Google Voice is a free service from Google that forwards calls to any number you want. The service can forward calls to one phone or multiple phones simultaneously. How does that help lawyers?

The phone has long been the most important tool in the law office. If your main office number is a Google Voice number, you can forward that number with the flip of a switch to your cell phone, home phone or even have calls routed directly to your desktop if you’re using Gmail. You can even schedule the time of day during which calls should be forwarded to various numbers based on where you will be. Driving home after 6pm? Have Google Voice automatically forward calls to your cell. At home after 7pm, forward the calls automatically to your home number. The ability to forward calls to multiple numbers means you will never miss a live call… unless you want to. That’s where Google Voice’s excellent voicemail system takes over.

Google Voice has the ability to transcribe voicemail message and deliver them to your email inbox or Google Messaging account. Voicemail transcription can increase your law office productivity and efficiency because it is easier to scan voicemail messages in your email inbox than it is to listen to every message by phone.

You can also set most cell phones to dial through Google Voice to show your office phone number on the caller ID of the phone you are calling. That means you can call from your cell phone, but your client will see your office number. That’s a great way to keep your cell phone number private and only present one number to the world.

Google Voice is great for small law firms or solo practitioners looking for a voicemail system or a call forwarding system and the best part is that it’s free. You will need to have phone service for the service to which you are forwarding from Google Voice. Learn more about Google Voice and how it can help your law practice.