Solo attorneys lose an estimated $110,000 per year to missed calls — not to bad lawyering, not to better competitors, but to voicemail. That number comes from a consistent finding across multiple 2026 legal technology surveys: the average law firm misses 35% of incoming calls, and 72% of callers who reach voicemail hang up and call the next firm on the list.
For a solo PI attorney handling contingency cases worth $50,000–$200,000 each, one missed call per week at a 20% close rate is a six-figure annual loss. The math is not complicated. The solution has been.
The Receptionist Math Does Not Work for Solo Firms
A full-time legal receptionist costs between $55,800 and $59,700 per year when salary, benefits, and payroll taxes are included (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2026). For a solo attorney billing 30 hours per week, that is a significant fixed cost — and it still leaves evenings, weekends, and lunch hours uncovered.
The calls that come in at 2 PM on a Tuesday are the easy ones. The calls that come in at 11 PM on a Saturday — after a car accident, after an arrest, after a workplace injury — are the ones that determine which attorney gets retained. A human receptionist cannot be in two places at once, and they certainly cannot answer at 2 AM.
What AI Intake Actually Does
Presently answers every call regardless of when it comes in. When a potential client dials, Presently:
- Delivers the non-engagement disclosure before any intake begins
- Runs a structured 12-question intake matched to the practice area (PI, criminal defense, immigration, workers' comp)
- Delivers evidence preservation guidance before the call closes
- Sends a complete intake report — caller name, phone, email, case summary, case value indicator, and urgency flag — to the attorney within 60 seconds of the call ending
- Handles the full intake in English or Spanish natively
The attorney wakes up to a briefed inbox, not a list of missed calls. The caller experienced a professional intake and expects a callback. The window is still open.
The Comparison That Matters
A full-time receptionist at $59,000 per year works 40 hours per week, 50 weeks per year — 2,000 hours of coverage. Presently covers 8,760 hours per year at $799 per month. The math works even before counting a single recovered case.
For a solo PI attorney in Houston averaging $75,000 per contingency fee, recovering one additional after-hours case per quarter from calls that would have gone to voicemail covers the annual cost of Presently in 30 days.
FAQ
What practice areas does Presently handle intake for? Presently handles intake for personal injury, criminal defense, immigration, workers' compensation, family law, and general civil matters. The intake sequence adapts to the case type based on what the caller describes. PI calls get the 12-question PI sequence; criminal defense calls prioritize charges, jurisdiction, and bail status.
Does Presently work after hours and on weekends? Yes. Presently operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with no supervision required. There are no after-hours surcharges, no overtime, and no calls that go to voicemail because the shift ended.
How quickly does the attorney receive the intake report? Within 60 seconds of the call ending. The report includes the caller's name, callback number, email, case summary, urgency level, and an internal case value indicator. The attorney reviews it before returning the call — never cold.
What if a caller speaks Spanish? Presently conducts the full intake in Spanish natively — not via translation. For attorneys in Texas, Florida, and California where Hispanic clients represent 20–40% of PI volume, bilingual intake is not optional. Presently answers in whichever language the caller speaks.
Solo attorneys are not losing cases because they are bad lawyers. They are losing them because the phone rang at 11 PM and no one answered. Presently answers.