AI Answering Service for Law Firms: Voicemail as Text

An AI answering service for a law firm can mean two things: a bot that talks to callers, or voicemail whose messages AI turns into text. Heilo is the second. When nobody can pick up, your carrier forwards the call to Heilo, the caller hears your greeting and leaves a message, and you get the recording, a transcript and a short summary in the dashboard; Heilo gives no legal advice and books nothing.

Example: someone involved in a car collision calls a law firm at 6:30 PM, after the office has closed. If nobody picks up and there is nowhere to leave a message, they may call the next firm in the search results.

Why Missed Calls Hit Law Firms Harder

• Urgency-driven callers — people calling a lawyer often have a time-sensitive problem (an arrest, an accident, a filing deadline)
• Evenings and weekends — legal matters do not wait for office hours
• The next firm is one click away — a caller who cannot leave a message can simply call the next firm

To estimate what missed calls could cost your firm, use the missed-calls calculator. Compare what a traditional answering service costs in our cost guide.

How Heilo Handles Voicemail for Law Firms

1. Forwarding Unanswered Calls

Heilo does not replace your line. At your carrier you set up forwarding of unanswered calls (and, if you like, calls to a busy line) to your Heilo number; the steps are in our forwarding guide. Calls you answer reach you as before.

2. Your Firm's Greeting

"Hello, this is [firm name]. We cannot take your call right now. Please leave your name, your phone number and a short note on what the matter concerns. We will call you back."

You record the greeting yourself or choose a voice-over, and a greeting schedule can play a different version after the office closes. If you would rather keep case details out of messages, ask in the greeting only for a name, a number and a topic, and go through the rest when you call back. More wording ideas are in the guide to voicemail greetings.

3. What You Get After a Message

Heilo records the message and saves in the dashboard the recording, a transcript in the language the caller spoke, a topic, a short summary with a suggested next step (for example "Call back") and suggested tasks. It pulls out what the caller said, such as a name, what the matter concerns and when to call back. When notifications are on, you receive an SMS with the caller's details, the topic and a link; the full text is in the dashboard. We do not promise a specific delivery time.

Example: in the dashboard you see the topic "Compensation after a car collision", a suggested next step "Call back" and the message text, in which the caller gives a name, a number and the time when you can call back.

Heilo does not judge how urgent a matter is. Your team decides the callback order after reading the message.

What Heilo Does Not Do

Heilo does not talk to the caller, give legal advice, take on cases or book appointments. It plays your firm's greeting and records the message. On Heilo Voicemail, only calls your carrier forwarded reach Heilo; this plan does not record calls you answer.

Who Sees Messages and How Long They Are Kept

In your company's Heilo account, the people you invite see messages according to their role (Owner, Admin, Manager, Member); a Member sees calls on the numbers they have access to. A recording is kept for 365 days by default and then deleted; the transcript stays. When a call has been in the trash for 30 days, its recording, transcript and summary are deleted. No dashboard setting changes these periods.

Heilo uses subprocessors, including Twilio (telephony, a US company), Supabase (database on EU infrastructure), Vercel (hosting) and Google Gemini (transcription and analysis); the full list is in the terms. Heilo gives you the tools to inform the caller (a notice, your own wording, a call label). Your company, as the data controller, provides the legal basis and meets the duty to inform. Your firm assesses its professional-secrecy and privilege obligations itself or with its own adviser. For more on recording customer calls under GDPR, see this guide.

Setup for Law Firms

1. Set up forwarding of unanswered calls at your carrier to your Heilo number — calls reach Heilo only when you cannot answer.
2. Set the greeting with your firm's name: record it yourself or choose a voice-over; a different version can play after hours.
3. Turn on SMS notifications or check messages in the dashboard.
4. Test it: call from another phone, do not answer, and check that the message appears in the dashboard.

See also: How to set up call forwarding | How many customers do missed calls cost you?

How Much Does It Cost?

Heilo Voicemail covers messages after missed calls: the recording, a transcript, a summary and an SMS notification. It is billed monthly per number; prices are net and VAT is added at payment. Each number has a fair-use limit of 500 recorded minutes per month, which shows a notice and blocks nothing. Check your carrier's charges for forwarded calls separately. The service is described on the answering machine page.

If your firm also wants to record calls it answers, there are two higher plans. With Heilo Select you keep your number and add Heilo to chosen calls if your carrier supports conference calling; Heilo records from the moment it joins, and you inform the other party yourself. Heilo Line is a +48 business number from Heilo for each person who takes and makes client calls, ordered after your company is verified by its Polish tax ID (NIP). Inbound and outbound calls are recorded automatically; you start an outbound call with Call via Heilo (+48 numbers only). A new number plays the "Announcement before the call" to the other party by default. You get a transcript, a summary and suggested tasks, and after a two-sided call the call coach shows what went well and what to improve. Once you set up an integration, results go to your CRM through the API, webhooks, Zapier or Make. See the call assistant page and all plans on the pricing page.

FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions

Can Heilo take intake details like a legal receptionist?

Heilo does not hold a conversation. It plays your firm's greeting and records the message, then writes down as text what the caller said: a name, a number and the topic of the matter. You ask for what the caller should say in the greeting.

What about after-hours and weekend calls?

Forwarded calls reach Heilo in the evening and at weekends too, and a greeting schedule can play a different version after the office closes. The message waits in the dashboard, and with notifications on you receive an SMS with the caller's details, the topic and a link.

Does Heilo decide which case is urgent?

No. Heilo saves the topic, a summary and a suggested next step, and your team sets the callback order after reading the message.