Legal Intake Services (2026): Published Prices, the Seven-Link Intake Chain and What 13 Legal Intake Hires Did
October 20, 2026
Legal intake services answer a law firm's new-client inquiries, screen them against the firm's case criteria, book consultations and, on higher plans, send the engagement agreement. Published 2026 prices run from $590 a month for 250 minutes with intake (Alert Communications) and $300 a month for 30 calls (Smith.ai) to $2.50 a minute pay-as-you-go. A dedicated remote intake specialist is the other model: through Virtustant, legal virtual assistants, including intake, start from $7 an hour all-in, or $1,120 for a full-time month, and the person also does the follow-up and file work between calls.
This guide maps the seven steps of legal intake, shows which ones each model covers, compares published prices, gives a minutes-based rule for when a dedicated seat costs less, and reports what 13 legal intake specialists placed with US law firms actually did. Third-party prices are as published on each provider's site, read on 20 October 2026.
For its 2024 Legal Trends Report, Clio had secret shoppers contact 500 US law firms by phone and email with a client inquiry. Only 40% of the firms picked up when called, 48% could not be reached by phone even after the shoppers gave them a chance to return messages, and 33% of the firms emailed replied.
A firm can win the ad click, the referral or the search result and still lose the matter at the first call. That is the problem a legal intake service is bought to solve, and it is why the price per minute matters less than which parts of intake the service actually covers.
Intake is not one task. We split it into seven links, from the first ring to a complete record, because each model below covers a different set of them and the gaps are where matters drop.
| Link | What happens | What breaks when it is missing |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Answer | A person or system responds to the call, form or chat | The caller tries the next firm |
| 2. Conflict names | Collect the names of the parties before the full story | The firm hears facts it may have to wall off (ABA Model Rule 1.18) |
| 3. Qualify | Check practice area, location, dates and the firm's case criteria | Attorneys spend consultations on matters they will not take |
| 4. Book | Schedule the consultation while the caller is still on the line | Qualified callers drift before anyone calls back |
| 5. Sign | Send the engagement agreement or retainer for e-signature | A consultation happens and nobody sends the paperwork |
| 6. Follow up | Call back missed calls and no-shows, chase documents, reach the undecided | Leads that did not book on the first call are never contacted again |
| 7. Record | Log the contact, outcome and source in the CRM or case management system | The firm cannot see which marketing produced signed matters |
Links 1 to 4 happen during the call. Links 5 to 7 happen after it, and they are the ones per-minute pricing does not naturally pay for.
| Model | Links it usually covers | How it is priced | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Answering service, message taking | 1, sometimes 7 | Per minute or per call | Messages, not intake: the firm still screens and books |
| Answering service with an intake plan | 1 to 4, and 7 when the CRM is integrated | Per minute or per call, with intake as a higher tier or add-on | Intake calls run longer, so included minutes go faster |
| Legal intake service with retainer handling | 1 to 5 and 7; some list follow-up | Monthly plan plus a fee per retainer, or per minute plus a fee per retainer | Per-retainer fees grow with your success |
| AI intake | 1 to 4 and 7, depending on the product | Per call or monthly plan | How it hands off to a person when the caller asks |
| Dedicated intake specialist (in-house or remote) | All seven during the shift | Salary, or an hourly rate through a staffing agency | One person covers one shift; plan nights and weekends |
Alert Communications, a legal-only provider, is an example of the third model: its legal intake page lists screening by the firm's case criteria, conflict screening during the first contact, scheduling, e-signature dispatch and follow-up, and records delivered to Clio Grow, Filevine, Lead Docket or CASEpeer. On AI, the same Clio report found that three in five prospective clients would use a chatbot only if they could switch to a human when needed.
| Provider and plan | Published price | Included | Intake |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alert Communications, Basic | $240/month | 100 minutes | No (message taking) |
| Alert Communications, Advanced | $590/month | 250 minutes | Yes |
| Alert Communications, Premier | $550 or $575/month (both appear on the plans page) + $75 per retainer | 250 minutes | Yes, plus retainers |
| Alert Communications, Alert Go | $2.50/minute + $100 per retainer | No monthly minimum | Retainer fee applies |
| Smith.ai receptionists, Starter | $300/month; $11.50 per extra call | 30 calls | Basic intake (5 questions) included; extended intake $1.50 per call |
| Smith.ai receptionists, Basic | $810/month; $10.50 per extra call | 90 calls | Same add-ons; Spanish line $1.00 and booking $1.50 per call |
| Smith.ai receptionists, Pro | $2,100/month; $8.50 per extra call | 300 calls | Same add-ons |
| Answering Legal; Lex Reception | Not published | Quote on request | — |
Both providers note that other charges can apply: Alert's plans page says additional usage, overages, setup fees and add-ons may apply without publishing the overage rate, and Smith.ai prices each extra integration at $0.50 a call. Smith.ai's plans are its general receptionist plans; it lists no separate law-firm price.
The in-house benchmark is a US hire. The BLS median for legal secretaries and administrative assistants was $55,570 a year in May 2025. With benefits at 30.0% of total compensation, that is about $79,390 a year fully loaded, or roughly $6,615 a month, before recruiting and turnover.
A full-time dedicated intake specialist through Virtustant starts at $1,120 a month ($7 an hour for 160 hours). The same $1,120 buys a fixed amount of talk time from a per-minute or per-call service:
| Service at its published rate | What $1,120 a month buys | Per business day (21 days) |
|---|---|---|
| Alert Go, $2.50 per minute (before retainer fees) | 448 minutes, about 7.5 hours of talk | About 21 minutes |
| Smith.ai Basic, $810 for 90 calls + $10.50 per extra call | About 119 calls (before intake add-ons) | About 5.7 calls |
| Smith.ai Basic with extended intake ($1.50 per call) | About 104 calls | About 5 calls |
The minutes rule. If your intake calls add up to more than about 21 minutes a business day, or more than five or six new-client calls a day, a full-time dedicated specialist costs less than per-minute or per-call intake at these published rates. That is before counting links 5 to 7, the follow-up and record work a service either charges extra for or does not do. Arithmetic on published prices, read 20 October 2026.
Two adjustments keep the comparison honest. A seat covers one shift, while the services above answer around the clock, so a firm with real night and weekend volume may keep a per-minute service for those hours. And below the threshold, a service is the cheaper choice. If your firm prices intake by signed matter rather than minutes, our law firm answering service guide works the same comparison per retainer: Alert's Premier plan and a dedicated seat meet at about 7.6 signed retainers a month.
Original data — 13 legal intake specialists placed with US law firms, October 2025 to September 2026, from 10 job posts. Phone work: 13 of 13. Entering records in a system: 12 of 13. Outbound calls or follow-up: 9 of 13. Scheduling consultations: 7 of 13. A named CRM or case management system: 7 of 13. Email, chat or social messages: 4. Spanish required: 2. Evening shift: 2. Full-time: 12 of 13. Virtustant first-party placement data, read 20 October 2026.
Those patterns are links 5 to 7 of the chain. A service answers and screens well; the work that turns a consultation into a signed, recorded matter is where a dedicated person earns the seat. For the wider set of tasks firms delegate, see what our law firm virtual assistant placements did.
| Firm profile | What fits | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Under about 20 minutes of intake calls a day, mostly business hours | An answering service with an intake plan | Below the minutes rule, a fixed seat is not yet earning its cost on calls alone |
| More than five or six new-client calls a day | A dedicated intake specialist | Lower cost at volume, plus follow-up and record work between calls |
| High volume with real after-hours demand (personal injury, criminal defense) | A dedicated daytime seat plus a per-minute service at night, or an evening-shift hire | Each covers the hours it prices best |
| Many Spanish-speaking callers | A bilingual dedicated specialist | Language becomes a hiring requirement instead of a per-call add-on |
| A follow-up backlog of missed calls and undecided leads | A dedicated specialist with outbound in the job description | Link 6 needs someone with time between calls |
Whichever you choose, the supervision duty stays with the firm. ABA Model Rule 5.3 requires lawyers to make reasonable efforts to ensure a nonlawyer assistant's conduct is compatible with their professional obligations, whether that person is on staff or works for an outside provider. Script the conflict check first, keep intake staff to facts and booking rather than advice, put confidentiality in writing and review a sample of calls each week. State rules vary; this is not legal advice.
Before you sign with anyone: time ten real intake calls, count the follow-ups your team does in a week, and role-play three calls with the service or candidate using your actual script.
Virtustant is a remote staffing agency that places vetted, bilingual legal intake specialists and legal virtual assistants from Latin America with US law firms, working your hours in your CRM or case management system. Legal virtual assistants, including intake, start from $7/hr all-in; specialized intake and paralegal roles are scoped on the discovery call. There are zero placement fees, month-to-month terms and a lifetime replacement guarantee with no time cap. You get a shortlist of 3 to 5 vetted candidates within 48 hours of your first call, and your hire can start in 72 hours. Candidates come from the top 1% of applicants through a four-stage vetting funnel: 100% apply, 22% clear the recruiter screen, 9% pass cognitive (IQ), skills and English testing, 3% reach a live interview, 1% are hired. See the legal virtual assistant role, how we work with law firms, or book a discovery call to scope the seat.
Legal intake services handle a law firm's new-client inquiries: they answer the call or form, collect conflict names, screen the caller against the firm's case criteria, book a consultation and record the result. Higher plans also send the engagement agreement and follow up. The firm still decides whether to take the matter.
Published prices include Alert Communications at $590 a month for 250 minutes with intake, $550 or $575 a month plus $75 per retainer for its Premier plan, and $2.50 a minute plus $100 per retainer with no minimum. Smith.ai's receptionist plans start at $300 a month for 30 calls, with basic intake included and extended intake at $1.50 a call. Answering Legal and Lex Reception quote on request.
It depends on volume. A full-time dedicated specialist through Virtustant starts at $1,120 a month, which equals about 448 minutes at a $2.50-per-minute rate, or about 21 minutes of intake calls per business day. Above that, the dedicated seat costs less, and it also covers follow-up and record work between calls.
In 13 legal intake placements Virtustant made with US law firms, all 13 handled calls, 12 entered records in a system, 9 made outbound calls or follow-ups, such as calling insurers to start claims, and 7 scheduled consultations. One estate planning firm also had its intake team run conflict checks.
Yes, with supervision. ABA Model Rule 5.3 requires reasonable efforts to ensure a nonlawyer's conduct is compatible with the lawyer's obligations, whether the person is on staff or with an outside provider. Collect conflict names before the full story, keep intake to facts and booking, and review calls regularly. Check your state bar's guidance.
Not always. Of three legal intake posts behind Virtustant placements that we reread, two were listed as entry level and the third said previous law firm experience is not required. Firms hired for communication, accuracy and system skills, then trained the intake script.
Through Virtustant, you get a shortlist of 3 to 5 vetted candidates within 48 hours of your first call, and your hire can start in 72 hours. Write the intake script and conflict-check steps first, then test each candidate on a role-played call.
Published prices. Read on 20 October 2026: Alert Communications plans page (Basic, Advanced, Premier, Alert Go; the Premier price appears as both $550 and $575 on the same page) and legal intake service page (features and CRM integrations); Smith.ai pricing page (human receptionist plans, overage, intake, Spanish, booking and integration add-ons). Answering Legal and Lex Reception do not publish prices. Prices and terms change: confirm them in writing.
Third-party data. Clio, 2024 Legal Trends Report, secret-shopper study of 500 US law firms (40% picked up the phone, 48% unreachable by phone, 33% replied to email; chatbot preference as summarized by 2Civility). BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, secretaries and administrative assistants: legal secretaries and administrative assistants median $55,570 a year, May 2025 (page modified 27 August 2026). Benefits are 30.0% of total compensation in private industry (BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026); the loaded figure divides by 0.70. ABA Model Rules 5.3 and 1.18.
Calculations. The dedicated seat is $7/hr × 160 hours = $1,120 a month. Alert Go: $1,120 ÷ $2.50 = 448 minutes, before per-retainer fees. Smith.ai Basic: $810 for 90 calls plus ($1,120 − $810) ÷ $10.50 ≈ 29 extra calls; with extended intake at $1.50 a call, $810 + 90 × $1.50 = $945, plus $175 ÷ $12.00 ≈ 14 extra calls. Per business day uses 21 days.
Virtustant data. 13 positions with US law firms, titled legal intake or intake specialist, marked filled in Virtustant's recruitment system with creation dates from October 2025 to September 2026, from 10 job posts. Tasks, language and schedules come from each post's stated description, and a task counts only when the post names it; several placements share a post and some stored descriptions are truncated, so counts are a floor. Applicant count is the job post's total. No rates or salaries from these records are published.
Virtustant published figures. Legal virtual assistants, including intake, from $7/hr all-in; specialized intake and paralegal roles scoped on the discovery call; zero placement fees; shortlist within 48 hours, start in 72 hours; four-stage vetting funnel of 100/22/9/3/1; lifetime replacement guarantee with no time cap; month-to-month terms. See pricing.
