# Build an After-Hours Intake Voice Agent for a Law Firm (ElevenLabs) > Build an AI intake agent that answers a law firm's calls after hours, says it's AI and not a lawyer, takes callback details and never gives legal advice. Source: https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/law-firm-after-hours-intake-voice-agent · Updated 2026-10-10 · Free from Stepthrough (https://learn.ynteractive.com) ## Practice it step by step [Start the free practice](https://learn.ynteractive.com/modules/law-after-hours-intake) You do every step yourself in a practice copy of ElevenLabs Agents. It checks your work as you go, and “Do it for me” finishes any step you get stuck on. Free, about 9 minutes, and nothing touches your real accounts. [Open full screen](https://learn.ynteractive.com/modules/law-after-hours-intake) Free · Live now · [AI Automation for Law Firms](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/industry/law-firms) · [ElevenLabs Agents](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/tool/elevenlabs-agents) · ElevenLabs · ~9 min · 29 steps · Beginner Updated October 10, 2026. Built against the tool’s current screens and checked step by step. [How we check this lesson](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/about#how-we-check) A personal injury call at 10 PM usually goes to voicemail, and the caller often tries the next firm on the list. In this free, interactive lesson you build an after-hours intake [voice agent](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/voice-agent) in [ElevenLabs Agents](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/tool/elevenlabs-agents) for a small personal injury firm. It answers, says it is an AI and not a lawyer, asks a few questions, takes the details your intake team needs for a callback and a [conflict check](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/conflict-check), and politely refuses to give legal advice. Then you test-call it in the browser and read the transcript. You practice on a copy of the ElevenAgents dashboard, so no account is needed and no real call is made. ## At a glance | Question | Answer | | --- | --- | | What you build | Build an after-hours intake agent for a small personal injury firm in ElevenLabs: it says it's AI and not a lawyer, takes the details for a callback and the conflict check, and never gives legal advice. | | Tools | ElevenLabs Agents | | Time | About 9 minutes, 29 steps in 5 parts | | Level | Beginner, no coding needed | | Cost | Free | | Ways to learn it | [Practice it step by step](https://learn.ynteractive.com/modules/law-after-hours-intake) | ### The 5 parts, in short 1. Create the agent: Open Agents, Start a new agent, Choose Blank Agent, Name the agent, and 1 more step. 2. Tell it who it is: Open the system prompt, Write the system prompt, Open the first message, Write the greeting. 3. Pick a voice and a model: Open the voice, Change the voice, Search the library, Listen first, and 5 more steps. 4. Publish and test-call it: Publish your changes, Confirm, Open Preview, Start the test call, and 4 more steps. 5. Read the transcript: Open Conversations, Open the call, Read the transcript. **Start here first:** [Your First Voice Agent in ElevenLabs: An After-Hours Receptionist](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/elevenlabs-voice-agent-tutorial-after-hours-receptionist). This Law Firms version follows the same build with its own example business, Lindenwood Injury Law. **Part of:** [AI for Law Firms](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/paths/ai-for-law-firms) (step 2 of 3). Next up: [Jotform AI Agents: An Agent That Answers Client Questions](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/jotform-ai-agent-client-questions) ## The example: a rear-end collision on the way home Lindenwood Injury Law is a made-up personal injury firm open Monday to Friday, 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM. Its agent is called Morgan. The test caller, Alana Brooks, was rear-ended on her way home, has a sore neck, and has already had a call from the other driver's insurance company. She asks Morgan whether she should talk to them, and later whether she has a case. Both questions ask for legal advice, and that is the point of the test. Morgan hands the insurance question to the intake specialist, takes her name, number, the other driver's name and whether she already has a lawyer, reads the number back, and marks the call urgent because an insurer is already involved. Asked whether she has a case, it says it is not a lawyer, an attorney will go over that, and the call doesn't make the firm her lawyer. ## Who this lesson is for This is for attorneys, office managers, intake staff and marketing people at small firms that lose calls after hours, and for anyone curious how an AI phone agent is set up. It takes about nine minutes. It is the fifth module in the AI [Automation](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/automation) for Law Firms block, and a law-firm version of the AI Voice Agents module "Your first voice agent in ElevenLabs", which uses the same steps for a plumbing company. ## What you do, step by step - In ElevenAgents, open Agents, click the + next to Agents and choose Blank Agent. Name it Lindenwood After-Hours Intake and click Create agent. - Replace the default system prompt ("You are a helpful assistant.") with Morgan's job: send anyone in danger to 911, ask what happened in a sentence or two, ask about injuries, a doctor and whether they already have a lawyer, take a name and number plus the other party's name, flag deadlines and insurance contact as urgent, and promise a callback the next business morning. - Write the first message: the firm's name, that Morgan is an AI assistant, not a lawyer, can't give legal advice, and that the call may be recorded. - Open the Primary voice, search the voice library for calm, listen to a sample, then point at it and click Use. Then click the model under LLM, click the Primary model to open the list, and pick a fast one such as [Gemini](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/tool/gemini) 3.5 Flash. - Click Publish, review the changes and publish. Open Preview, click the phone button and play the caller in three turns. Hang up, open Conversations under Monitor, open the call and read the Overview summary and the Transcription. ## The rules that keep an intake agent safe The system prompt does most of the work. Morgan never gives legal advice, never says whether someone has a case, never guesses what a case is worth, and never tells a caller what to say to an insurance company. It keeps answers to one or two sentences, like a real phone call, and it asks for only a few details: intake calls can carry confidential information, and the less a phone agent collects, the less there is to protect. The other party's name is collected for one reason: your conflict check. Deciding whether the firm can take the matter stays with the firm. Test the refusals on purpose, as the lesson does, before any real client ever calls. ## Ethics, disclosure and recording Callers should always be told they are talking to AI, and ElevenLabs' disclosure requirements say so too. Call-recording consent rules vary by state; some require every party's consent. Before a real firm puts an agent like this on its line, have an attorney review the prompt and the greeting against your state bar's rules on confidentiality, advertising and client intake, and follow your firm's AI policy. The ABA's Formal Opinion 512 (2024) covers lawyers' duties when using generative AI. This lesson is not legal advice. ## What it costs From ElevenLabs' pricing page: the Free plan includes 15 call minutes a month, Starter is $6 a month for 75 minutes, and Creator is $22 a month for 275 minutes, with extra minutes at $0.08. LLM use is billed on top at cost and varies by model, and a phone provider such as Twilio bills separately once you connect a real number. In this lesson the agent can't pass the message on yet, so someone would have to read Conversations every morning; the next AI Voice Agents modules connect a phone number and let the agent take actions. ## Try it yourself, free Reading the steps is a start. Doing them is how it sticks. The interactive module walks you through every click in a practice copy of ElevenLabs Agents, checks each step, and never touches your real accounts. [Start “Build an After-Hours Intake Voice Agent for a Law Firm (ElevenLabs)”](https://learn.ynteractive.com/modules/law-after-hours-intake) ## Step by step: Build an After-Hours Intake Voice Agent for a Law Firm (ElevenLabs) All 29 steps of the interactive module, in order. In the module you watch each one, then do it yourself in a practice copy that checks your work. ### 1. Create the agent 1. **Open Agents.** You are in the **ElevenAgents** dashboard. In the left menu, click **Agents**. A voice agent is an AI that answers the phone and talks with callers in a natural voice. You're setting one up for Lindenwood Injury Law, a small personal injury firm, to take new-client calls after the office closes. In the left menu, click Agents. 2. **Start a new agent.** There are no agents yet. In the left menu, click the **+** next to **Agents**. There are no agents here yet. In the left menu, click the plus button next to Agents. 3. **Choose Blank Agent.** ElevenLabs asks what type of agent you want. Click **Blank Agent**. You can start from a template, and Browse Templates even has receptionist agents. For your first one, start blank, so you see what every setting does. 4. **Name the agent.** Type the agent name: **Lindenwood After-Hours Intake** Give it a name you will recognize later. 5. **Create it.** Click **Create agent**. ### 2. Tell it who it is 6. **Open the system prompt.** Your agent opens on the **Agent** page. Click inside the **System prompt** box. Your agent opens on the Agent page. The system prompt is the agent's job description: who it is, what it does, and the rules it has to follow on every call. Right now it just says, you are a helpful assistant. 7. **Write the system prompt.** Paste in the prompt to replace it with Morgan’s job: when to send callers to 911, the few details to collect, the office hours and the rules. Replace it with the real job. It tells Morgan to send anyone in danger to 911, to ask only a few questions, and to take the other side's name for your conflict check. And the most important rule: never give legal advice, and never say whether someone has a case or what it's worth. ```text You are Morgan, the after-hours intake assistant for Lindenwood Injury Law, a small personal injury firm. You are an AI assistant, not a lawyer, and you say so if anyone asks. Your job: - If anyone is hurt right now or in danger, tell them to hang up and call 911 first. - Ask what happened, when and where, in a sentence or two. Don't ask for more detail than that. - Ask whether they were hurt, whether they have seen a doctor, and whether they already have a lawyer for this. - Take their name and phone number, and the name of the other driver or business involved, for the firm's conflict check. Read the number back. - If they mention a deadline, a court date, or that an insurance company has contacted them, mark the call urgent. - Tell them an intake specialist will call back the next business morning. Office hours: Monday to Friday 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM. Rules: - Keep answers short: one or two sentences, like a real phone call. - Never give legal advice, say whether they have a case, or guess what a case is worth. Say an attorney will go over that. - Don't tell callers what to say to an insurance company. Say the intake specialist will go over that on the callback. - Make clear that this call does not make the firm their lawyer. - Be calm and kind. People often call right after something frightening. ``` 8. **Open the first message.** Below it, click inside the **First message** box. Next, the first message. It's the very first thing callers hear, so it sets the tone and tells them they reached the right place. 9. **Write the greeting.** Paste in the message. It names the firm, says Morgan is an **AI assistant** and not a lawyer, and that the call may be recorded. Callers should always be told they're talking to AI, and ElevenLabs requires it too. That's the Disclosure Requirements link up here. For a law firm, the greeting also says Morgan isn't a lawyer and can't give legal advice, so nobody mistakes the call for advice. Recording and consent rules vary by state, so check yours. ```text Hi, thanks for calling Lindenwood Injury Law. I'm Morgan, the after-hours AI assistant. I'm not a lawyer and can't give legal advice, and this call may be recorded. How can I help you tonight? ``` ### 3. Pick a voice and a model 10. **Open the voice.** On the right, under **Voices**, click the **Primary** voice. Now the voice. On the right, under Voices, click the one marked Primary. 11. **Change the voice.** The **Agent voice** panel opens. Click the **Voice** row to pick a different one. The Agent voice panel opens. The sliders fine-tune how it speaks, but the defaults are fine. 12. **Search the library.** In **Select a voice**, type **calm** in the search box. People who call a law firm late at night are often shaken up, so you want someone calm. Search the library for calm. 13. **Listen first.** Click the **play** button next to **Dana - Calm and Clear** to hear a sample. Always listen before you choose. 14. **Use Dana.** Clear and unhurried. Next to **Dana - Calm and Clear**, click **Use**. Clear and unhurried. Next to Dana, click Use. 15. **Close the panel.** Dana is now the voice. Close the panel with the **X**. Dana is now the agent's voice. Close the panel. 16. **Open the LLM.** Under **LLM**, click the model. The LLM is the brain that decides what Morgan says. Under LLM, click the model. 17. **Open the model list.** The **LLM** panel opens. Click the model marked **Primary** to see the choices. The LLM panel opens. 18. **Pick a fast model.** Click **Gemini 3.5 Flash**. On a phone call, speed matters most. A big model thinks longer, and the caller hears the pause. LLM use is also charged on top of your call minutes. Stick with a fast Flash model. 5 Flash. ### 4. Publish and test-call it 19. **Publish your changes.** The **Draft** chip means you have unpublished changes. Click **Publish**. See the Draft label at the top? Your changes aren't live yet. 20. **Confirm.** Check the changes, then click **Publish**. It shows what changed since the last version. You can add a short description, so you know later what you changed. 21. **Open Preview.** Click **Preview** to talk to your agent in the browser. Time to hear it. You can talk to your agent right in the browser, no phone number needed. 22. **Start the test call.** Click the round **phone** button under the orb. On the real site, your browser asks to use your microphone the first time. Allow it. 23. **Describe what happened.** Morgan answers with the greeting. Click **Say it** to tell Morgan about the accident and ask about the insurance call. Morgan answers with your greeting: AI, not a lawyer, and the call may be recorded. Now play the caller, and slip in a question that asks for advice. In the real test you just talk. Here, click Say it. 24. **Give your details.** Morgan doesn’t answer the insurance question and asks for your details. Click **Say it**. It didn't tell you what to say to the insurer. That would be legal advice, so it passed the question to the intake specialist. Then it asked for your details and whether you already have a lawyer, just like the prompt said. 25. **Ask if you have a case.** Morgan reads your number back and marks the call urgent. Click **Say it** to ask if you have a case, and the office hours. It read the number back, and because the insurer already called, it marked the call urgent. Now ask the question every firm gets: do I have a case? 26. **Hang up.** Morgan won’t judge the case, says the firm isn’t your lawyer yet, and gives the hours. Click the red button to **end the call**. No opinion on the case, a clear line that the firm isn't your lawyer yet, and the right hours. Test passed. ### 5. Read the transcript 27. **Open Conversations.** In the left menu, under **Monitor**, click **Conversations**. Every call is saved, including tests. In the left menu, under Monitor, click Conversations. 28. **Open the call.** Click the call at the top of the list. Your test call is at the top. 29. **Read the transcript.** The **Overview** shows a summary. Click the **Transcription** tab. The Overview gives a short summary with the caller's details and the other driver's name. Right now this is where your intake team would find the message, so don't put it on a real line until you've connected a phone number and an alert. ## Frequently asked questions **Can an AI voice agent answer a law firm's phones after hours?** Yes, for intake. An ElevenLabs agent can answer, take a few details and promise a callback. Keep it to intake: it should say it is AI and not a lawyer, and never give legal advice or opinions about a case. **How do I stop the agent from giving legal advice?** Say so in the system prompt, with the exact situations: whether someone has a case, what it is worth, what to say to an insurer. Then test those questions in Preview before it takes real calls, and read the transcripts. **Does the caller have to be told they're talking to AI?** Tell them in the first message. ElevenLabs requires AI disclosure, and a clear greeting avoids confusion. Also say the call may be recorded, and check your state's recording consent rules. **What details should an after-hours intake agent collect?** Only what the callback needs: name, phone number, a sentence on what happened and when, the other party's name for the conflict check, whether they already have a lawyer, and any deadline or insurer contact. **Is this lesson free?** Yes. Stepthrough is completely free and the practice copy needs no ElevenLabs account. Building the agent for real starts on ElevenLabs' free plan, with 15 call minutes a month. [Start this module free](https://learn.ynteractive.com/modules/law-after-hours-intake) - Previous in AI Automation for Law Firms: [Reply Faster to a Client Asking for a Case Update: ChatGPT for Small Law Firms](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/chatgpt-client-case-update-email-law-firm) - Next in AI Automation for Law Firms: [Jotform AI Agents: An Agent That Answers Client Questions](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/jotform-ai-agent-client-questions) ## More in AI Automation for Law Firms - [Turn a Client Intake Call into Next Steps and a Conflict-Check List (Law Firms)](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/chatgpt-client-intake-call-summary-law-firm): Turn a new-client intake call into a summary, the engagement next steps with owners and dates, the names for your conflict check, and a follow-up email to the… [All 4 modules in AI Automation for Law Firms](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/industry/law-firms) ## More ElevenLabs Agents tutorials - [Give Your Voice Agent Knowledge: A Price List and FAQ in ElevenLabs](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/elevenlabs-agent-knowledge-base-price-list-faq): Upload a plumbing company's price list and FAQ to your ElevenLabs agent's knowledge base, tell it to answer only from them, and test it with three tricky questions… - [Build a Coverage FAQ Voice Agent for an Insurance Agency (ElevenLabs Knowledge Base)](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/insurance-agency-coverage-faq-voice-agent-elevenlabs): Give an insurance agency's after-hours ElevenLabs agent a coverage guide and FAQ, tell it to explain coverage only in general terms, and test it on flood, a claims… ## Terms in this lesson Plain-English definitions, each with an example from a free lesson. [Voice agent](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/voice-agent) · [Conflict check](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/conflict-check) · [Automation](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/automation) · [System prompt (system message)](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/system-prompt) · [Prompt](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/prompt) · [Large language model (LLM)](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/large-language-model) [The full AI glossary](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary) ## Browse related tutorials [AI for Law Firms (4)](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/industry/law-firms) · [ElevenLabs Agents tutorials (4)](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/tool/elevenlabs-agents)