5 Ways A Virtual Paralegal Can Help Your Boutique Law Firm Grow

Running a small legal business is challenging and many business owners find themselves working extended hours to manage both their business demands and their client needs. Yet, they cannot justify bringing on administrative support, even part-time, due to the overheads of employment and the reality that needs can fluctuate from month to month. For some law firms, the solution has been working with a virtual paralegal and/or legal assistant. Those, like myself, who are highly organised, adaptable, self-starters, able to manage a range of tasks and anticipate client needs with minimal direction, make ideal legal virtual assistants. Our role is to harness our transferable skill-sets to ease pressure, improve efficiency, and take care of all the junior legal tasks, allowing you to truly take on the required lead role. But what does a virtual paralegal actually do? What are they able to take off your list? What can they do to improve business operations? And can a virtual paralegal help a law firm grow?

In this brief guide, I’ll explain 5 ways a virtual paralegal can help you not only run, but grow your law firm. I’ll go over just some of the tasks a virtual paralegal can take care of, as well as why this matters and how that support can contribute to the success of a law firm.

1. Optimising Productivity and Time Management

Jam Virtual Support can take over a number of tasks to help optimise your time, including email management, diary management, and operational support. Just like a traditional legal assistant in a law firm, we are the first point of contact, ensuring an essential filter so that anything urgent is flagged to you, everything else is categorised based on need, and unwanted distractions are dealt with efficiently. We can book meetings for you and manage your diary. By outsourcing your diary and time management to a virtual paralegal, you free up mental space and time. You can focus on being present within your business and not be concerned with scheduling emails, fielding enquiries, or coordinating client check-ins.

2. Legal and Operational Research

Most virtual assistants offer generic research services. This might involve sourcing new software to help your business run more smoothly. From HMRC accountancy (soon to be a legal requirement), to office suppliers and insurance, we can take care of the initial research, provide you with an informed shortlist, and help you navigate procurement as well as implementation. Negotiating cost may also be a service provided by a VA (we do). A legal VA, though, with knowledge and experience in the sector, as Jam Virtual Support have, can offer even more in terms of research support. We are able to conduct legal research for a wide variety of cases and produce clear summaries as a result. We’re also familiar with leading research software, such as PLC. This is a service often only available in-house at larger law firms, but it’s one that Jam, with our legal background and education, are qualified to provide.

3. Proofreading and Dictation Services

I cannot underestimate how important proofreading is. Even professional writers use proofreaders because it’s so difficult to spot mistakes in their own writing. Accuracy in legal documents and contracts is even more essential and so having someone else proofread is highly recommended.

A legal VA service, like ours, can provide proofing of any document for grammar, definition accuracy and correct usage, clause referencing, formatting and listing issues, capitalisation checks, identifying any anomalies and missing clauses, ensuring your document reads well for your intended purpose. We are that final check point so that you can send all communications with confidence.

Dictation is also a service Jam Virtual Support regularly provides. By dictating emails and correspondence, communication can move quickly without interrupting valuable legal work. A virtual paralegal can draft and send emails on your behalf, acting as a trusted filter so communication flows without overwhelming the lawyer’s inbox.

4. New Enquiries and Communications Support

New enquiries are essential for any boutique law firm, but not all enquiries will lead to new business. A virtual paralegal can act as the first point of contact, screening queries, gathering key information and filtering so that only relevant enquiries are passed on to you. This service frees up more of your time to spend on billable work, but it also ensures every inquiry receives a reply and your firm’s reputation is preserved as professional and responsive.

5. File Opening and Onboarding

Signing new clients is always exciting, not to mention crucial for the success of a  law firm. It’s essential to provide the client with a smooth, seamless onboarding process, as this will likely be their first real experience of your reliability and professionalism. However, the onboarding process can be time-consuming and delay you from diving into the case work.

Having a legal VA take care of the onboarding process ensures efficiency and enables you to focus your time, and your skills, where they make the biggest difference. Moreover, it can be better for the client relationship if their solicitor is not also managing the business contracts and invoicing aspects. When onboarding new clients, for our clients, Jam Virtual Support issues client care letters and terms of business, along with initial invoices and any other necessary information and contracts. We’ll chase up, file the completed paperwork, and let you know as soon as all compliance boxes are checked and you can start delivering for your new client. In addition, we also manage file opening on case management software, such as LEAP or Clio, getting all your paperwork organised and accessible so you can begin work. We are also able to run required compliance checks, such as ID and AML checks.

Do You Need A Legal Virtual Paralegal For Your Boutique Law Firm?

Are you needing to free up more time to focus on fee-earning work? Are you tired of dealing with operational tasks that don’t harness your skill set? Becoming more efficient, more organised, prioritising case work, providing smooth processes for clients, and filtering out distractions are all things that can help your business grow and thrive.

Jam Virtual Support offer tailored legal and business support to small law firms. With 10 years of legal experience and education, we are uniquely placed to offer paralegal support and assist you across a range of tasks to keep your business operations running smoothly. Learn more about our services and get in touch to find out how we can help your small law firm grow.