LEX Phone vs Virtual Reception
Virtual Reception is an Australian answering service run by Virtual Headquarters Pty Ltd, with receptionists in Australia who take calls in your firm's name around the clock. LEX Phone is a business phone with an automated answering service built in, which rings you directly when you are free and files every call to the matter. This page compares the two for a law firm, from Virtual Reception's own website, pricing and terms as at 30 September 2026. Searching for a virtual receptionist for your firm rather than this company? Start with virtual receptionist for law firms.
The one difference that drives the rest
Virtual Reception gives you a local number and answers whatever you divert to it. A receptionist takes the message and sends it to your email or mobile, or, if your status is Available for Call Transfer, rings you on one of three Find Me numbers and introduces the caller. The service ends when the message is sent.
LEX Phone starts where that ends. The lawyer's business number is in the app, so a call rings straight through when the lawyer is free, the answering service takes it in the firm's name when they are not, and in both cases the summary, the transcript and the file note are on the matter before anyone has opened an inbox.
| Area | Virtual Reception | LEX Phone |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A phone answering service staffed by receptionists, with message taking, virtual receptionist, diary and assistant plans. | A business phone for each lawyer, with matter filing and an automated answering service called |
| Who answers | A receptionist in Australia, 24 hours a day. Its terms allow personal data to go to group entities in the United States, New Zealand and the United Kingdom so that calls can be answered outside local operating hours. | |
| A phone for the lawyer | None listed. It allocates a local number and you divert your existing number to it. The web portal and mobile app hold messages and settings. | Yes. Each lawyer has an Australian business number in the LEX Phone app on the phone they already carry. Calls come in on it, calls out show the business number, and SMS is sent and received on it. |
| When you are free | The receptionist answers first. If your status is Available for Call Transfer, the receptionist rings one of your three Find Me numbers, introduces the call and transfers it if you want it. | In Available mode the call rings straight to the lawyer, with the caller's name, their matter and the last note on screen before they answer. Nobody answers first and nothing is transferred. |
| Changing availability | Each staff member changes between Available for Call Transfer and Do Not Disturb on the web. | One tap on the Home tab of the app, per lawyer, taking effect on the next call. Available, Screen or Unavailable, changed between a hearing and a meeting. |
| Hours | 24 hours a day, with a surcharge on calls answered outside 8am to 6pm on weekdays or on national public holidays. | Every hour of every day, at the same price. |
| After the call | A message to one or more email addresses or mobiles, with web access to messages and call details. | A push notification, then a written summary, the transcript and a finished file note, in the app and on the matter. |
| Filing to the matter | No legal practice management integration is listed. Diary management works within the calendar you already use. | Automatic. In Smokeball each call becomes a completed task on the matter with the file note, plus a memo or a document. SharePoint gets a document per call under the contact. Clio filing is in development. |
| New enquiries | Receptionists follow your script to collect new matter enquiries and manage bookings. Diary work is on the per-minute MyDiary and MyAssistant plans. | A new caller becomes a contact and a lead matter in Smokeball with the call on it, a call back becomes an open task that syncs both ways, and a booked consult lands in the Smokeball calendar. |
| Calling and texting back | From your own phone or phone system. The return call is outside the service. | Call and text back from the app on the business number. The return call and the texts sit on the same contact timeline and are filed to the same matter. |
| Price | From $25 a month plus $2.50 a call for message taking, or $33 a month plus $3.89 a call for the virtual receptionist plan, with bundles such as 20 calls for $80 and 50 calls for $185, all plus GST. Its terms add $0.40 or $0.20 a transfer, $0.10 an SMS message and $0.60 or $1.00 on each after hours call. | A$79.99 a month per lawyer, GST included, covering the number and the filing, with |
Six moments in a lawyer's day, handled two ways
The table says what each product has. These are the moments where a lawyer feels the difference.
You are at your desk and a client rings
With Virtual Reception. Your calls are diverted to Virtual Reception, so a receptionist answers and then rings your Find Me numbers to introduce the caller. If you take it, the call is transferred and the transfer fee applies. The caller has spoken to a receptionist and waited while the receptionist rang a lawyer who was free from the start.
With LEX Phone. Leave the line in Available and the call rings your phone directly, with the client's name, the matter and your last note on screen from the first ring. You answer as yourself, and when you hang up the summary, the transcript and the file note are written and filed without anyone typing them. If you miss the call, the answering service picks it up in the firm's name.
You walk into court at ten to ten
With Virtual Reception. Log in on the web and set Do Not Disturb, and the receptionist takes messages until you log in again and set yourself Available for Call Transfer.
With LEX Phone. Tap Unavailable on the Home tab as you walk in and the service takes every call from the next ring. Tap Screen on the way out and genuine callers are put through to you with a one-line summary, while cold callers stop at the front desk. There is no schedule to edit, no code to dial and nobody to notify.
A new enquiry rings at seven in the evening
With Virtual Reception. A receptionist answers at any hour, follows your script and sends the message to your email or mobile, with the after hours surcharge on the call. Booking the consult into your diary is a per-minute plan.
With LEX Phone. The service answers in the firm's name at any hour, asks what the matter is about, the other party's name, any date that is close and how the caller found the firm, then books a consult or a call back time. The enquiry opens as a lead in Smokeball with the file note attached, and the booking is in the calendar.
You ring the client back
With Virtual Reception. You ring back from your own phone. No calling app or business line for the lawyer is listed, so the return call shows the number you rang from and is not part of the record.
With LEX Phone. Tap the contact in the app and the call goes out on the business number, so the client sees the firm's number and your personal mobile stays private. The return call is transcribed, summarised and filed to the same matter as the message that prompted it, and a text reply is drafted for you to read and send.
The note for the file
With Virtual Reception. The message says who rang and what they wanted. The file note, and the record of the call back, are written at the firm.
With LEX Phone. The file note is written when the caller hangs up, with the summary, the outcome, any booking and the follow-ups, and the transcript beneath it. It is filed to the matter in Smokeball or to your SharePoint library, and when the service cannot tell which matter a call belongs to it asks you in the app.
A busy month
With Virtual Reception. A hundred calls a month is $345 plus GST on the 100-call plan in its terms, and calls beyond a bundle are $3.99 each, before transfer, SMS and after hours charges.
With LEX Phone. The subscription is the only figure. Thirty calls or three hundred, long intake calls or short ones, the month costs A$79.99 per lawyer, with
Where Virtual Reception is the better fit
A firm that wants an Australian person answering at any hour, month to month and with no setup fee on the answering plans, will find Virtual Reception does that at a low entry price, with a seven-day free trial. For a practice that takes a few calls a month and only needs the message passed on, it is the simpler purchase.
Where LEX Phone is the better fit
A firm whose lawyers want their own calls when they are free, and want the rest answered, written up and filed without a message to retype, is what LEX Phone is built for. One price covers every call at every hour, and the call back and the texts that follow are on the same timeline as the call that started them.
Sources
Virtual Reception's home page, FAQs, pricing page, legal virtual receptionist page, service pages and terms and conditions, and the legal and pricing pages of Virtual Headquarters. Prices are in Australian dollars and exclude GST. All retrieved 30 September 2026. Virtual Reception is a trademark of its owner and is not affiliated with Avocado Pty Ltd.
Questions about LEX Phone and Virtual Reception
Virtual Reception's terms and conditions are issued by Virtual Headquarters Pty Ltd (ABN 16 099 660 661), and the plans and prices on the two websites match.
No legal practice management integration is listed on its website as at 30 September 2026. Messages are sent to your email or mobile. LEX Phone files each call to the Smokeball matter or to SharePoint automatically, with Clio filing in development.
Yes, though most firms will not need both. A firm can keep a receptionist service on its main line and give each lawyer a LEX Phone number for direct calls, texts and filing.
No.
It was compiled from Virtual Reception's public website and terms on 30 September 2026. If something on the Virtual Reception side has changed, tell us and we will correct it.
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LEX Phone is the lawyer's phone system: a law firm phone system with a law firm answering service built in, which also works as a virtual receptionist for law firms and an AI receptionist for law firms. It answers when you can't, and files every call to the matter.