Law Office Answering Service

Most small firms run on one owner's phone, and that phone cannot be answered during court, client meetings, or the evening. An answering service fills that gap. AllDayDesk answers calls at any hour using information you save about your practice: your practice areas, office hours, consultation process, and general fees you choose to share.

The service handles the routine work of a front desk call: greeting the caller, learning who they are and why they called, answering questions it has answers for, and capturing the details of anything it does not. New consultations can be booked directly on the built-in AllDayDesk dashboard calendar once you have configured your services and availability. If you prefer, you can optionally connect Google Calendar in Settings after connecting and authorizing your Google account.

Changes to existing appointments are treated as requests for you to approve, not confirmed changes, so your schedule stays under your control. Transfers to you are possible once you configure a destination and rules for them, though pickup is not guaranteed at any moment.

• Answers your existing number around the clock after you forward calls to the service
• Takes clear messages with caller details for anything it cannot answer
• Books new consultations on the dashboard calendar, with optional Google Calendar connection in Settings
• Shows calls, transcripts, summaries, and bookings in your dashboard
• Treats reschedule and cancellation requests as requests for you, not confirmed changes

Legal calls often start with a story. The service can listen, capture the caller's name, contact information, and a summary of why they called, and pass that to you so you can decide whether it is a matter you want. It can answer general questions you have saved answers for, such as whether you offer free consultations, where the office is, or what your office hours are.

It does not give legal advice, verify insurance, quote case outcomes, or handle payments, and it does not collect sensitive medical, legal, or financial details. When a caller asks something outside what you have saved, it takes a message so you can respond yourself. This keeps the line between routine front-desk work and the judgment calls that belong to an attorney.

• Captures caller name, contact details, and a summary of the matter
• Answers general questions from the business information you save
• Takes a message instead of guessing at unknown answers or prices
• Does not give legal advice or collect sensitive case or payment details

Setup starts by choosing your business or entering its website, then checking the details the service pulled together, hearing a personalized sample call, and choosing how to connect your phone. The sample lets you hear how your firm would sound before anything goes live, and it creates no real booking.

You keep your public phone number. You forward calls to AllDayDesk, and the instructions depend on your phone service. On Verizon mobile, for example, you activate all-call forwarding by dialing *72 plus the 10-digit destination from the phone itself, and *73 turns it off. On Spectrum Business Voice, forwarding is managed in the online portal under Voice Settings or Forwarding Manager, where you choose all calls or busy/no-answer forwarding. Comcast Business, Vonage Business Communications, Frontier, Optimum, and AT&T business products each have their own steps, so check your exact service before entering codes.

• Choose your business or enter its website, then confirm the details
• Hear a personalized sample of how your firm will sound
• Forward your existing number using your carrier's own instructions
• Verizon mobile uses *72 plus destination to activate and *73 to disable
• Spectrum Business Voice manages forwarding in the online portal

Before turning on any service, decide which calls should reach it. Some owners forward only after hours and answer their own phone during the day. Others forward everything so they are never interrupted mid-meeting. AllDayDesk is available around the clock either way; how much you route to it is your choice.

Also decide what the service may book and say. Set your consultation length, availability, and which appointment types appear on the calendar. Save the general information you are comfortable sharing, and leave anything case-specific out so the service takes a message instead. Reviewing transcripts and summaries in the dashboard after the first week is the fastest way to tune this.

• Forward all calls, or only after-hours calls, using your carrier's forwarding options
• Configure services and availability before enabling booking
• Save general firm information; leave case-specific answers out
• Review dashboard transcripts and summaries to refine what the service says

AllDayDesk plans are month-to-month with a set pool of included minutes and a per-minute rate for time beyond that pool, with higher tiers adding more included minutes at a lower overage rate. Current pricing is displayed on the pricing section of this site. Human-staffed services price differently: for example, Ruby advertises live virtual receptionist plans starting at $245 per month, and Smith.ai uses per-call pricing for its human receptionist service, so comparing quotes means checking included minutes or calls, overage rates, hours, and contract terms, not just the headline number.

An in-house receptionist covers more than the phone, including greeting visitors and office tasks, so a phone service is not a full replacement for that role; compare scope, not just cost.

• AllDayDesk pricing is shown separately on this site; plans include a monthly minute pool
• Human services like Ruby (from $245/month) and Smith.ai (per-call) price differently
• Compare included minutes or calls, overages, hours, and contracts when quoting
• An in-house receptionist does more than answer phones; weigh scope against cost