Law Firm Virtual Receptionist

In a small firm, the phone often rings while you're in court, in a client meeting, or simply heads-down on a brief. A virtual receptionist covers that gap. AllDayDesk answers around the clock using the business information you save, so callers hear a consistent greeting and get sensible answers about your practice areas, location, hours, and how consultations work.

It is not a full replacement for in-house staff. A human receptionist greets visitors, handles mail, and does office tasks beyond the phone. A virtual receptionist covers the phone role: answering questions from your saved details, taking messages, and booking consultations into your calendar.

• Answers calls using your firm's saved business information
• Takes a message when an answer, price, or appointment isn't known
• Books new consultations once you've set up services and availability
• Shows calls, transcripts, summaries, and bookings in your dashboard
• Keeps your existing phone number through call forwarding

Setup starts by choosing your business from a list or entering its website. AllDayDesk pulls together the details it finds, and you check them for accuracy before anything goes live. Then you hear a personalized sample of how your receptionist will sound. The sample is a demonstration only; it does not create a real booking.

After you approve the sample, you choose your phone setup. In most cases you keep your public number and forward calls to AllDayDesk. The exact forwarding steps depend on your phone service, so follow the instructions for your carrier. Once live, every call, transcript, summary, and booking appears in your dashboard, so you always know who called and what was said.

• Choose your business or enter its website to build the receptionist's knowledge
• Review and correct the details before going live
• Hear a personalized sample call
• Forward your existing number to AllDayDesk
• Review transcripts, summaries, and bookings in the dashboard

Call forwarding is the step that sends your existing number's calls to AllDayDesk, and the method depends on your provider. Some carriers use star codes dialed from the phone itself. Verizon mobile, for example, activates all-call forwarding with *72 plus the destination and turns it off with *73; *71 handles unanswered calls. T-Mobile uses codes like **21*1 followed by the destination and # for unconditional forwarding. Other providers, such as Spectrum Business Voice, manage forwarding through an online portal where you pick all calls or busy/no-answer conditions and set the destination.

Identify your exact service before following any instructions, because codes differ between a carrier's wireless, landline, and hosted products. One important limit: Google Voice does not support forwarding calls from a Google Voice number to an automated system, so firms on Google Voice should check their underlying carrier's options instead.

• Verizon mobile: *72 plus destination for all calls, *73 to disable, *71 for unanswered calls
• T-Mobile: **21*1 plus destination and # for unconditional forwarding, ##21# to disable
• Spectrum Business Voice: managed in the online portal under Voice Settings or Forwarding Manager
• Confirm your exact product with your provider before using any code
• Google Voice numbers cannot be forwarded to an automated system

New consultations go into the built-in AllDayDesk dashboard calendar by default, once you've configured your services and availability. If your firm already runs on Google Calendar, you can optionally connect it in Settings after connecting and authorizing your Google account. That connection is optional; the dashboard calendar works on its own.

Changes to existing appointments work differently from new bookings. When a caller wants to move or cancel an existing appointment, the receptionist records it as a request for you to review, rather than confirming the change on its own. That keeps you in control of your schedule.

• New bookings use the AllDayDesk dashboard calendar by default
• Google Calendar connection is optional, in Settings, after you authorize your account
• Changes to existing appointments are recorded as requests, not confirmed changes
• Set up your services and availability before going live

Sometimes a caller needs a person, not information. AllDayDesk can transfer calls, but you must first configure a transfer destination and the rules for when transfers happen. A transfer is not guaranteed to be picked up or answered immediately, so think of it as routing, not a promise of contact.

When the receptionist doesn't know an answer, a price, or whether an appointment is possible, it takes a message instead of guessing. For a law firm, that matters: a caller asking about the status of a case or a fee quote gets a clear message in your dashboard rather than a wrong answer.

• Transfers require you to configure a destination and rules
• Neither pickup nor immediate response is guaranteed on a transfer
• Unknown answers, prices, or availability become messages
• Messages, transcripts, and summaries all appear in the dashboard

You have a few ways to cover your firm's phone. A human virtual receptionist service, such as Ruby or Smith.ai's live receptionist plans, provides people answering your calls; Ruby advertises plans starting at $245 per month as of October 2026, and Smith.ai prices its human receptionist service per call. Human services and fees vary by provider and plan, so compare included minutes or calls, overage rates, hours, and contract terms on a current quote.

An AI receptionist like AllDayDesk answers using your saved business information around the clock, with dashboard transcripts and bookings. When comparing options, weigh the scope you need (phone only versus broader office help), your call volume, how comfortable you are with automated answers versus human judgment, and total cost including overages. This comparison covers documented features and published prices, not hands-on testing of each service.

• Human services (Ruby, Smith.ai live) offer people on the phone; check current quotes for included allowance and overages
• Ruby advertises plans starting at $245 per month (checked October 2026)
• Smith.ai's human receptionist uses per-call pricing; it also sells a separate AI product
• AllDayDesk answers around the clock from your saved business information
• Compare scope, volume, judgment needs, and total cost before deciding