To take meeting notes with AI there are three routes: the platform's own feature (Teams intelligent recap, Google Meet's «Take notes for me» or Zoom's meeting summary), an assistant that joins the call as one more participant, or an app that records the sound on your computer, with no bot. At a law firm, where the meeting is usually with a client, what decides it is where the audio and the notes end up.
How an AI takes notes in a meeting
An AI that takes notes always does the same thing: it captures the audio, turns it into text and asks a language model to organise it. The result is a set of notes with the topics discussed, the decisions and the action items, sometimes with the name of who spoke and the minute of each contribution.
What changes from one tool to another is the first step. An AI note taker is any program that captures a meeting and returns a written summary, and it can capture it in three different ways:
- From inside the platform, which already has everyone's audio because it is running the call.
- With a bot that joins the meeting as if it were one more attendee and records from there.
- From your computer, recording your microphone and the sound coming out of your speakers or headphones.
The quality of the notes depends above all on the transcription: if the text confuses names or mixes up two people, the summary inherits those errors. That is why it is worth checking how each tool handles Spanish and proper names before trusting its notes.
The three ways, compared
The three ways of taking notes with AI differ in who sees the recording, where it is kept and what you need to use them:
| Platform feature | Bot that joins the call | Recording on your computer | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Examples | Teams intelligent recap, Meet's «Take notes for me», Zoom meeting summary | Otter, Fireflies and most note-taking assistants | Desktop apps that record the microphone and system sound |
| Who sees it | The participants, depending on the platform's settings | It appears in the attendee list with its name | Nobody else joins the call |
| Which meetings it works in | Only those on that platform, and it depends on the organiser's account | On the platforms the bot supports | In any of them, in-person ones too |
| Where audio and notes are kept | In the platform's cloud | In the bot provider's cloud | On your computer or in the cloud, depending on the app |
| What you need | A licence or plan that includes the feature | An account with the service and permission for the bot to join | To install the app |
No way is best at everything. The platform's doesn't require installing anything, but it only works if you organise the meeting and your account includes it. The bot works on several platforms, but it can be seen. Recording on the computer works on all of them, but it depends on your computer capturing the sound well.
A law firm's meetings: why they are not like the rest
A law firm's meetings have three features that an ordinary team meeting does not: there is a client sharing confidential information, there is often an opposing party or a third party (the other side's lawyer, an expert witness, a procurador, the court representative) and what is said may end up in a court filing, a proposal or an engagement letter.
- The first consultation: the client explains their case in detail, sometimes for the first time. The notes have to capture facts, dates and documents, not impressions.
- Preparing a hearing or a witness statement: what matters is exactly what the client or the witness said, in their own words.
- Negotiation with the other side: what was offered, what was rejected and what was left pending, without mixing it with the internal assessment.
- The firm's internal meeting: allocation of matters, deadlines and tasks, which is where minutes with named owners save the most emails.
In all of them, a note with a name, a figure or a date wrong is worse than having no note. That is why, at a law firm, the transcript with the minute of each sentence is worth as much as the summary: it is what lets you check before quoting.
What Teams, Google Meet and Zoom include
Teams, Google Meet and Zoom generate AI notes from the transcript, always with a licence that includes it. According to their official help, checked on 29 October 2026:
- Microsoft Teams: intelligent recap gives meeting notes, suggested tasks and markers of who spoke and when. It requires a Teams Premium or Microsoft Copilot licence and transcription turned on. We explain it step by step in how to transcribe a Teams meeting.
- Google Meet: «Take notes for me» uses Gemini to write the notes in a Google Docs document saved in Drive. It supports eight languages, Spanish among them, but only one per meeting, and it needs an eligible Google Workspace edition or a Google AI plan. The details, in transcribing Google Meet to text.
- Zoom: the meeting summary generates a summary and next steps and shares them by email and in the chat. Spanish is on the list of languages supported by Zoom's AI.
All three have the same practical limit: when the client invites you to their meeting, whoever organises it decides whether there is a transcript and a summary, not you. And if one day you use Teams and another Zoom, your notes end up split between two places.
Assistants that join the call
A bot assistant joins the video call as one more participant, records from inside and then sends you the transcript and the summary. It is the most widespread approach because it works the same in Zoom, Teams and Meet.
- Otter: its pricing page says it joins Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet to write and share the notes on its own. It transcribes in Spanish, among five other languages. As of 29 October 2026, the free plan includes 300 minutes a month with a maximum of 30 minutes per conversation, and Pro, 1,200 minutes a month.
- Fireflies: its note-taking assistant also joins meetings, and its pricing page also offers recording with a Chrome extension without the bot. It supports Spanish.
The bot has two effects that weigh heavily at a law firm. It can be seen in the attendee list with its name, and not every client accepts a third party «listening» to the meeting, even less so if the other side's lawyer is in it. And the recording and the notes stay in the provider's cloud, under its retention terms.
Taking notes without a bot: recording on your computer
Apps without a bot record your microphone and the system sound on your own computer, so they capture all the participants without joining the call. As far as the platform is concerned, they don't exist: there is no extra attendee in the list and they work the same in Teams, Zoom, Meet or a WhatsApp call on the computer.
Within this group there are two types worth telling apart. Some upload the audio to their cloud to transcribe and summarise it. Others transcribe on the computer itself, and then the recording never leaves it. For a meeting with a client, that difference is what decides it.
With ablalo's Hearings tab, the «Record a meeting» button records your microphone and the computer's sound on Windows and on Mac with macOS 14.2 or later, without any bot joining the video call. When you stop, it transcribes the recording on your computer, separates the speakers so you can name them and exports the transcript to Word with timestamps. For the minutes, the Assistant has a «Meeting minutes» template that turns what you dictate as you leave into decisions, tasks with an owner and a date, and next steps.
What to check before using it in meetings with the firm's clients
Before letting an AI take notes in a meeting with a client, you should have an answer to five questions:
- Where is the audio processed and stored? On your computer, in the platform's cloud or in the provider's, and for how long.
- Is it used to train their models? The provider's policy should say so, in writing.
- Who sees the notes? Some tools email them to all attendees at the end; others leave them only with the organiser.
- Does the client see it? A bot appears in the call; a recording on your computer does not. In both cases, telling people you are recording is up to you.
- How well does it understand legal Spanish? Names of the parties, case numbers, acronyms and terms like «litisconsorcio» (joinder of parties) or «allanamiento» (acceptance of the claim) are the first things to go wrong.
The questions to ask any AI tool that handles client information, we go through in client confidentiality and the GDPR when using AI.
What no AI solves on its own
No AI guarantees correct notes without review. When two people talk at once, the transcript makes more mistakes; when a name is misheard, the summary repeats it wrong. And a language model can leave out a nuance or present as an agreement something that was only mentioned.
The practical rule is to treat the AI's notes as a draft: review them the same day, check the sentences that matter in the transcript (with the exact minute it is quick) and correct them before sending them to anyone. If the meeting is in person, what matters most is how it is recorded; we cover it in taking notes in in-person meetings.
In ablalo, the Hearings transcription does not currently generate an automatic summary of the meeting: the minutes come from your dictated notes, which the Assistant organises, and the transcript is there to check what was said.
In short
To take meeting notes with AI at a law firm you can use the platform's feature (Teams, Meet or Zoom, with the licence that includes it), a bot assistant that joins the call (Otter, Fireflies) or an app that records on your computer without a bot. In meetings with clients, what decides it is who sees the recording and where it is kept: the most discreet option is to record on your computer and transcribe right there, and in every case the notes are reviewed before they are sent.
Sources: Microsoft, Intelligent recap for Teams calls, meetings and events and Recap in Microsoft Teams; Google, «Take notes for me» in Google Meet; Zoom, Supported languages for Zoom AI features; Otter, pricing and plans; Fireflies, pricing and plans. Checked on 29 October 2026.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best AI for taking notes in a law firm's meetings?
It depends on where your meetings take place. If they are all on your organisation's platform and your licence includes it, its recap (Teams, Meet or Zoom) is the most direct option. If you use several platforms or have in-person meetings, an app that records on your computer works better; with clients, better still if it transcribes right there.
Is there a free AI for taking meeting notes?
There are free plans with limits. Otter, for example, included 300 minutes a month and 30 minutes per conversation in its free plan as of 29 October 2026. The Teams and Meet recaps require paid licences.
Can the others see that an AI is taking notes?
If it is a bot, yes: it appears in the participant list with its name. If you record on your computer, nobody else joins the call, so telling people you are recording is up to you; ablalo reminds you before the first recording.
Can I take notes with AI in Teams without Copilot?
Yes. You can use Teams transcription, if your organisation allows it, or record the meeting and transcribe it separately. We explain it in how to transcribe a Teams meeting.
Can AI take notes of an in-person meeting?
Yes, if it records the room's audio well: with the computer, the phone or a voice recorder. We cover it in taking notes in in-person meetings.