AI Receptionist for
Clio
Connect Clio to your AI voice and chat receptionist. Five capabilities are on the moment you connect; every disclosure and verification control is off until you switch it on. It books onto the right attorney's Clio calendar, recognizes calls from correctional facilities, and takes a message on anything it can't finish.
Concierge Onboarding is free for firms connecting Clio — we set up the connection, calendar sharing and your call handling rules with you.
Recent calls
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+1 555 555 0142Emergency transfer4:15 PMthe emergency line
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+1 555 555 0118Transferred3:57 PMJohn Smith
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+1 555 555 0173Booked3:48 PMconsultation, Thursday 10:00
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+1 555 555 01063:42 PMfirm inbox, attorney: Jane Doe
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+1 555 555 0187Spam3:31 PMautomated dialer, closed in one line
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+1 555 555 0159Completed2:58 PMquestion answered
Illustrative log. Numbers shown are examples.
What happens on a call
Every situation your receptionist handles, what it does, and how the call ends. Rows in blue depend on something you set: switch this on means the capability ships off, and the rest name what has to be configured first. Everything else is on the moment you connect Clio.
| The caller | What your receptionist does | How it ends |
|---|---|---|
| New client under arrest / needs a lawyer urgently needs an emergency line | Confirms it's an emergency, transfers immediately. No verification, no intake questions first — speed is the point. | Your firm's 24/7 emergency line. |
| Asks who is handling their case switch this on | Asks their name plus the phone or case number on file and checks it against Clio. Discloses the attorney's name and nothing else. | Attorney named, then offered a booking or a message. If they gave an identifier and it still could not confirm them, your office also gets an email saying so. |
| Caller can't be verified | Your receptionist doesn't argue or turn them away — it takes a message so the office can follow up and schedule directly. | A message so the office can follow up and schedule directly. |
| Existing client booking an appointment | Books with their own attorney. | Confirmed appointment in Clio. |
| Existing client booking, with verification required switch this on | Verifies identity (name + phone on file or case number), then books with their own attorney. Date of birth is used only if two clients share a name and phone number. | Confirmed appointment in Clio. |
| Existing client booking, inside designated blocks switch this on | Available times come from the attorney's designated booking blocks on their Clio calendar. | Confirmed appointment in Clio. |
| Wants to book, and your consultations are phone meetings switch this on | Describes every booking as a telephone meeting when it offers times and when it confirms. If the caller explicitly asks to come in instead, it does not book at all. | Booked as a telephone meeting. An in-person request is emailed to your team to arrange. |
| Wants to cancel or reschedule | Confirms who they are first, then reads back only their own appointments and confirms which one before changing anything. | Changed on the Clio calendar. Never actioned on a phone number alone. |
| New client inquiry (any matter) switch this on | Collects the essentials one at a time: name, phone, and the matter. Your receptionist captures every inquiry regardless of whether it sounds like a fit. Deciding what the firm takes on is the firm's call, not the receptionist's. | Intake message emailed to the firm. |
| Caller wants to leave a message | Takes it in full (attorney → caller name → message). | Message emailed to the firm with the attorney named. |
| Any caller: “Transfer me to [attorney name]” needs a transfer list | Any caller, on any call, who asks for an attorney by name is transferred — no identity questions, no verification, no screening. Your receptionist confirms the name once before dialing so a garbled or mispronounced name never sends a caller to the wrong line, then puts them straight through. If a caller says “transfer me to my attorney” without a name, your receptionist asks exactly one question — “Who is your attorney?” — confirms, and transfers on the answer. | Attorney's direct line (their own voicemail if unavailable). Only if the line truly can't be reached at all — busy, a network error, or two minutes of ringing with no voicemail — does your receptionist return, apologize, and take a message for that attorney so nothing is lost. |
| Name matches no one at the firm | If the name genuinely matches no one at the firm, your receptionist offers to take a message rather than guessing or dialing the wrong line. | Message emailed to the firm. |
| Calling from a jail phone system (Tellmate, GTL, Securus, etc.) switch this on | Jail phone systems announce themselves at the start of a call. Your receptionist recognizes these announcements automatically — including when the recording is cut off partway, which happens often. The moment a jail line is recognized, all verification is switched off for that call. Callers on jail phones can't provide the details verification asks for, so your receptionist doesn't ask. It never sends a jail caller to the front office line, because those transfers don't survive on jail phones. An existing client calling from jail to reach their own attorney is directed to their attorney, not the emergency line — that line is reserved for new clients who need a lawyer right now. | Transferred to their attorney's direct line, or a routed message. |
| The jail system asks you to accept a free call switch this on | When the system asks the receiver to accept the call (“press 1 to accept this free call”), your receptionist presses 1 itself, so the call connects instead of dying at the prompt. Free calls only. | The call connects instead of dying at the prompt. |
| The jail system requires an account or payment on with correctional calls | If the system says an account or payment is required, your receptionist hangs up immediately. | The call is marked Screened. |
| Police officer or anyone asking for a public defender switch this on | During staffed hours: transferred straight to your team — no explanations about the firm being private, no questions first. After hours: offered the emergency line or a message. | A live team member, the emergency line, or a message. |
| Caller complains about the firm or threatens a bar complaint switch this on + alert recipients | Takes the message normally; the firm's alert list is notified immediately. Your receptionist takes the message calmly, never argues, and never confirms or denies anything about the attorney. The caller notices nothing different. | Message to the firm + instant alert email. This fires even if the caller hangs up without leaving a message. The alert recipient list is set by the firm and can be changed at any time. |
| Robocall / automated dialer | One line and hangs up — no information given. | Marked Spam call on your dashboard. |
| Request your receptionist can't handle or answer | One brief factual sentence, then takes a message — never argues or repeats a refusal. | Message emailed to the firm. |
New client under arrest / needs a lawyer urgentlyneeds an emergency line
Asks who is handling their caseswitch this on
Caller can't be verified
Existing client booking an appointment
Existing client booking, with verification requiredswitch this on
Existing client booking, inside designated blocksswitch this on
Wants to book, and your consultations are phone meetingsswitch this on
Wants to cancel or reschedule
New client inquiry (any matter)switch this on
Caller wants to leave a message
Any caller: “Transfer me to [attorney name]”needs a transfer list
Name matches no one at the firm
Calling from a jail phone system (Tellmate, GTL, Securus, etc.)switch this on
The jail system asks you to accept a free callswitch this on
The jail system requires an account or paymenton with correctional calls
Police officer or anyone asking for a public defenderswitch this on
Caller complains about the firm or threatens a bar complaintswitch this on + alert recipients
Robocall / automated dialer
Request your receptionist can't handle or answer
How It Works
Get your Clio AI Receptionist up and running in minutes.
Connect Clio from the FONE app — pick your region (United States, Canada, Europe, or Australia) and authorize with OAuth. Share each attorney's calendar with the connected user; Clio only exposes calendars that user can access.
Choose your posture. Five capabilities are already on. Attorney-of-record disclosure, the three verification gates, correctional-call handling, complaint alerts, and law-enforcement routing are each off until you switch them on in the FONE app. Configuring Clio →
Your receptionist starts handling firm calls — booking onto the right attorney's Clio calendar, and taking a message on anything it can't complete, 24/7.
Key Features
Everything your AI needs to handle Clio inquiries like a pro.
You decide what it can say
Connecting Clio turns on five things: contact lookup, matter lookup, appointment booking, cancel and reschedule, and call logging. Everything that discloses something about a client, or gates a caller behind an identity check, ships OFF and stays off until you switch it on. Turning a capability off removes its tools from the receptionist entirely, on voice, web chat, and messaging alike.
Three independent verification gates
Verification is not one setting. Transferring a caller to a person, offering an appointment time, and routing a message straight to an attorney are three separate switches, each off by default and each enforced at its own point in the call. Switching one on never switches on another.
Verification never blocks a message
This is the part firms most often get wrong elsewhere. A caller who cannot be verified still gets their message taken, and it still reaches your firm inbox with the attorney named in it. The message gate only decides where a message lands, never whether one is taken.
Booking onto the right attorney
Consultations are booked onto that attorney's own Clio calendar, offering only times inside your firm's hours that do not collide with existing events. When you enable it, the receptionist will only offer times inside blocks your attorneys title themselves — so the calendar, not the AI, decides when you are bookable.
Calls from correctional facilities
When you enable it, your receptionist recognizes the recorded announcement that inmate phone systems play before connecting — and still matches it when the recording is cut off, which is most of the time. On those calls it skips every identity question and will only transfer to an attorney's direct line.
The only writes are calendar entries
Your receptionist creates, moves, and cancels calendar entries in Clio. When call logging is on it also writes a record of the call. It does not create Clio contacts, it does not edit them, and new-client intake is emailed to your reception inbox rather than written to your CRM.
Verification you control
Three separate gates, each off until you switch it on, each enforced at a different point in the call. Switching one on never switches on another.
The three gates
- Before a transfer — require a caller to be confirmed against Clio before the receptionist will put them through to a person.
- Before a booking — require confirmation before a single appointment time is quoted. Naming an attorney is not treated as identifying yourself.
- Before a message reaches an attorney — decide whether a confirmed caller's message goes straight to their attorney, or to your firm inbox with the attorney named in it.
All three are off when you connect. A firm that wants the strictest posture turns on all three; a firm that wants none of the friction leaves them alone.
A message is never blocked
The message gate decides where a message goes. It never decides whether one is taken.
A caller who cannot be confirmed still has their message taken, and it still reaches your firm with the attorney named in the body. The receptionist will not refuse, defer, or re-ask for a message because it could not verify someone.
It also asks in an order that survives a hang-up: who the message is for, then the caller's name, then what they want to say. Someone who gives their name and drops off still leaves your team something they can return.
Telling a caller who their attorney is
Off until you switch it on, because it discloses the assigned attorney to whoever is calling from a matching number.
When it is on, the receptionist asks for a name plus the phone or case number on file. It discloses the attorney's name only. If two records share a name and phone it asks for a date of birth purely to tell them apart, and if it still cannot be certain it discloses nothing, takes a message, and emails your office that a caller couldn't be verified.
Booking-and-voicemail-only mode
One switch for a firm that wants zero client disclosure.
It books appointments and takes messages, and forces both caller-facing lookups off regardless of the individual capability switches. Turning it back off restores exactly what you had set. Telling callers who their attorney is stays available, because that is often the one thing a voicemail-only firm still wants.
Booking on the right calendar
Consultations land on the attorney's own Clio calendar — not a separate scheduling tool you have to reconcile.
Inside your hours, around real events
The receptionist offers only times that fall inside your firm's hours and do not collide with what is already on that attorney's Clio calendar. Clio only exposes calendars the connected user can access, so a calendar you have not shared stays invisible to booking.
A verified caller can also cancel or reschedule — scoped to their own appointments, read back and confirmed before anything moves, and never actioned on a phone number alone.
Bookable blocks, if you prefer
When you switch this on, the receptionist will only offer times inside calendar blocks your attorneys title themselves. You choose the exact title it looks for and how many days ahead it searches.
Outside those blocks it offers nothing and takes a message instead — so your calendar, not the AI, decides when you are bookable. There is a matching switch for firms whose consultations are phone meetings: bookings are described that way throughout, and an in-person request is emailed to your team rather than booked.
What it does not do: it never creates a Clio contact and never edits one. New-client intake, and any request to change a phone number or email on file, are emailed to your reception inbox for a person to review and apply — the receptionist tells the caller it has been passed on for review, never that the change has been made.
Jail and correctional calls
Off until you switch it on. Built for criminal-defense firms, where a meaningful share of inbound calls come from a facility phone.
Inmate phone systems play a recorded announcement before connecting the call. That announcement is the only reliable signal you are speaking to a client in custody — the number that shows up is an ordinary local one. The announcement is also routinely clipped by the time it reaches the receptionist, so it is matched on any fragment, anywhere in what the caller says, in any capitalization. You can edit the list of phrases it listens for, and add the wording your local facilities use.
What changes on those calls
- No identity questions, for the whole call. Someone on a facility phone has no callback number and often no case number, and every question costs them call time they paid for. Whatever verification you have switched on is skipped for that call.
- Transfers go to an attorney's direct line, or nowhere. A request for the front desk, the office, or a supervisor is treated as wanting their attorney or wanting to leave a message. It will not put a caller in custody through to a general line.
- Free calls can be accepted automatically. With that switch on, the receptionist presses 1 at a free-call prompt. If any charge, collect, or per-minute language is present it presses nothing at all — accepting a paid call is never something a checkbox does quietly on your behalf.
- Account and payment demands end the call. When a facility says an account must be set up or funded before connecting, the receptionist ends the call rather than sitting on a line where nobody can be reached.
- Jail callers can reach your front desk. Off by default. With it on, a caller from a correctional facility who asks for the front desk, a receptionist, or a live person is put through instead of leaving a message. Named attorneys are unaffected, the emergency line is never offered, and outside your staffed hours the receptionist takes a message.
- Reception-first routing. Off by default. Some firms would rather their front desk handled anything time-sensitive than have the receptionist take a message. With it on, a caller who says the matter is urgent, wants to leave a message for their attorney, is calling to be connected to an appointment, needs meeting details, wants to make a payment, or is looking to hire an attorney is put straight through to reception — around the clock, so out of hours the call reaches your own voicemail rather than stopping with the receptionist. Meeting links and dial-in details are never read out; those callers go to reception too.
- You choose which of your Clio users are attorneys. Your Clio account holds everyone who logs in — paralegals, office managers, billing staff. By default the receptionist treats all of them as attorneys it can name and book. Set the list and it will only ever name the people on it, checked against Clio every time: someone who leaves Clio drops off on their own, and anyone you have not listed is never mentioned. Leave it empty and nothing changes.
- One question before the emergency line. Off by default. Instead of judging from what the caller says, the receptionist asks a single yes-or-no question — whether they are being pulled over or under arrest and being questioned right now. Yes goes to your emergency line. Anything else goes to reception, however urgent it sounded, so the emergency line stays for the calls it was set up for.
Long messages are taken as given: it lets the caller finish, does not read the message back, does not ask them to repeat anything, and if they get angry it acknowledges it once and carries on taking the message.
Routing and transfers
What happens when a caller asks for a person — and what happens when that line doesn't answer.
Asking for someone by name
You keep a list of people the receptionist can transfer to. When a caller names one, it confirms once using the name exactly as you wrote it — which doubles as the correction when a name is mispronounced or half-heard — then dials that person directly, around the clock.
If the name doesn't match anyone on your list, or is ambiguous between two of them, it does not guess and does not quietly send the call somewhere else. It takes a message for the person they asked for.
When the line doesn't pick up
The transfer rings for two full minutes, so a phone system that rings one extension, then another, then its own voicemail has time to finish. Voicemail answering counts as a completed transfer — the receptionist hands the caller over and stays out of it.
If nothing answers at all, the caller comes back to the receptionist rather than being dropped: it apologizes once and takes a message for the person it was trying to reach.
Law enforcement and public defenders
Off until you switch it on. These callers are time-sensitive, and the default answer — an explanation that this is a private firm — tends to end the call with nothing written down.
With it on, a caller who identifies as law enforcement or asks for a public defender is routed to your team during your transfer hours instead of being told what the firm does not do. After hours they are offered your emergency line or a message. Either way the receptionist captures who is in custody, where they are held, and the charge.
Alerts and oversight
The calls you want to hear about the same day, not at the end of the month.
Complaint alerts
Off until you switch it on, and you set the list of addresses that receive them.
Alerts are sorted into two levels: a threat to file a bar, judicial-conduct, or malpractice complaint, or to report an attorney — and serious dissatisfaction with their own representation, such as an attorney not calling back, a demand for a different attorney, or a stated intention to leave a bad review. Complaints about opposing counsel, the prosecutor, the judge, or the system are not treated as complaints about your firm.
The alert fires even when the caller hangs up without leaving a message — which is exactly the call a firm would otherwise never hear about.
Nothing about the caller's experience changes. The receptionist takes their message with the same neutrality as any other, never tells them they have been flagged or escalated, never argues the merits, and never tries to talk them out of it.
Honest outcomes on every call
Every call in your dashboard carries what actually happened to it, so the log is something you can act on rather than something you have to interpret.
Transferred and Emergency transfer mean the line you dialed answered — a person or their voicemail — and show you which line it went to. Booked and Message mean an appointment was made or a message sent. Completed means the caller's question was answered and the call closed normally. Spam call and Screened are an auto-dialer dismissed in one line and a pay-to-connect call declined. Neither reached a person, and neither needs anything from your team.
Caller hung up now means one thing only: the caller left mid-conversation. A successful transfer, a screened robocall, and a fully answered question each used to land in that bucket, which made a working system read as a failing one.
A criminal-defense firm runs this in production today — callers verify against the firm's Clio records and have consultations booked onto the attorney's Clio calendar, with case details never read aloud.
Built for law firms — see how the AI receptionist fits your practice on our AI receptionist for law firms page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Built for Law Firms
Your AI receptionist handles client and intake calls — looking up matters, capturing new leads, and routing to the right attorney — around the clock.
For your firm
- Capture every lead. New-client calls are qualified and captured 24/7, so potential matters don't go to voicemail or a competitor.
- Free up your team. Routine matter-status calls are answered automatically, keeping staff and attorneys focused on casework.
- Call records where the team looks. With call logging on, the conversation is written to the attorney's communications log in your practice-management system.
For your clients
- Reach the firm anytime. Calls are answered day or night, not just business hours.
- Fast status updates. Clients get a real update on their matter without waiting for a callback.
- A clear path forward. New callers are guided through intake and connected to the right attorney.
Onboarding is on us
Every law firm that connects Clio gets Concierge Onboarding free, on any plan — normally a one-time USD$699 to USD$1,999 depending on the plan you choose. We configure the Clio connection with you, walk through calendar sharing so every attorney's availability is visible, set up booking blocks if your attorneys want them, and tune your verification, transfer and alert settings to how your firm actually works.
- Clio connection, OAuth and calendar sharing set up with you, not left as a checklist
- Attorney roster, booking blocks and transfer list configured before your first live call
- Verification gates, correctional-call handling and complaint alerts set to your firm's posture