Legal-only floor
Every agent is trained on U.S. legal intake — conflict checks, statute-of-limitations triggers, jail calls, ICE detentions, opposing counsel. No HVAC overflow on the same queue.
Legal Answering Service
A legal answering service built only for law firms.
Sempull is the bilingual, legal-only answering service U.S. firms switch to when generic receptionists and templated scripts start losing them paying clients. Native English and Spanish on every ring. Custom intake written with your firm. CRM-native data flow. Month-to-month pricing.
- Live answer 24 / 7 / 365
- Native English + Spanish on every agent
- Per-firm qualification scripts
- Structured push to Clio, Lawmatics, Filevine, MyCase
- Conflict checks + TCPA-aware messaging
- Month-to-month, no setup fees
Bilingual on every ring
Native English + Spanish on every agent, every shift. Spanish callers never get a transfer or a Language Line bridge.
TCPA + HIPAA aware
Recorded calls, encrypted lead delivery, TCPA-aware messaging, HIPAA-aware handling for medical intake. Reviewed by U.S. counsel.
Built to convert
Custom qualification scripts written with your firm, real-time CRM push with structured fields, and weekly scorecards on answer time, qualification rate, and signed-retainer rate.
What a legal answering service actually does
A legal answering service is the team that picks up your firm's phone when your in-house staff can't — or, increasingly, the team that picks up every call so your attorneys never touch the phone. The bar is no longer just "someone answers." A modern legal answering service runs your full intake workflow: greets the caller in their language, identifies whether they're a new prospect or existing client, qualifies the matter to your criteria, runs a conflict check, books the consult on your attorney's actual calendar, and pushes a structured record into your CRM before the call ends.
That distinction matters because the math on missed legal calls is brutal. Industry studies consistently show that 60–70% of inbound legal calls happen outside 9-to-5, and roughly 80% of callers who reach voicemail never leave a message. For a personal injury, immigration, or family-law firm, a single missed call can be a four- or five-figure retainer walking to the next firm on Google.
Why bilingual matters more than any other feature
Over 42 million U.S. residents speak Spanish at home. In Texas, California, Florida, Arizona, New Mexico, and Nevada, that's a double-digit share of every PI, immigration, family-law, and workers' comp matter. Yet most "bilingual" answering services route Spanish callers through a transfer, a Language Line bridge, or a callback queue — losing the caller exactly when shopping intent is highest.
Sempull's wedge is simple: every agent is native English + Spanish. The first person who answers can run the entire intake in either language, including conflict checks, qualification, and consult booking. The result is parity in conversion between English and Spanish callers — which is something most firms have never seen.
What to look for when choosing a legal answering service
- Legal-only training. Generic receptionists who take HVAC and dental calls between yours cannot reliably navigate SOL windows, conflict checks, or jail calls.
- Bilingual on every agent. Not "available on premium tier" — every agent, every shift.
- Custom qualification. Templates can't capture your fit/no-fit criteria. Look for per-firm scripts that evolve based on what your attorneys actually accept.
- Native CRM push. Structured fields into Clio Grow, Lawmatics, Filevine, MyCase — not a paragraph emailed to your intake address.
- Transparent pricing. Month-to-month, no setup fees, no surprise overage charges. You should be able to cancel for any reason.
Side-by-side
Sempull vs Smith.ai vs Answering Legal
How a bilingual, legal-only intake service compares to the two services law firms shop against most often. Pricing reflects publicly listed plans and may vary by call volume and add-ons.
| Feature | Sempull Bilingual · Legal-only | Smith.ai General receptionist | Answering Legal Legal answering |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting price | From ~$1.20 / qualified minute | From $325 / mo (50 calls) | From $179 / mo (entry tier) |
| Setup fees | $0 | Varies by plan | Varies by plan |
| Contract length | Month-to-month | Month-to-month available | Plan terms vary |
| Bilingual on first ring | Every agent, English + Spanish | Bilingual receptionists on certain plans | Often via Spanish-line transfer |
| Legal-only training | 100% legal intake | Multi-industry; legal vertical | Yes — legal-focused |
| 24 / 7 / 365 live coverage | Yes | Yes on most plans | Yes |
| Custom qualification script | Per-firm, version-controlled | Custom intake forms; deeper on higher tiers | Standard scripts; custom at higher tiers |
| Native CRM push (Clio, Lawmatics, Filevine, MyCase) | Structured fields, real-time | Broad integration catalog | Varies by plan |
| Founder-led onboarding | Yes — script co-authoring | Self-serve playbook | Account-managed |
Pricing reflects publicly listed plans at time of writing. Smith.ai and Answering Legal are trademarks of their respective companies; this comparison is for informational purposes.
Common questions about legal answering services
What is a legal answering service?+
A legal answering service is a third-party team of trained agents who answer a law firm's inbound calls live — handling new prospects, existing clients, opposing counsel, and after-hours calls — instead of routing callers to voicemail. A legal-specialized service like Sempull runs your firm's full intake script (qualification, conflict checks, calendar booking) rather than just taking messages.
How much does a legal answering service cost?+
Most U.S. legal answering services run between roughly $180 and $1,500 per month depending on call volume, hours covered, and whether qualification is included. Sempull's plans start in the same range and are quoted on a 30-minute discovery call so the plan reflects your actual call volume and practice area.
How is Sempull different from Smith.ai or Answering Legal?+
Sempull is bilingual-first (every agent is native English + Spanish, not just a Spanish-line transfer) and legal-only (no HVAC or medical accounts on the same floor). Pricing is month-to-month with no setup fees and qualification scripts are written per-firm rather than selected from a template library. See the side-by-side comparison on this page.
Do legal answering services replace my in-house intake team?+
They can — but most growing firms use both. In-house staff handle business-hours calls and complex matters; Sempull handles overflow, lunch hours, evenings, weekends, holidays, and the entire Spanish-speaking caller base. Many firms move to Sempull full-time once they see the conversion lift.
How fast can my firm be live?+
Typical onboarding is 5–7 business days: script co-authoring, CRM integration setup (Clio, Lawmatics, Filevine, MyCase, etc.), and a parallel-run period before you flip call-forwarding. No phone-number porting required.
Ready to stop sending paying clients to voicemail?
Book a 30-minute discovery call. We'll map your current intake flow, find the leaks, and show you exactly how a bilingual legal answering service would plug them.