Brief Description Of A Legal Assistant Job
A legal assistant is a professional who provides administrative and clerical support to lawyers and other legal professionals, according to Thomson Reuters. Mainly, they handle organizational and administrative duties in support of the day-to-day operations of a law firm.
A report published by Indeed mentioned legal assistants can work in various areas, including corporate law, litigation, criminal law, and immigration law. They may manage documents and files, schedule appointments and court dates, and communicate with clients and other parties involved in legal matters. Legal assistants may also assist with legal research and drafting legal documents, but they do not provide legal advice or represent clients in court.
Typically, legal assistants attain a legal assistant certification or degree in legal studies or a related field and may specialize in a particular area of law.
Duties And Responsibilities Of a Virtual Legal Assistant
According to Indeed, legal assistants perform a wide array of administrative tasks for law firms. To help lawyers and legal experts practice law, legal assistants work on preparing legal documents, and assisting lawyers during trials. While their duties vary depending on the size and type of the law office, legal secretary responsibilities may include the following, as enumerated in an online report.
What Does A Legal Assistant Do?
- Performing substantive legal work, basic administrative, and customer service tasks such as answering phone calls, responding to emails, and greeting clients
- Keeping all documents of ongoing legal procedures or correspondence organized and up-to-date
- Conducting legal research to provide aid to corporate legal departments or a governmental agency
- Analyzing legal information and documents to assist lawyers with their cases, including analyzing case law and statutes
- Organizing documents, statements, and gathering pieces of evidence a lawyer will need for trial
- Proofreading legal documents, and eliminating any errors in writing
- Assisting with the preparation for mediation, arbitration, and other forms of alternative dispute resolution
- Assisting with the drafting of contracts, legal briefs, pleadings, letters, and other legal documents
- Scheduling meetings, appointments, and interviews with clients, lawyers, witnesses, and more
- Performing accounting and billing duties
- Preparing and filing legal documents, such as motions, pleadings, and briefs, with the court
- Maintaining and updating client files and case management systems and organizing and maintaining the office’s legal library and databases
Sometimes referred to as a legal secretary, a legal assistant, can perform various duties for a law office. Legal assistants typically have attained a high school diploma or a paralegal certificate. Their education and experience in the legal profession allow them to accomplish the job responsibilities of an effective legal assistant.
Can Paralegals and Legal Assistants Work From Home?
Since the pandemic, many professionals have transitioned to providing their services remotely. According to labor statistics, the Law industry was one of the many sectors that allowed several employees to work offsite.
Under the Law industry, the role of a legal assistant can be fulfilled remotely.
According to LinkedIn, one of the main reasons the field of virtual legal assistants is experiencing rapid growth is the increasing need for cost-effective solutions in the legal industry. Legal offices and professionals are constantly seeking ways to streamline their operations and reduce overhead expenses. By hiring virtual legal assistants or administrative assistants with legal backgrounds, they can access top-notch legal support with no physical office space or additional equipment.
Benefits Of Hiring A Remote Legal Assistant
Cost Efficiency
In any industry, remote workers are known to offer cost-efficiency. The budget-friendly fees for the highly skilled services of offsite workers are one of the primary advantages of hiring them.
The demand for legal assistants working remotely continues to increase. According to an online report, compared to hiring an onsite paralegal and legal assistant, a virtual legal assistant
Compared to hiring in-house staff, virtual assistants can significantly reduce operational expenses for law firms. By hiring a remote legal assistant, law offices can avoid costs associated with office space, equipment, and employee benefits. These cost savings allow firms to allocate their resources more effectively, investing in areas that contribute to their company’s growth and success.
Hiring Flexibility And Employees’ Scalability
To scale their operations based on their workload, a virtual legal assistant can provide firms with flexibility.
Law offices often experience fluctuations in caseloads. In connection, hiring full-time employees to manage peak periods can be financially burdensome during slower periods.
Virtual legal assistants offer a solution by allowing firms to access additional support on-demand, scaling their workforce as needed. Generally, remote legal assistants and paralegals can be onboarded as full-time, part-time, or on a contractual basis. This flexibility enables firms to optimize their staffing levels and maintain operational efficiency.
Access To Specialized Expertise & Bigger Talent Pool
Many legal assistants who work remotely often specialize in specific practice areas. They offer firms access to a diverse range of expertise. Some examples of this specific expertise are personal injury, intellectual property, and corporate law.
Despite the competitive job market, firms and attorneys can still find virtual legal assistants and paralegals with the necessary knowledge and skills to handle detailed tasks. This specialization allows firms to tap into the expertise of virtual paralegals and legal assistants to accomplish specific job duties without the need for extensive training, enhancing the overall efficiency and quality of their legal services.
Increased Productivity And Focus
Partners and managers in law firms can free up valuable time to focus on core legal work by delegating administrative duties, paralegal tasks, and repetitive chores to virtual legal assistants.
Commonly, virtual legal assistants can prepare documents, and utilize electronic filing systems. Moreover, they can also establish communication with clients, opposing counsel, federal government officials, and judges.
Virtual legal assistants taking over tasks allow attorneys to concentrate on strategic case management, client representation, and business development. This increased productivity enhances the overall efficiency of the firm and enables counselors to deliver exceptional legal services.
Enhanced Work-Life Balance
The remote work setup promotes a balanced life by allowing workers a good amount of time for working and doing personal activities.
When a law firm hires a virtual legal assistant, it extends beyond the benefits of the office. According to an online report, it also provides opportunities for partners and onsite employees to achieve a better work-life balance. With virtual assistants taking care of administrative tasks, partners and onsite employees can allocate more time to their personal lives, reducing stress and burnout.
Geographic Independence
Another advantage of hiring a remote legal assistant is allowing law firms to overcome geographical limitations when seeking specialized talent. Since a virtual legal assistant works outside of the office, firms can hire from different regions or even different countries.
The geographic independence gives firms access to a global talent pool. It effectively broadens the possibilities to find the most suitable and highly skilled virtual assistants, regardless of their physical location. It also opens doors to serving clients located in different jurisdictions, expanding the reach and potential client base of the firm.
Improved Client Service
Finally, hiring a legal virtual assistant can help improve the general legal experience of clients in any firm.
Remote paralegals and legal assistants can manage client communication 24/7. Existing clients and prospective leads will feel more valuable when they can reach a representative at any point of the day.
How To Identify A Qualified Remote Legal Assistant
Candidates with a bachelor’s degree in legal studies, an associate’s degree, or formal education and work experience with law-related jobs stand out during the hiring process.
Employers should also determine the skills of applicants through an assessment test. This approach is also known asskills-based hiring. It is a recruitment approach in which candidates are evaluated based on quantifiable talents and skills rather than subjective factors like education or past work experience.
Schedule An Appointment With Remote Raven, The Best Workforce Solutions Company
Are you interested in finding a highly skilled virtual legal assistant? Remote Raven can connect your law firm with qualified remote workers from the Philippines. The company has an experienced Talent Acquisition Specialist who will conduct background checks to assess the capabilities and determine any security risks.
Remote Raven can help you and your firm compose a legal assistant job description to enumerate the tasks entailed by the work position. For example, to provide efficient administrative support to professionals in the legal field, a virtual legal assistant should possess a strong understanding of legal terminology.
Besides the necessary educational requirements, Remote Raven can help you and your firm find the best virtual assistant with the compatible skills to manage legal secretary tasks and other needs in your company.
The outsourcing-offshoring talent agency has provided workforce solutions to various businesses in different industries. Remote Raven’s experience in finding qualified remote Filipino workers, and identifying the best candidates can help your firm grow and succeed.
Contact Remote Raven now and schedule an appointment to talk about your business needs!
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