that if you happen to receive more calls than usual, either through a new marketing campaign or by just being busy, there will be plenty of capacity to handle your increased call volume. And don’t worry about training new receptionists to your practice, they’ll be using proprietary AI software to handle calls naturally, following the prompts and interface (not scripts) on their computer screens.

Smith.ai live Reception Hours

Live reception is available 24/7/365.

Who Smith.ai is for

Smith.ai serves growing businesses overwhelmed by calls. The platform started as strictly a virtual receptionist service, but has expanded offerings as law firms look to outsource more communication work. The company provides competitive features, integrates with many web-based products — including top law practice management systems — and is built to scale with firms of all sizes. If incoming leads and contacts are overwhelming in-house resources, Smith.ai is worth considering, even for solo practices.

Not sure where to begin? Download our Field Guide

Take the guesswork out of researching, purchasing, and implementing the right legal tech products and services for your law firm. Our Field Guide answers your essential questions and breaks down the features most important to your business, so you can buy with confidence.

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Smith.ai Community Reviews

4.4

Based on 19 Ratings

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  • Sarah E. says:
    November 25, 2022 at 2:13 pm

    Streamlined intake

    (5)
    Smith.ai put hours back into my weeks that I sorely needed. Between Smith.ai and my practice management software, my intake process is nearly completely automated and client calls are handled well too!
  • Aaron H. says:
    July 29, 2022 at 3:53 pm

    1 Month and Done, a total failure

    (1)
    I had a serious issue with phones, namely the need to route productive calls and take a message for calls that are not typically productive in real time, such as someone calling for an update on their case when we ask clients to schedule phone conferences via email or leaving a message then set up a time. We wanted to make sure calls from medical providers that would be productive and further clients treatment, calls from insurance companies about liability claims or settlement negotiations, and calls from courts or attorneys were live transferred as these all are calls that would be productive. We made clear we wanted to avoid the client calls where they ended up onhold just to be told 5 min after being on hold that staff were tied up. We paid an entire month up front. Before we paid we did a detailed zoom call and went over the fact we used Callrail addressed any issues and my expectations. After we paid, we were told they could not access our callrail and that it would be more for them to have spanish speakers answer the phone. Also we were told that the transcription of call to email feature would no longer be free after our trial. I usually do not give a 1* review for anything, but given what I was told vs what I was delivered I felt it warranted it here.
  • Rachel A. says:
    January 3, 2022 at 2:47 pm

    Best Investment for a Solo Attorney

    (5)
    Hiring Smith.ai to handle my reception services is one of the best investments I have made so far as a solo attorney. Having a live person answer all of my calls and gather specific, detailed information from my clients and let them know when they can expect to hear back is invaluable. Juggling my own phones meant most clients, especially new leads, ended up in voicemail. It would often be a day or two before I could get back to them and it felt like a cold call, since I had no details perform a conflict check or to prepare a useful response for the caller. With Smith.ai, the capable receptionists gather all the details I have requested and upload my leads directly to my Clio Grow inbox. I also receive a detailed email with every call, so my follow up time is not wasted gathering information. I am exclusively using Smith.ai during all business hours and I currently have an 81% conversion rate for leads, up from 70% using voicemail and phone tag. Using Smith.ai as needed to return calls, gather follow up information and schedule appointments is a lifesaver for a busy solo. Compared to hiring staff, this is a tremendous cost-saver and I get 24/7 support with minimal commitment on my end. I decide which callers are transferred and which leave a message and I can change my parameters at any time from my dashboard or with a quick email to Smith.ai. They also eliminate wasted time on spam/solicitor calls which they filter out at no charge to me! They are responsive to any inquiry and have always followed my instructions precisely. Smith.ai has been the solution to my staffing needs and I am thrilled to have them on my team.
  • Aaron W. says:
    June 20, 2021 at 4:21 pm

    More and more calls not picked up or go to voicemail

    (3)
    I’m providing an update to my previous review. Overall I’ve been very happy with Smith.ai, but lately more and more calls are going to Smith.ai’s voicemail or not being picked up at all. I use CallRail on our backend and can see full call metrics and access recordings of all calls. I’ve seen several leads that have tried calling multiple times over the course of a several hour period in the middle of the day and each time it either goes to Smith.ai’s voicemail or rings 7-8 times before the lead hangs up. Also, several recordings show that Smith.ai’s side of the call has a low call quality causing the lead to hang up frustrated. I will repeat that MOST calls seem to be handled fine, but if 20-30% are having these issues, I’m not sure if I can really recommend the service.
  • Aaron W. says:
    January 25, 2021 at 12:53 pm

    Very helpful service

    (5)
    I recently signed up with Smith.ai to answer calls for my solo practice law firm. Although there are hiccups from time to time, overall I found their service invaluable for helping me contact new leads and schedule consultations.

    For example, there were several times that a call came in well outside working hours, such as 3am, and Smith.ai was there to answer and schedule a consultation. I’ve absolutely signed up more clients due to Smith.ai, which already paid for itself during the first couple days of the month.

  • Sara K. says:
    October 20, 2020 at 1:28 pm

    Highly Recommend Smith.AI

    (5)
    We switched to Smith.AI earlier this year (right before the lockdowns) and we are so impressed with everything at Smith.AI. We’ve had several clients tell us they are very impressed with our “receptionist.”

    Last week, we had an attorney “secret shop” our phone intake system and he was so impressed, he is now considering changing to Smith.AI in the near future. He had no idea it was an answering service! Yay!

    We used LexHelper for years and were not impressed with the customer service at all (it was a good price compared to other services, but that’s the only positive). We also tried Ruby Receptionists. They were much better, but super expensive. The only pro for Ruby was the app (but that alone is not worth the price of their services).

    I set up the free chat bot with Smith.AI in less than 2 hours (and 1/2 that time was figuring out what to write and what to name the bot). Everything Smith.AI does is efficient, cost-effective, and professional. I feel like we’re on the same team when we work with Smith.AI (i.e., they’re one of our in-house team members and vice versa).

    We get highly detailed and thorough messages (via email) after each call. I’m never left to wonder what the call was about or what steps I need to take next. I haven’t had a single complaint about Smith.AI (nor have I heard one from a caller) in 8 months and we’ve had hundreds of calls so far. Using Smith.AI frees up at least 10 hours a week of staff and attorney time. They’re very responsive to our requests — they always get back to us within a day if we have a request and usually it’s within the hour.

    I highly recommend Smith.AI for answering your phones, client intake, and chat bots for your website. People — why are YOU still answering your own phones?!? Sign up for Smith.AI TODAY!!!

  • David P. says:
    September 30, 2020 at 5:43 pm

    Terrific Service

    (5)
    Debated with my partner about whether we should hire a service like Smith or one or their competitors, and if we could afford it. Seems silly in retrospect as we can’t imagine working without them. Professionally handling both new leads and existing clients pays for itself, both in our increased productivity, not having to have a full time staffer to answer phones, and in a timely professional response to new leads that begins the trust building process to retain new clients.

    In addition to answering calls, Smith sends end of day reports so that we can easily make sure we handled the business of the day or the week and nothing falls thru the cracks. Integration with our CRM saves time as well. And we’re still adding additional features from Smith to make our firm more efficient.

    Highest recommendation

  • Heather G. says:
    September 24, 2020 at 11:52 am

    Amazing Service

    (5)
    I have research several answering services and none compare to Smith.ai. The agents are very nice, they get all the necessary information when taking a message and we love the live transfer option.
    Even when there are errors, they are quick to fix and quick with their responses.

    The only thing missing is a customer support line or an account rep that personally handles all the changes.

  • Austin B. says:
    September 21, 2020 at 8:38 am

    Smith AI is a firm saver

    (5)
    I cannot say enough good things about my experience with Smith AI. First, and this is huge, when working with Smith AI, you get a real human on the phone. The customization of the call answering process is huge, and as a former BigLaw attorney, I will say, the Smith AI phone service is on par with any receptionist or intake specialist that would have worked at my old firm. For those next level folks, the game changer really is the API interface Smith AI has. It works with Clio and Lawmatics, and the intake process being auto-populated into your systems saves a lot of time. Happy customer.
  • Tamara P. says:
    September 17, 2020 at 11:36 am

    Transformative!

    (5)
    Smith.ai worked with me to develop a great script that the receptionists use to screen and schedule potential clients. Smith.ai integrates with Acuity Scheduling, so it really saves multiple administrative steps. This has really freed up a lot of time and takes a lot off of my plate! They also screen out sales and political calls, at no cost. I have recommended the service to multiple business colleagues, both lawyers and non-law firms. I think anyone that can afford it, will be thrilled with the service, especially if you are currently using a more simple call “screening” service like the one I had previously, where they’d just tell me the caller’s name and give me the option to accept the forwarded call or decline and take a message or send to vmail.
  • John R. says:
    June 22, 2020 at 3:07 pm

    Friendly & efficient, Smith.ai helps power my law practice

    (5)
    I’m a five-year veteran of Smith.ai and my law practice is better because of them.

    Smith.ai operators are friendly and efficient. On more than one occasion, a client will tell me that I have the nicest people answering my phones. First impressions are everything, and Smith.ai delivers. The operators go the extra mile – they call back missed/dropped calls from clients which makes a difference. They prequalify leads, do intake, take payments and book appointments.

    Smith.ai is constantly innovating. On the technology side, Smith.ai provides the call information when I need it and how I need it. Emails after each call and a daily summary make sure that nothing escapes my attention. They helped me integrate my RingCentral VoIP service so it works with their call-forwarding. They have the super efficient text commands so I can set my status in a few clicks. The icing on the cake is their integration with CLIO. I’m a long time CLIO user and Smith.ai can enter the data right into CLIO for keeping the client information and records up to date (Don’t forget take lawpay payments, book appointments, etc.)

    On the cost side, Smith.ai charges a flat rate for a package of calls and then per call thereafter. They don’t charge answering your spam calls. Because they don’t charge per minute which might result in a surprise bill, I feel comfortable that Smith.ai delivers the right balance for my practice.

    Lastly, they are responsive. To comments, questions, complaints and praise, Smith.ai responds to all, quickly and expressing a clear desire to “make it right.” Smth.ai isn’t just a service, they are a partner.

  • Jimin O. says:
    June 8, 2020 at 3:29 pm

    Terrible Customer Service

    (1)
    No callback, no email response. It was a complete waste of time trying to work with them.
  • Kim B. says:
    September 9, 2019 at 3:11 pm

    Amazing service!

    (5)
    I’ve been with Smith for some time and every day I am happier with the services. My clients and potential clients love them and they are always helpful with improving how I create a client-focused business.

    As a service provider that hates the billable hour, I love that Smith has created a flexible service that focuses on providing value to its customers and not simply charging by the minute.

    The team is open to suggestions, communicates well, and offers recommendations to improve my business.

    And – did I mention how well they use the other tools in my business! Fab service and I recommend them to everyone.

    Smith is an invaluable part of my team and I’m happy to be a long-time customer!

  • Emily C. says:
    August 20, 2019 at 8:18 pm

    Great back up

    (5)
    Our office used Smith.ai as our exclusive outsourced receptionist for years. We now use it for back up to our full time receptionist. Smith ai was able to handle our unique intake process, schedule intake and client appointments and allow our firm to grow and scale by basically being our full-time receptionist until we were ready to hire our own. Now we have phones roll over to Smith ai when our receptionist is at lunch or too busy or out. It is great to know that even when our on site person cannot answer the phone, our back up keeps things smooth, can handle matters using the same process and assures the our customers are getting great service.
  • Carol W. says:
    August 20, 2019 at 5:16 pm

    Absolutely Wonderful

    (5)
    Smith.ai has really helped me provide another level of service to my potential and current clients. Before Smith.ai I wasn’t able to answer all the calls and get all the legal work done. I was missing too many calls. Having Smith.ai speak to current clients ensures they don’t feel ignored when I’m unable to get to the phone right away. I’ve also captured more clients because Smith.ai transfers all potential clients directly to me rather then them going to voicemail. This ensures I speak to them right away.

    Smith.ai is super responsive. I have changed call instructions often and Smith.ai responds the same day. When my instructions haven’t been super clear, they have affirmatively reached out to me for clarification rather than just guessing.

    Smith.ai makes my life as a law firm owner easier!

  • Jess B. says:
    August 15, 2019 at 3:50 pm

    LIFE SAVER!!

    (5)
    I’m a solo and I used to answer my own phones. That is until one holiday season I had a PC call that died in my voicemail and was unearthed 3 weeks later after the New Year. OOPS. (Miraculously they hired me anyway). After that I decided that I needed to upgrade my phone game. I’ve been working with Smith.Ai for phone calls and chat for over a year now and absolutely LOVE IT.

    I firmly believe that if somebody picks up a phone to call you they want a human being to answer. Not a phone tree and not your voicemail saying you only return calls between 4 and 6 pm or whatever. Your clients deserve a human being to pick up the phone. Now my clients get that. I have a basic call handling procedure that the VRs handle brilliantly.

    I really love the slack integration, they can ping me and see if my staff or I are available for the call and if we aren’t they schedule a call time with our Acuity account. The whole thing just works brilliantly and I don’t ever want to go back to answering my own phones ever again!

  • Justie N. says:
    August 15, 2019 at 1:15 pm

    Smith.ai is great

    (5)
    I have been a Smith.ai customer for quite some time. I think I first found them when I was a Lawyerist Insider. Maddy and I connected over never answering my own phone again. Our mutual love for making things more efficient grew from there. The entire team at Smith.ai is of that mindset. I recently expanded and brought on a partner, so I am experiencing the team side of things for the first time. I have found that with appropriate account instructions, Smith.ai handles all of our needs exceptionally well. And when there is doubt about what happens with a particular type of call, or what the account instructions are, or even what to do about their varying intake procedures–I get direct emails from their OWNERS making sure my concerns are noted and adjusting things to my needs. I’ve had chat and Zapier integration for quite some time. They do an amazing job. I’m now providing some feedback on their phone system, Keypad, as we just made that switch, as well. Smith handles all of our inbound and outbound calls with minimal errors and exceptional attention to detail.
  • John S. says:
    August 15, 2019 at 12:23 pm

    Great Service!

    (5)
    I’ve been using Smith.ai for over a year, and I’m not going anywhere else. I know that I’ve got someone ready to answer calls for me during the day and get the right information from my clients for me. They also help by blocking the calls I shouldn’t receive (like telemarketers and spam), and then they don’t charge me for those calls.

    The flat-rate pricing is great–I’m not worried about getting a surprise bill from them. I know what to expect each month.

    Maddy & the team have been great at getting things set up. Beyond that, they’ve spent hours helped me work on my call structure so that it works better for me, my staff, and my clients. What other service will offer that support?

    Yes, there are times that call volume is up and they don’t get right to the call. This is frustrating, but it’s a reality of all business–we get swamped sometimes.

  • Nicholas P. says:
    June 7, 2019 at 4:03 pm

    Bad Quality

    (2)
    Just canceled our service today. They started letting a lot of our calls go to voicemail in the middle of the workday. I don’t need to pay someone $500/month to transcribe voicemails, my iPhone does that automatically.
    Also not a good fit for teams. If I set my status to away when I’m in court, they will not transfer any calls to my paralegal. Very paradoxical.
    The ability to text them to set your status is a nice feature. I hope they expand on the text messages to allow you to text a human and ask them to do things. Right now it is texting a bot and you have to text it with the exact command or it won’t work.
    Smith.ai is a good idea, but they don’t have any customer support to speak of. You always have to wait for a call back the next day. Not responsive and not acceptable.

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