A relative calls in the middle of the night: someone has just been arrested. Your receptionist first gives the legal aid emergency line, records the place, the time and the person, then alerts your lawyer on call. Nothing is said about what to tell the police.
$49 CAD / month · 50 Standard calls · 1 local number · no setup fee · no contract. Free trial: 7 days, 20 answered calls, no card.
Zenvox is an AI receptionist for criminal defence lawyers across Canada. She answers in English and French, day and night: when someone is in custody, she first gives the legal aid emergency line, then records the place, the time and the person, and alerts your lawyer on call. She says nothing about what to tell the police. The Legal & accounting base costs $49 CAD a month, with 50 Standard calls included, one local number, no setup fee and no contract. The free trial runs for 7 days and covers up to 20 answered calls, with no card.
The text you get
Custody — relative called at 1:40 a.m. Son arrested, downtown station since midnight. Legal aid emergency line given. Texting allowed. Callback requested at opening.
When the firm opens, the lawyer reads the intake: the son, the station, the time of arrest, no known court date, texting allowed, and a note that the legal aid emergency line was given and no advice was offered.
Sunday, 1:40 a.m. The firm is closed and does not take on-call work overnight. A mother calls: her son has been arrested and is at the station.
ReceptionistHello, let me take your name and a number to reach you. Is it safe to text you at this number?
CallerYes. My son was just arrested, he's at the station. What should he tell them?
ReceptionistI cannot advise you on that. What can help him right now: legal aid's emergency service answers day and night, free of charge, and the police must give him the number or dial it for him. I will text you that number.
CallerAll right. He has been at the downtown station since midnight.
ReceptionistI am recording the place and the time. What is his name, and were you given a court date? The lawyer will call you back as soon as the firm opens.
She first gives the legal aid emergency line, free and open day and night, then records the person's name, the place, the time of arrest and who is calling. The alert goes to your lawyer on call if you take on-call work.
Released with an appearance notice or a summons, the person calls. She records the date and courthouse exactly as written, and the conditions as read out. She does not interpret them.
She records the person's name and the date the police proposed, flags the call and alerts the lawyer. She says nothing about what to say or do in the meantime.
She first asks whether it is safe to call back or text that number, then takes the complainant's name for your conflict check, without asking for the story.
She records the date of the incident and the court date shown on the document, and books the consultation. She takes no view on the driving licence or on what comes next.
She verifies identity before any information, captures the reason and the deadline, and passes it to the lawyer responsible. She discusses no file with a relative without the authorization you have set.
What she does when a call comes at the moment of an arrest, then when a document arrives with a court date, and what she does not say.
She first gives the legal aid emergency line to the person in custody or their relative.
That is the default referral: help exists right away, even when the firm is closed.
She records the person’s name, the place, the time of arrest and who is calling.
Those are the four facts the lawyer on call needs to act.
She alerts your lawyer on call if you take on-call work yourself.
The on-call rule is the one you wrote; the referral then stays a fallback.
She records the date and courthouse exactly as written on the appearance notice or summons.
No date is recounted, no appearance rule is stated.
She records the release conditions as the caller reads them.
She does not interpret them or say whether they can change.
A police request for an interview raises the call, with the date proposed.
She says nothing about what to say or do in the meantime.
She asks whether it is safe to call back or text that number before any other question.
On a domestic file, the phone is sometimes shared.
She takes the complainant’s and any co-accused’s names for your conflict check.
The names come before any account of events; you decide.
She opens an intake with the nature of the charge in a few words, with no account of events.
An accused person’s account is the most sensitive data: it waits for the consultation.
She books the consultation into your windows after saying whether it is paid.
The appointment waits until the names for the conflict check are recorded.
She verifies a current client’s identity before discussing a hearing date.
No file is discussed with a relative without the authorization you have set.
She leaves a priority message when a prosecutor or a court office calls.
File, reason and deadline are recorded, with nothing disclosed.
Each of these options is added separately, when it is useful to you.
With Documents and deadlines, hearing dates and documents received stay visible with their internal deadline.
Follow-ups concern documents owed by a retained client, not a person who did not follow up. Documents and deadlines
With Preparation and coordination, disclosure and the other parties are filed by source.
Anything contradictory is flagged for your review, under your authorization. Preparation and coordination
She answers from your firm’s calls and files that you have access to. A question about an option applies only if you have switched it on.
The questionWhich overnight calls were about someone in custody?
She retrieves the person, the place, the time and the caller, and says whether the legal aid emergency line was given. She does not comment on the charge.
Which court dates were recorded since Monday?
She retrieves the dates and courthouses as they were read out. She calculates no deadline.
Which documents does a retained client still owe?
Add-onWith Documents and deadlines: the documents expected and their internal deadline. Without the option, she does not track documents.
Whether you take custody calls yourself, who to alert and how, or whether the referral to the legal aid emergency line is enough; the districts you cover, the consultation mode, paid or not, and your windows. You change it all from the app.
For someone in custody: the legal aid emergency line first, then the place, the time and the person. For a document received: the date and courthouse as written. In every case: the safe callback, and the complainant's and co-accused's names before the story.
Custody becomes an immediate alert to your lawyer on call. Everything else becomes a written intake with the dates in plain sight, and the consultation goes into your windows after the conflict check.
A receptionist who answers at night and on weekends, points a person in custody to the help available right now, captures dated facts and alerts your lawyer on call. No setup fee, and you keep your number.
She says nothing about what to say or not say to the police.
This is included in your base plan. She answers using the calls, requests and business information you are allowed to access.
Talk to your receptionistA question you can ask
Which overnight calls were about someone in custody?
She retrieves the person, the place, the time and the caller, and says whether the legal aid emergency line was given. She does not comment on the charge.
Beyond the base plan. Each one is added on purpose, separately from the base. None is switched on unless you choose it.
You can add a channel so she can continue the conversation with your customers. Any action she takes follows the same rules and the options you have chosen.
Optional customer channel
Text the callback time or a useful number, only to a caller who has confirmed it is safe.
The transactional messages provided by your base plan and your own questions to the receptionist remain included.
Check the actions supported, connection requirements and how to work when your software cannot perform the requested action.
Zenvox reads a matter's current stage in Clio and logs each change separately. A custody alert does not go through Clio: it goes straight to your lawyer on call.
In criminal defence, the phone rings when someone has just been arrested or detained, and it is often not the person who calls: it is a mother, a partner, a friend, at night or on the weekend. The next call comes with a document in hand — an appearance notice, a summons, release conditions — and a court date coming up.
In Quebec, a person who is arrested or detained can speak to a lawyer at legal aid's emergency service, 24 hours a day, free whatever their income; if they do not have the number, police must give it to them or dial it for them (Éducaloi). By default, your receptionist gives that line first to the person in custody or their relative; in another province, you enter the legal aid or duty counsel line that applies. If your firm takes on-call work itself, you say so in your instructions: the alert then goes to your lawyer on call, and the referral stays a fallback.
She says nothing about what to say or not say to the police, takes no view on chances or sentence, and calculates no deadline. She asks whether it is safe to text or leave a message, takes the complainant's and any co-accused's names before the story, for your conflict check, and records the court date and courthouse exactly as written.
The other lines of work in this section run on the same engine, with their own requests and their own rules.
AI receptionist for law and accounting firms in CanadaPractices: screening calls without losing the fileBy default, she first gives the legal aid emergency line: in Quebec, a lawyer answers 24 hours a day, anywhere in the province, free whatever the person's income, at 1-800-842-2213 (Éducaloi); in another province, the legal aid or duty counsel line you enter. Then she records the place, the time and the person, and alerts your lawyer on call if you take on-call work.
Yes. You say so in your instructions: the alert then goes to your lawyer on call, by text or by call, and the referral to legal aid stays a fallback if no one answers. The default exists so that a person in custody gets help right away, even when the firm is closed.
No. She says so plainly, points to the help available right now and passes the request to you. Advising a person on their situation is reserved to the lawyer.
For your conflict-of-interest check, before the story. In criminal matters she also asks for any co-accused's names. She captures the names; you decide.
She first asks whether it is safe to call back or text that number, because the caller sometimes shares the phone. Until that is confirmed, she leaves no trace: no text, no voicemail.
She does not accept them. The person in custody can reach legal aid's emergency line, and a relative can call your line on their behalf.
She announces the recording at the start of every call, discusses nothing with an unidentified third party, records only what you have authorized and takes no account of the events over the phone. The record stays accessible to the people you authorize.
Start your free trial with your email. Your website can help prepare your business information, but it is optional. Confirm the facts, choose a first task and test your receptionist. You can try options too, starting with the ones you need.
Criminal defence lawyers
