What do you get if you combine a virtual receptionist service with artificial intelligence? Spoiler alert: The answer is not robots answering the phone. Rather, the folks at Smith.ai say the combination results in a superior receptionist service for both live calls and website chat. By incorporating AI, they say, their service continually gets smarter as it comes to know your practice and your clients.

On this episode of LawNext, we speak with Smith.ai's Justin Maxwell, cofounder and chief design officer, and Maddy Martin, head of growth and education. Among the topics discuss are the features that distinguish Smith.ai from its competitors, the types of law practices that are a good fit for a service such as this, and key questions a lawyer should ask when selecting a virtual receptionist service.

• Justin Maxwell, cofounder and chief design officer. Before founding Smith.ai, Maxwell was a design lead in Google's Android group. He has designed products and led teams for Google, Apple, Mint (Intuit), Sony, and a number of startups.
• Maddy Martin, head of growth and education. Martin has held roles in marketing, content management and audience development at a number of Silicon Valley technology companies. Most recently, she was general manager, content and community, and director of marketing at YourMechanic.com.

Special discount code: During the episode, Martin announced a special discount code that entitles you to $50 off your first month of live receptionist services (phone or web chat). The code is lawnext50.

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