The problem
Reviews shape which injury firm a searcher calls, and an unanswered complaint sits at the top of the profile. Replying is risky: a reply that mentions the case, the settlement or the client's conduct can breach the duty of confidentiality. If a firm gets 8 reviews a month and an attorney spends 20 minutes on each reply, rewriting angry first drafts, that's 160 minutes, about 2.7 hours a month.
What the AI does
A staff member pastes the text of the public review, with no case details, into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini along with a standing instruction: thank the reviewer, keep it short, never confirm the person was a client, never mention a case, outcome or amount, and invite them to call the office. For negative reviews the draft follows ABA Formal Opinion 496, which says a lawyer may not reveal client information to answer online criticism and suggests a reply that says professional obligations prevent a detailed response. The attorney reads every reply before it is posted on the firm's free Google Business Profile.
A worked example
A three-attorney personal injury firm in Atlanta gets about 8 Google reviews a month, mostly positive, with the occasional angry one from a former client or the other side of a case. The office manager drafts replies with an assistant and the managing attorney approves them.
Before
20 minutes of attorney time on each of 8 replies: 2.7 hours a month
After
About 5 minutes of attorney review for each reply: 40 minutes a month
What it's worth
About $400£301€358A$577C$565 a month of attorney time, against a cost of $0£0€0A$0C$0 to $20£15€18A$29C$28. Saving 15 minutes on each of 8 replies is 2 hours, if attorney time is worth $200£150€179A$289C$283 an hour. Google Business Profile is free, and ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini all have free plans, with paid plans for one person at about $17£13€15A$25C$24 to $20£15€18A$29C$28 a month.
How to set it up
- Write a standing instruction: short, polite, no confirmation that the reviewer was a client, no case facts, outcomes or amounts, and an invitation to call.
- Paste only the public review text into the assistant; never add file notes, names or case details to give it context.
- For a negative review, use a reply along the lines ABA Formal Opinion 496 suggests: professional obligations prevent the firm from responding in detail.
- Have an attorney approve every reply before it is posted, and wait a day before answering an angry review.
- Ask for reviews only in ways your state bar allows: no gifts, discounts or payment for a review, and never ask for a review mid-case.
What goes wrong
- Even thanking someone "for trusting us with your case" confirms they were a client. The instruction and the attorney's check must catch that.
- Assistants mirror the tone of the review. An angry review can produce a defensive draft, so the attorney rewrites anything that argues.
- Some states treat replies and client reviews as advertising and restrict testimonials about results. Check your state's rules before posting replies that mention outcomes.
- Free plans may use chats for training. That's acceptable for public review text, but nothing from the client file should ever go in.