Irrespective of the size, law firms, by nature, are busy. From taking care of the in-house legal processes to providing exceptional customer service, lawyers have to deal with a plethora of tasks. One of the most pressing realities that lawyers face today is that they feel overworked and are taking on too many time-consuming tasks. They want their law firms to grow, but with all this work, they find it difficult to do so.
However, the question here is – How can they get the much-needed help?
Well, one of the best ways to solve this issue is by hiring a Paralegal. They can take on substantive legal assistance tasks and help the lawyers improve their practice and relieve stress.
Many attorneys undermine the importance of delegating operational work. By hiring a paralegal, you are relieving yourself from the operational burden and giving time to what you love the most – practice law.
How Can a Virtual Paralegal Help?
A paralegal can handle a lot of paperwork, communications, and other tasks to improve your law firm’s efficiency, save time, and help to provide a better overall client-centred service. You can delegate the below tasks to paralegals.
1. Client Communications
An overwhelmed law practice can begin falling without good client support. Lawyers get so caught up in their cases that they often forget to be in touch with their clients.
79% of the legal clients expect a response within 24 hours.
Here, paralegals can be helpful. Interacting with clients is one of the responsibilities of paralegals, and clients feel heard and informed on their cases, without taking up your time.
2. Conduct Legal research
Although research is an indispensable component of a law firm, lawyers spending their valuable time doing it isn’t justified at all. Under your supervision, paralegals can take over the time-consuming task of conducting factual and legal research.
This can help you with each legal case that demands a supporting foundation of laws.
3. Drafting Legal Documents and Organising Client Files
Dealing with client files and drafting correspondence can be a time-consuming task for lawyers. Paralegals can seamlessly assist with organising and reviewing client files to free your time for important matters.
They also help you with drafting legal documents such as client care letters, cover letters, applications, etc.
4. Interview Clients
Hiring a trained and experienced paralegal can also help you with interviewing the clients for their cases. They can conduct interviews while respecting the client’s confidentiality at the same time.
5. Law Office Administration
Apart from all the above tasks, paralegals are expected to handle administrative tasks such as filing applications, answering telephone calls, organising files, and much more. They also spend their day calling clients, lawyers, witnesses, experts, and court personnel when required.
Now, you know how paralegals can come to your rescue and ease your operational burden. The next question that arises is whether to hire an in-house paralegal or outsource paralegal services?
Comparison: In-house Paralegal Vs Virtual Paralegal
In this Digital world, freelance remote workers are seen in numerous industries, including the law world.
Looking at the cluttered offices, emails, calls, administrative work, and papers, attorneys think that hiring a legal paralegal in-house is an ideal choice.
However, what about solo practitioners and small law firms? Small offices may not be in a position to add to their payroll by hiring a full-time paralegal.
Here are 5 compelling reasons suggesting why virtual freelance staffing is the solution for solo and small firms.
1. Reduced Costs
There is always ups and downs when it comes to signing up clients. Solo or Small Law Firms gets busy at times, and sometimes they do not have enough work at hand.
Hiring virtual paralegals offers flexibility, and they are paid only for the time they provide their services. Thus reducing the operational costs drastically.
2. Improved efficiency
Since virtual paralegals are experienced and already trained, you need not spend more time and energy training them. You can expect increased efficiency from day one.
Additionally, virtual paralegals are contractors; they are not full-time employees of your law firm, they do not enjoy employee rights. This is why freelance paralegals put their best foot forward and provide top-notch services.
3. Increased Revenue
71% of lawyers say they consider revenue their most important indicator for law firm growth. A virtual paralegal frees your time by taking up all the administrative and operational chores.
You can spend that time on your primary work and get more cases, generate more leads, focus on client retention, expand your practice, and ultimately grow your law firm’s revenue.
4. Saves Time
Being a busy attorney, sometimes, you do not have enough time to spend on petty tasks like answering calls, arranging meetings, etc. So when you hire a virtual paralegal, they do all that work for you under your supervision.
You don’t have to focus on non-core activities and can easily concentrate on the important activities.
5. Flexibility and Convenience
Unlike an in-house paralegal, virtual paralegal services are flexible. You can hire paralegals for the time you need them. You pay only for the service you hire. You don’t have to worry about employees’ vacation time, leaves, benefits, etc.
Virtual paralegal services also offer convenient hiring models. For example, you can choose to hire on an hourly, weekly, or monthly basis.
Let our Virtual Paralegals help you manage your busy caseload!
Regardless of how the lawyer is organised and can multitask, they find the day-to-day activities of a paralegal challenging while managing the busy schedule.
As the benefits of hiring virtual paralegals are many, now lawyers have an option to get a virtual team onboard and stay focused and grow their law firm in quick turnaround times.
Immigration Paralegal Services is the go-to company that gives you access to experienced paralegals who are ready to help you take on your cases and help you with paperwork, data entry, case management, client intake, and much more.
