Top 5 Benefits of Having a virtual legal assistant for your Law Firm and Why You Should Hire One Now

New attorneys find themselves dwelling on customer service, administrative work, social media management, and office maintenance because most solo law practitioners don’t have enough funds to hire a full-time employee. And when they can finally hire a full-time staff, it would still feel like an unnecessary expense, especially if they only have a few tasks within a week.

According to the 2020 Legal Trends Report, numerous startup and mid-level law firms only invest their legal payable productivity in an average of 2.5 hours per day instead of reading law books to enhance and sharpen their legal knowledge to win court cases and become an in-demand law firm. 

Amid the rising competition in the legal industry, law firms must stay proficient and productive. Whether you’re just starting a law firm or you’ve been in the industry for years, this is the best time to think about hiring a virtual legal assistant!

Why Hire A Virtual Legal Assistant For Your Law Firm?

1. Cost-Effective Solution

If you are a startup law firm, outsourcing administrative responsibilities to a virtual legal assistant, simply you can save on costs that come with keeping on-site workers, such as:

• Infrastructure and Framework Costs. The fewer in-house employees in your law firm, the less office furniture you must provide. Moreover, there will be a considerable cost reduction in electricity, water supply charges, and building maintenance. 
• Office Space. If you don’t have an actual office yet, you won’t have to pay rent. With a virtual legal assistant, you don’t need to purchase a gadget and pay for travel because they work remotely and own the needed equipment.
• Overhead Costs like Protection. Hiring in-house employees in your small business means you must sign them up for insurance and health benefits. When you outsource a virtual legal assistant from a third-party organization, you won’t have to worry about it.

Most in-house legal assistants charge daily, not based on how many tasks they finish daily. That’s why even when they don’t have a list of tasks at hand, you still have to pay them.

On the other hand, virtual legal assistants charge hourly rates because you only have to pay them for the tasks they accomplish in a day. So, if you hire a virtual legal assistant, your law firm can save up more than it would spend on an all-day worker. In addition, they don’t ask for a set-up fee or have any hidden costs.

2. Increase Productivity 

Law firms, especially the ones that are in their beginning stage, need to allot most of their time performing responsibilities such as:

• Intensive Research and Compilation of Important Documents. Researching a case, your competitors, and the latest trends in the industry takes a lot of time and effort.
• Reviewing and Managing Contracts. Although you have to check a contract occasionally, at least you won’t have to manage the documents.
• Data Transcription and Accounting. Tracking your expenses and balancing the sheet is one of the most stressful administrative activities.
• Tracking and Keeping Up with Potential Legal Clients. Answering questions from potential clients can quickly get exhausting, especially when you have more legal cases to study, hear, and defend.
• Creating and Maintaining a Social Media Presence via social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube to reach more potential clients.

As an Attorney, you know that these tasks aren’t what you went to Law School for. You built a law firm for legal arguments, hearing witnesses, defending a client, winning cases, and developing your standing in the legal industry by growing your knowledge to understand your clients more.

Since virtual legal assistants are already trained, they can handle tasks like these without issue. They can utilize legal technology tools like Casetext and Clio to minimize hardcopy documentation, automate tasks, and reduce redundancies. And what’s great is that you won’t need to pay for these resources for their usage.

3. Establish a Work-Life Balance 

According to Legal 500, a report from the Junior Lawyers Division (JLD) of the Law Society of England and Wales gives more significant detail on the low emotional wellness of the profession. The yearly study shows more than 93% of young legal professionals are stressed at work, with almost one-quarter feeling ‘extreme’ stress.

Attorneys and even paralegals live a hectic life with physically and mentally draining days. Throw in constant phone calls and text and mail messaging, and you can easily get burnt out.

If your law firm hires a virtual legal assistant catering to your administrative tasks, you can reduce that to create more memories with your family and friends. You can now easily say “no” to work responsibilities when you’re on a break unless it’s an emergency or it needs your approval.

4. Avoid Training and Hiring

Hiring additional staff can become costly, especially for a new Attorney. Imagine yourself going through interviews with twenty or even hundreds of applicants only to choose one to two of them.

Instead of focusing on understanding your new cases to defend your client more effectively to become victorious, you used your time conversing with each applicant. Time spent on the hiring process is time not spent elsewhere.

Not only could this take a toll on your efficiency, but it could also increase your expenses now that you have hired additional staff to your team. You currently have to train them and promise a contract with benefits, including insurance, retirement, and paid vacation leave.

Having a virtual legal assistant can still assure you of the same security, accountability, and privacy that come with in-house employees. And not only that, they don’t need to be trained by your firm because they are already experts in the field! Why spend hours going through a hiring process when you can work with an agency that will get you the best?

5. Provide Better Customer Service

Imagine attending a hearing, and one of your clients from a different court case happens to need an immediate answer to their questions. Since you didn’t have anybody to serve your other client, you are now at risk of losing the client. This is just a scenario, but you already get the point. Having someone attend to your other clients while you stay productive inside the courtroom is essential.

Virtual assistants are all trained and have a significant amount of patience in providing effective customer service.

Conclusion

In the competitive world of legal business, you should be at par or way ahead of your competitors. Not only would you want to become the best in the field, but you also want to reduce your costs and administrative tasks while you study your current court cases to defend your client more effectively.

Now that you know how beneficial having a virtual legal assistant will be to your business, you should hire one now! Who knows? This might be the decision that changes your law business forever. And if you are already considering it, you should work with the best. Did we mention we offer virtual assistant services? Vgrow offers top-notch virtual assistant services for law firms. Contact us today, and let’s get started!

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