A legal answering service takes messages. Workup Agent answers the phone, finishes the intake and logs every call.
Law firms buy a legal or attorney answering service so nobody who calls at 9pm is lost. Workup Agent picks up when your team cannot, on your line or on a number we provision, and greets the same people on your website. It asks your intake questions, verifies what it can, promises a callback and sends your team a finished file within seconds of the call, at three in the morning and on Sundays.
Watch
Insights from a law firm client
A law firm client on what changed after Micronetbd rebuilt intake, matters and reporting.
3:45 on the Micronetbd channel
More videos on this pageAnswering service or Workup Agent
The same job, done differently: one takes a message, the other runs the intake and writes the file.
| Phone answering service | Workup Agent | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it answers | Your phone line | Your phone line (forwarded after four rings, or a number we provision) and your website, by chat or voice |
| What it collects | Name, number, a short message | Who is calling and why, your intake questions in your order, the best number and time for a callback, read back to confirm |
| What you receive | A message to call back | An alert within seconds: contact block, what they need, the questions they asked, the transcript. Then a daily call log |
| When someone asks for a person | Transfers or takes a message | Explains the team is on other calls, takes the full message and promises the callback; transfers only for urgent matters you define |
| Deadlines | Not its job | Flags the file when the clock is the problem, for your team, never for the caller |
| Hours | Contracted hours or 24/7 at a premium | 24/7, the same at 2am as at 2pm |
| Pricing model | Per minute or per call, sold in blocks | Quoted as a flat plan, not per minute or per call |
| Legal advice | Never | Never. The limits are written into the agent and they hold |
Four rings, then a real conversation
Set up per firm with your own number, your greeting, your questions and your rules.
Your line stays yours
Calls ring your desks and apps as they do today. Unanswered after four rings, or after hours, they forward to Workup Agent. Or give out a number we provision and let it answer first.
It answers and listens
A natural voice, your greeting, your firm's name. It asks who is calling and what it is about, and it answers questions from your own knowledge base, not from the open internet.
It logs the call as it goes
The record is written in the first seconds of the call and updated as facts arrive, so a caller who hangs up early is still on file.
Your team hears within seconds
An email with the caller, the reason, the questions and the transcript. Urgent matters can be transferred to a phone you choose; everyone else gets a promised callback.
The day closes with a log
A daily call log lists every call, who needs a person and why, so nothing waits for someone to remember.
Greet, qualify, verify, route, brief
The same agent on every page of your site, by chat or voice in the browser.
Greet
Opens in context, using what the visitor is already looking at, rather than asking what brought them here.
Qualify
Your acceptance criteria, conversationally. It branches on answers and required fields cannot be skipped.
Verify
Confirms the email address, captures consent and flags anything that needs a person now.
Route
Applies your rules, delivers to the owner and pages on urgent.
Brief
Writes the structured file with a human summary on top, so the callback starts from page two.
Speak their language
Holds the conversation in whatever language the caller or visitor opened with.
It answers our own phone
Micronetbd runs Workup Agent on its own main line. Call (609) 435-1960, press 0 or wait, and let it ring past four rings: you will reach the agent, it will take your message, and our team gets the alert while you are still on the call. The same setup, with your number, your questions and your rules, is what a firm gets.
Personal injury, workers compensation, mass tort, employment and immigration questionnaires come out of the box. Your acceptance criteria and your language go on top.
- Answers the phone and the website with the same knowledge and the same rules
- Every call logged with a transcript, written from the first seconds of the call
- Team alert within seconds, daily call log every evening
- Transfers to a person only for the matters you define as urgent
- Built and supported by Micronetbd, a legal technology partner since 2012
An attorney answering service that finishes the intake
Answering the phone is half the job. The other half is the intake: the questions in your order, the acceptance criteria, the verified contact details and the file your team opens in the morning. See how the legal intake software side works, including the side-by-side with a chat-only intake tool.
Legal answering service questions, answered plainly
Is Workup Agent a replacement for a legal answering service?
Yes, for firms that want the call answered, the intake run and the file written rather than a message taken. It answers the phone on your line after a set number of rings or on a number we provision, and it answers your website 24/7. Firms that keep a live answering service for some hours can still forward the rest to Workup Agent.
Does it use my existing phone number?
Yes. Your phone system forwards unanswered or after-hours calls to Workup Agent's number, so nothing changes for callers or for your team when they do pick up. If you prefer, we provision a number that Workup Agent answers first.
What happens when a caller wants to talk to a person?
It explains that the team is on other calls or away, finds out who they wanted and what it is about, takes the best number and time for a callback and reads the number back. Only matters you define as urgent are transferred live to a phone you choose. Every case is logged and your team is alerted.
How is it priced compared with an answering service?
Answering services are usually sold per minute or per call, in blocks, with a premium for nights and weekends. Workup Agent is quoted as a flat plan rather than per call or per minute, so the cost does not rise with a busy month. Ask for the current plans on the walkthrough.
Does it give legal advice or evaluate cases?
No. It never evaluates a case, never tells a claimant what their deadline is and never promises an outcome. It collects what your team needs and flags the file when the clock is the problem.
What does my intake team get?
An alert within seconds of each call and each website conversation: the caller's name, number and company, the reason, the answers in your order, the questions they asked and the transcript, plus a daily log of every call. It arrives by email and, where connected, in your case management or CRM.
Which practice areas does it cover?
Personal injury, workers compensation, mass tort, employment and immigration out of the box, each with its own questionnaire, and your acceptance criteria on top. A new practice area is a questionnaire, not a rebuild.
Can I hear it before booking anything?
Yes. Call (609) 435-1960 and let it ring past four rings, or talk to the assistant in the corner of this page. Then book a walkthrough on workupagent.com.
The generic version, for any business
Receptionist, voice agent and answering service pages for teams outside legal.
AI receptionist
Answers the call, takes the whole message, tells your team within seconds. For any business that loses calls it cannot answer.
AI voice agent
How the conversation works on the phone and in the browser: listen, understand, answer from your knowledge base, capture, hand off.
AI answering service
The answering service that never bills by the minute: four rings, a real conversation, a logged call and a daily log.
Watch: law firms on the record
A law firm client on what changed, and two conversations about running a modern firm.
More on the Micronetbd YouTube channel.
Put Workup Agent on your phone line this week
Thirty minutes on a call. Bring your intake questionnaire and we will show you the phone conversation, the website conversation and the file your team receives.