01The first written contact: what it can take off the desk
Most first contacts with a law firm are practical, not legal. Which areas do you practise, are you taking new clients, do you work in English, can I see someone on Thursday, where is the office. A firm can write those answers once and keep them current, and an assistant on the website or in a message inbox can give them at 22:00 and book a consultation into the calendar the lawyer already uses. It also collects the minimum a human needs to call back: a name, a contact, the area of law and whether a hearing or a deadline is close. That last question matters, because it lets the assistant flag urgency to a person instead of judging it itself.
- Office hours, location, languages, practice areas and how a first consultation works
- Booking into the real calendar, never a second one that someone reconciles by hand
- A short intake: name, contact, area of law, and whether a deadline or hearing is close
- Urgent messages go straight to a person, with the firm's phone number
02What it must never do
Legal advice, a view on how strong a case is, a fee, a promise of representation. Each one belongs to the lawyer, and the Romanian lawyer's code of ethics says why. A lawyer must inform the client honestly about the chances of winning or losing (art. 14), may take only matters within their competence (art. 15), cannot act where one client's interests conflict with another's (art. 12), and is free to accept or refuse a client without giving reasons (art. 22). An assistant that says 'we can definitely take this' or 'you will probably win' has made a decision the lawyer has not. Fees work the same way: art. 24 requires the lawyer to explain them clearly to the client, and art. 20(6) says a lawyer's communications cannot contain the fees charged. Whether a chat answer counts as a public communication is a question for your bar, so the safe default is to send fee questions to a person. We quote the Code approved by UNBR Decision 268 of 17 June 2017, in force from 1 January 2018, in the version we read; check the current text with your bar.
- No legal advice and no opinion on the chances of a case (art. 14)
- No accepting a client: a person checks for conflicts of interest first (art. 12, art. 22)
- No fees quoted in chat unless your bar confirms it is allowed (art. 20, art. 24)
- Anything about a deadline or a hearing goes to a person at once
03Confidentiality starts at the first message
Art. 11 of the Code is clear about scope. Professional secrecy covers information of any kind exchanged with the client, including the client's name, and the duty starts with preliminary telephone, electronic or postal communications with a prospective client, before any contract exists (art. 11(5)). The lawyer must also make sure staff and anyone else who collaborates in the practice respect the secret (art. 11(8)). A chat widget is an electronic communication, and if the model runs on a vendor's servers, that vendor handles what visitors type. Which vendors count as collaborators, where transcripts are stored and who can read them are decisions for the firm and its bar, not for the company selling the software. The practical minimum is to ask for as little as possible, limit who reads transcripts, and say at the start that the visitor is writing to an AI. Art. 50(1) of the EU AI Act asks providers to design such systems so people are informed of that, unless it is obvious.
- Secrecy covers client names and any information exchanged, from the first electronic message (art. 11(2), 11(5))
- The lawyer answers for staff and collaborators too (art. 11(8)): ask your bar how that applies to an AI vendor
- Ask for the minimum, limit who reads transcripts, and say at the start that it is an AI
04Where PROOF48 is the wrong choice
We have not built an AI receptionist for a law firm, and our AI assistant page lists legal advice as not a good fit. PROOF48's AUTOMATE plan, at 2,997 EUR a month, includes a website chatbot that qualifies and books, DM and email auto-responders, and booking automation with a CRM. It does not cover phone calls or WhatsApp; a standalone WhatsApp or voice assistant is a custom build, priced on request. It is also the wrong purchase for a small firm with a handful of enquiries a week. AUTOMATE includes the whole GROWTH package below it, so a contact form with a clear auto-reply, or a person answering the phone for two hours a day, may serve you better, and we would say so in the first reply.
- No law firm in our portfolio, and no legal advice in anything we build
- AUTOMATE covers website chat, DMs, email and booking, not phone or WhatsApp
- A few enquiries a week: a good form and a prompt human reply cost less
What we have built, and what we have not
None of the eight builds at /work is an AI receptionist for a law firm, and we will not borrow one to suggest otherwise. The AI assistant page describes the assistant we run for PROOF48's own client communication, which hands over to the team when a decision is needed. The closest published build is SCP Shine & Style, where the site's booking flow points at the salon's live booking platform. A real calendar behind the assistant is the part that has to exist first.
See the build: SCP Shine & StyleQuestions, answered
Can an AI receptionist tell a client whether they have a case?
No. Assessing the chances of a case is the lawyer's duty under the Code of Ethics (art. 14), and an assistant that guesses puts the firm's name behind the guess. It can collect the contact details and the area of law so the lawyer can call back.
Does the chat have to say that it is an AI?
Art. 50(1) of the EU AI Act asks providers to design AI systems that interact with people so that those people are informed, unless it is obvious from the context. Saying so at the start is also plain good practice, and your lawyer can confirm how the rule applies to your firm.
Can PROOF48 answer my firm's phone calls with AI?
Not as part of a plan. AUTOMATE covers website chat, DM, email and booking. A voice assistant is a custom build, priced on request, and for a law firm the first step is to check with your bar what it allows.
Where PROOF48 fits
An AI receptionist is useful at the written front door of a law firm: hours, practice areas, first-consultation booking and a minimal intake. Advice, views on a case, fees and accepting a client stay with the lawyer, and confidentiality applies from the first message. PROOF48's AUTOMATE plan, at 2,997 EUR a month, builds the chat and booking side, and we say so plainly when a person or a simple form fits better.
Cosmin Tiu · Founder, PROOF48
Cosmin has worked in online marketing and software development since 2018, and has built with AI every day since January 2023. He still writes code from scratch daily, in Python, React, Rust and C#. PROOF48 ships business websites in 48 hours and invoices afterwards, so every opinion on this blog was paid for in real builds, not in theory.