Use Zoom AI Companion to Document Team Meetings and Court Prep Calls

Tool:Zoom

AI Feature:AI Companion (Meeting Summary, Action Items)

Time:10-15 minutes

Difficulty:Beginner

What This Does

Zoom's AI Companion automatically generates a summary and list of action items at the end of a meeting, so you don't have to take notes during court prep calls, family team meetings, or multi-disciplinary team (MDT) conferences.

Before You Start

Your agency uses Zoom for virtual meetings (most county agencies now do)
Your Zoom license includes AI Companion (check with your IT department; it's included in most paid Zoom licenses at no extra cost)
You're the meeting host or co-host, OR the host has enabled AI Companion for all participants

Steps

1. Enable AI Companion Before the Meeting

Before starting or joining a meeting, log into your Zoom account at zoom.us. Go to Settings → AI Companion and make sure Meeting Summary is turned on. This is a one-time setup.

What you should see: A toggle labeled "Meeting Summary with AI Companion." Flip it to on (blue).

2. Start the Meeting and Enable Summaries

When your meeting starts, look for the AI Companion button in the bottom meeting toolbar (it looks like a small star or sparkle icon). Click it and select Start Summary.

A small banner will appear in the meeting: "AI Companion is summarizing this meeting." Participants will be notified. This is required by Zoom.

Troubleshooting: If you don't see the AI Companion button, you may not have the right license tier. Ask your IT department: "Does our Zoom license include AI Companion?"

3. Run the Meeting Normally

Continue the meeting as you normally would. You don't need to do anything special. AI Companion is listening and taking notes in the background. Focus on the conversation.

4. Receive the Summary After the Meeting

When the meeting ends, Zoom will email you (and the host) a meeting summary within a few minutes. It will include:

A brief summary of the discussion
Key decisions made
Action items with owners and dates (if mentioned in the meeting)

What you should see: An email from Zoom with the subject "Meeting Summary: [Meeting Title]."

5. Review and Use in Your Case Notes

Read the summary. Copy relevant action items and decisions into your case notes. For a family team meeting, the summary might say: "Family agreed to increase visitation to twice weekly. Mother will enroll in parenting class by April 15. Worker will contact school regarding attendance." Paste that directly into the case record.

Real Example

Scenario: You have a pre-court coordination call with an attorney, a guardian ad litem, and your supervisor. Four people are talking, everyone has different information, and decisions are being made quickly.

What you do: Enable AI Companion at the start of the call. After the call, Zoom emails you: "Summary: Team agreed to recommend 90-day extension of foster care placement. Attorney will file motion by March 28. Worker to submit court report by March 24. GAL supports reunification with additional services."

What you get: A documented record of the call in under 5 minutes. No frantic note-taking during the conversation, no follow-up emails asking "wait, what did we decide?"

Tips

Tell participants at the start: "I have Zoom AI Companion running so I don't have to take notes. It'll email everyone a summary after." Most people appreciate this.
For family team meetings with clients present, ask your supervisor whether your agency's consent protocols require additional disclosure to clients.
Copy the summary into your case notes the same day. It's already in document-ready format.

Tool interfaces change. If a button has moved, look for similar AI/magic/smart options in the same menu area.