- US median pay$38,010 a year[2]All industries, BLS May 2025
- One-time fee$2,500–3,000[1]On the start day, only if you hire
- Free replacementWithin 180 days[1]One per placement, fee paid, role, hours and pay unchanged, no refund
What the week looks like at a law firm
A small firm's week is shaped by the court calendar and by billable hours. Hearings and filing deadlines are fixed; everything else moves around them. New enquiries arrive by phone and web form and need a conflict check and a quick reply before they go to another firm. Attorneys draft during the day and catch up on email at night, while time entries, invoices and client document requests slip until someone chases them on Friday.
What a virtual receptionist does for law firms
- Answer calls in your firm's name and sort callers: new enquiry, existing client, court or opposing counsel
- Collect name, matter type and the other party's name so that a conflict check can run
- Book consultations into each attorney's calendar according to practice area
- Send a written summary of each call to the right person within minutes
A virtual receptionist answers your calls, chats and web enquiries from a script, books appointments and passes on messages. The person is the first voice a customer hears, which makes spoken English and calm under pressure the two things to test hardest.
Tools law firms commonly use
- Clio
- MyCase
- PracticePanther
- Microsoft 365
- Google Workspace
- Calendly
- QuickBooks
- Excel
Common in this kind of business, not a checklist: name your own stack in the brief.
How to test a candidate for a law firm
Run a live role play: a distressed caller who wants to know if they will win their case. The candidate must stay kind, give no opinion, collect the intake facts and offer a consultation. Then read their written call summary for accuracy.
What to keep in-house or check first
Legal advice, signing, court appearances and client-money decisions stay with your attorneys, and trust account access stays with whoever is responsible for it. Professional conduct rules usually make the lawyer answerable for anyone working on a file, including outside staff, so check your bar's guidance on outsourcing and client confidentiality before sharing matter files, and ask for a written confidentiality agreement.
General caution, not legal advice: check the rules that apply to you with a qualified adviser.
Available now
1 virtual receptionist on Stafka, English B2, updated 5 November 2026. The count is for the role, not for law firms: name your business in the brief.
Virtual Receptionist0 years of experience · GE-1196
- English B2
- $700–1,000 a month
Anonymous profiles of people who asked to be shown to employers. Most applied through our Telegram bot with a written and a voice English task; Silkstaff checks English on a live call before any client interview. Names, contacts and employers stay hidden until a candidate accepts your intro request.
Choose a country: shared hours
This job only works during the hours your customers call. For a US business that usually means an evening or night shift in the candidate's time zone, so agree the shift before the offer.
Against a 9–17 client day in winter[3][4][5][6]; for New York, on a 9–18 local day or a 13–22 shift. Check your own office.
What it costs
We do not publish a pay band for virtual receptionists yet: where a profile lists a monthly rate, that is what the person asks for. The BLS figure of $38,010 a year is for Receptionists and Information Clerks[2] across all industries: we have no separate figure for this niche. Paying through Deel adds $49 a month[7]; Wise and Payoneer also work.
See also: virtual receptionist pay in the US, by state · pricing and replacement terms.
How hiring through Stafka works
- Send the brief or post the job free. Give your opening hours, the rough call volume you see, the booking system, and what must be passed on straight away.
- Within 5 business days of a confirmed brief you get 3 matching profiles, or a plain no. Most apply through our Telegram bot with a written and a voice English task; each profile shows the English level (B1–C2); Silkstaff checks English on a live call before any client interview.
- You interview, choose and contract the person directly through Deel, Wise or Payoneer. Candidates never pay.
Questions
What should a law firm's virtual receptionist never say?
Anything that sounds like advice: whether a case is strong, what a deadline means, what a fee will come to beyond your published script. Write a short list of phrases for those moments, such as offering a consultation, and role-play them before the first live call.
Can a remote assistant see client files at a law firm?
It depends on your bar's guidance on confidentiality and supervision of non-lawyers. Many firms start the person on scheduling and billing admin, then open matter folders one at a time, using individual logins, a confidentiality agreement and no local copies. This is general information, not legal advice.
Where can a law firm hire an affordable virtual receptionist?
The usual routes are a freelance marketplace, an agency with a monthly margin, or a direct hire in a lower-cost country. On Stafka it is a direct hire: you pay the person the monthly pay you agree with them, plus $2,500–3,000[1] once if you hire, with no monthly margin.
General information for small employers, not legal or tax advice: check contracts, tax and data rules for your country with a qualified adviser. Tool names belong to their owners; we are not affiliated with them. Spotted a mistake? Write to hello@silkstaff.com.