AI transcripts & summaries: How small savings add up to big wins at law firms
Lawyers are busier than ever. From juggling casework, client service, communications and relentless admin, legal teams are stretched thin. With hiring also a challenge, many law firm owners are looking for smarter ways to get more done with the same resources.
There’s no silver bullet. But in a world of compounding tasks, small wins (a.k.a micro-efficiencies) can make a real difference.
One area ripe for improvement?
Note-taking during calls, meetings, and video conferences. It’s time-consuming, error-prone, and often ends up buried in a notepad (or worse, never written down at all!).
But what if every call could be recorded (with disclosure), transcribed, and summarised? And what if those notes could be saved directly to the right matter in your practice management system?
With tools like VXT, that workflow is not only possible, it’s already saving law firms hours every week.
In this article, we’ll explore how AI transcripts and summaries work, why lawyers are ditching handwritten notes, and how forward-thinking firms are using these tools to win back their time.
Note-taking = Admin overload
Ever spent hours going back and forth with a client who insists you gave advice you know you didn’t?
Or found yourself thinking, “Wait… what exactly did they say again?”
Lawyers rely on accurate records of client conversations. Too often though, those records are incomplete, scattered, or missing altogether.
One missed detail can mean hours retracing your steps, searching for that one scribbled note from last Tuesday’s call.
Lawyers spend hours on calls, but the paperwork that follows can be brutal. Without a way to keep track of file notes on calls, lawyers can be stuck:
- Frantically taking notes instead of staying present on calls
- Writing up file notes from memory (or losing them completely)
- Scrambling to recall or clarify details days later
That’s where transcription and summary tools come in. By automating the post-call paperwork and integrating directly with your legal software, you can get back valuable time each week and focus on the conversation at hand, knowing the conversation will be saved and available to listen back to later.
What are transcripts and summaries?
What is an AI call transcript?
Ever taken notes during a call, only to look back later and wonder what on earth you wrote? AI transcription lets you skip the scribbling entirely.
AI phone call transcription software converts your recorded calls (and voicemails) to text. It’s exactly what it sounds like: a written record of your conversation.
Instead of scribbling down dates, names and details during a client call, you focus on the conversation knowing every word will be captured. Later, when you’re prepping for court or drafting an agreement, the full transcript is right there.
One tool law firms are turning to for this is VXT (the only phone system built specifically for law firms).
With VXT, transcripts can be generated after each call and saved directly to the right matter in your practice management system (PMS). That means no manual entry, fewer mistakes, and no more handwritten notes buried under mounds of paperwork.
What is an AI call summary?
AI takes transcription one step further by generating concise, structured summaries of your calls. If a 5-minute check-in with a client turns into a 30-minute deep dive (we’ve all been there), a summary gives you the highlights in seconds.
AI-generated summaries can also formatted to match your firm’s documentation style. With tools like VXT, the prompts that guide the AI summaries can be tailored to your firm’s needs: action items, bullet points, formal case briefs.
Whether you’re recapping a meeting or following up with a client, AI call summaries save you the pain of reviewing lengthy transcripts.
Three reasons to use AI transcripts and summaries at your law firm
AI-powered transcripts and summaries help law firms reduce risk, reclaim time, and stay organised. Here’s how:
1. Resolve disputes with confidence
After a call, notes might end up on a legal pad, in a Word document, or (let’s be honest) lost entirely. This creates unnecessary risk and a tough time proving what was said. With transcripts saved to your PMS, you have a clear record of every conversation.
“One time, a client insisted I had given them advice that I knew I hadn’t. I pulled up the transcript and proved exactly what was said. That single instance saved me from a major liability claim and thousands of dollars.” — Stuart Ruddell, Director of JBM Associates & Limited
Accurate records of your conversations help resolve disputes quickly and protect your firm from malpractice claims.
2. Save 5-10 minutes on every call and hours on extra admin
Note-taking during a call is distracting. Writing notes afterwards is tedious and can lead to important details being missed or forgotten.
AI transcripts and summaries mean lawyers can skip manual note-taking, get instant summaries with key actions saved straight to their legal software, and can focus on high-value work instead of paperwork.
3. Automatically save your AI transcript and summary to your PMS
Most AI transcription tools aren’t built for legal. They don’t handle phone calls or integrate with your PMS, leaving you copying, pasting, or worse…losing notes.
Unlike generic AI note-taking apps, VXT is a phone system built for law firms. VXT can transcribe calls (and voicemails), summarise them, and lets you file them to the right matter in your PMS. It is integrated with 15+ PMS platforms, so your team stays aligned and your notes stay accessible.
If your PMS is your single source of truth, you can log calls, recordings and texts all in one. This keeps your whole team aligned and ensures your clients don’t have to repeat themselves.
How AI tools can work together to save time
The benefits of AI don’t just stop at transcribing and summarising calls. When used together, AI tools help lawyers save time, boost productivity, and cut down on admin stress
When used with AI assistants (think of them like digital paralegals), you can take the data from your transcripts and summaries and do even more like:
- Draft emails and documents
- Extract key insights from meetings or calls
- Generate action items instantly
Whether built into your PMS, like Archie AI in Smokeball, or available as standalone or third-party tools, AI assistants help law firms get more done, without sacrificing quality.
How these tools work in sync
Having a transcript in your PMS isn’t just about record-keeping, it’s the foundation for smarter automation. With the right workflow, transcripts feed directly into your AI assistant, turning raw call data into usable legal outputs.
Here’s how it works:
- Client calls the firm → VXT records and transcribes the call.
- Transcript is saved to your PMS → no manual uploads.
- AI assistant gets to work → reading the transcript from VXT and other matter details from your PMS to answer questions in real time, generate insights, and highlights key action points instantly.
For firms like Nest Legal, this setup saves hours of administrative work, freeing up more time for their lawyers to focus on high-value work.
Real-world example: Nest Legal
Nest Legal uses VXT alongside Archie AI (Smokeball’s AI assistant) to reduce paperwork and reclaim billable hours.
“If I’m jumping into a case someone else handled, I don’t have to read an entire transcript,” Laura Vickers, Nest Legal Founder says.
“I just right-click and get a quick summary of the client’s history, correspondence, and next steps.”
Nest Legal’s lawyers use VXT to transcribe and summarise calls, then leverage Archie to extract details and generate insights, without needing to reread entire transcripts. For a fixed-fee firm, this had a major impact on efficiency.
“My absolute favourite tech discovery last year was that magical combination,” Laura says.
“With VXT, every call is transcribed. Then, I can use Archie to summarise the conversation, pull out key details, or generate a file note.”
Spend more time on your clients and less time digging through paperwork
When you start to think about the amount of calls lawyers receive, it’s clear to see how law firms are losing hours each week transcribing calls, typing or hand-writing notes, and replaying conversations (all time that could be spent on billable work).
Manual note-taking drains time and productivity. Missed file notes, admin overload, and repetitive tasks quietly eat into your firm’s revenue and service quality.
The good news? It doesn’t have to be this way.
With VXT, you can automatically transcribe and summarise calls, then sync them straight to your PMS. Having a transcript in your PMS isn’t just about keeping a record, it’s about unlocking more value.
When your phone system (like VXT) connects to your PMS, and your AI assistant can interpret call content, you create a powerful, automated workflow:
- Conversations become summaries
- Summaries become file notes and briefs
- Admin becomes automation
The setup is simple. The time savings are real. And the competitive edge is immediate.
Book a demo with VXT and see how micro-efficiencies can lead to major results.
