How Much Does a Legal Receptionist Cost?

Your law office receives phone calls every day. Who’s fielding those calls? As a busy attorney, it’s probably not you. You’ll need a legal receptionist to answer the phone for you, take messages, offer basic information to potential clients, and capture client information for you.

But the cost can be intimidating, especially for a new or solo law firm.

How much does a legal receptionist cost?

Are there any alternatives to hiring a legal receptionist?

What do you do if you run a virtual law office?

We’ll look at these questions below.

How much does a legal receptionist cost?

Before planning to hire a legal receptionist, it’s important to research the details and find out exactly what kind of hit your wallet is going to take. Hiring an in-house legal receptionist is going to cost your firm quite a bit. Are you ready to pay an average of $32,000/year and up to $45,000/year for someone to ensure your calls are answered and appointments are scheduled?

“The average Legal Receptionist salary in the United States is approximately $31,921. Salary information comes from 879 data points collected directly from employees, users, and past and present job advertisements on Indeed in the past 12 months.” – Indeed.com

If it sounds like an astronomical cost for your firm, check out the legal receptionist alternatives listed below. With either of these options, you can avoid hiring a legal receptionist to work in-house, full-time for your firm but still get the job done without paying an additional yearly salary and benefits.

Legal receptionist alternatives

Have your paralegal answer the phone. If you don’t want to invest thousands of dollars each year on a legal receptionist, you could always have your paralegal answer the phone and take messages for you. It’s not the best use of your paralegal’s skills and talents, though, and a paralegal answering phones is probably the most expensive receptionist you’ll ever hire.

This option is not recommended unless it’s absolutely necessary, and even then, it’s essential you find another solution as soon as possible to enable your paralegal to concentrate on their work without being distracted by calls.

Hire a virtual receptionist. Conversational specializes in the legal industry and does a large percentage of business with attorneys and solo law firms.  Virtual receptionists are great for virtual law firms because there’s no need for office space – your receptionist works from our office instead! Our virtual receptionists work full-time to answer your phone calls anywhere from 100 minutes per month to 500 minutes per month and beyond.

We only charge for the minutes our receptionists actually spend on the phone with your clients, unlike a full-time receptionist, who is paid even for downtime and breaks. Every minute you’re on the phone after our receptionists transfer your client to you is absolutely free.

Conversational virtual receptionists can accomplish nearly every task an in-house receptionist could:

• Call answering w/custom script
• Promote current sales, deals, or specials
• Message taking and delivery via email or text
• Appointment scheduling
• Basic customer service
• Outbound calls/returning calls
• Appointment and meeting confirmations

Conversational even offers a free local phone number with each virtual receptionist plan. There’s a 30 day MBG for attorneys who are ready to try a virtual legal receptionist with no obligation to sign up – click here to start yours!