What is a virtual assistant? If you request a fellow attorney or a friend to define it, you might receive a range of explanations. Some might think of pre-recorded phone greetings, like the ones you hear when calling a pharmacy. Others might envision remote workers managing social media accounts and drafting posts for platforms like Facebook. Some see virtual assistants as work-from-home paralegals who help onboard newly retained clients.
When attorneys were asked about the contributions of their virtual legal assistants in a recent online forum thread, the responses were diverse and extensive, showcasing the vast array of tasks these assistants handle:
- Drafting initial applications and pre-hearing briefs for Social Security disability cases
- Managing calendars
- Handling email inboxes
- Assisting in onboarding new clients
- Acting as a liaison with intake specialists
- Creating systems for better workflow
- Analyzing data
- Entering data into systems
- Organizing and naming electronic files
- Sending out retainer agreements and invoices
- Managing accounts receivable and payable
- Setting up new matters in case management software
- Closing out clients’ cases
- Recording expenses in bookkeeping software
- Adding people to mailing lists
- Conducting research projects
Despite the intention of virtual assistant providers to showcase value through a laundry list of services, it often leads to feelings of overwhelm rather than relief. Even browsing the service menus of respected virtual assistant solutions can leave one’s head spinning with the sheer range of offerings.
How Can a Legal Virtual Assistant Help You?
If you’re reading this, you’re probably exploring how a virtual legal assistant could benefit your firm. By now, you’ve probably:
- Identify areas where your current staff may need to fully address your needs (if you have any staff).
- Showed a willingness to allocate funds towards a solution, possibly setting aside a budget.
- Become comfortable delegating tasks, even if you’re just starting to dip your toes in.
- Assessed how urgently you require assistance.
It’s evident from the tasks listed earlier that we’re not referring to simple pre-recorded voice prompts. Moving forward, let’s define virtual assistants for law firms as human helpers who tackle tasks that don’t necessarily need an attorney’s direct involvement.
The Different Types of Virtual Legal Assistants
Within the realm of legal virtual assistants, various roles are crucial in supporting law firms:
- Virtual Administrative Assistants
- Virtual Receptionists and Live Chat Agents
- Virtual Bookkeepers
- Virtual Intake Specialists
- Virtual Paralegals
- Virtual Legal Secretaries
(Note: I’m excluding virtual law clerks and virtual freelance attorneys, whose contributions often surpass the typical responsibilities of assistants. Referring to them as “assistants” could undervalue their expertise and the compensation they deserve. But let’s save that discussion for another time.)
Have a Virtual Assistant Manage Your Key Pain Points
The top three crucial roles of a legal virtual assistant include:
- Customer Support
- Inbox and Calendar Management
- Data Entry and Document Management
Let’s delve deeper into what each of these entails and how they directly affect your daily workflow:
Customer Support Tasks for a Virtual Assistant
In the legal field, attorneys rely on virtual assistants to handle essential customer support tasks. These include providing case updates, responding to calls and emails, managing social media presence, and soliciting client feedback. Virtual assistants serve as the initial point of contact, offering frontline service representation.
Traditional office management responsibilities, such as overseeing physical office spaces and greeting visitors, are irrelevant for remote virtual assistants. Consider how these tasks will be managed if you replace or augment in-house staff with virtual assistants.
Setting Expectations
In addition to training on firm policies, task protocols, and office software, individuals in customer support must also undergo training on the firm’s brand, tone, and values. This ensures that any in-house or virtual assistant effectively represents the firm to clients and other stakeholders. It’s important to remember that assistants’ behavior and work performance reflect directly on the attorney(s) and firm owner(s).
The Benefits of Delegating These Tasks To a VA
By delegating routine tasks and chores to virtual assistants, attorneys can reclaim up to 25% of their workday. Opting for multiple rotating law firm virtual assistants or a virtual receptionist service extends coverage into evenings and weekends, enabling prompt responses to after-hours inquiries from potential clients.
Moreover, utilizing a pay-as-you-go model, such as with contractors or freelancers, offers greater budget flexibility than traditional staff arrangements. Costs are incurred only as workload demands rather than through fixed commitments. While some service providers may require monthly hour commitments, expenses remain scaled to output, unlike traditional employees’ underutilization.
Virtual assistants offer cost-effectiveness and flexibility and contain expenses, with scalability another critical advantage.
Depending on the outsourcing service provider and the assistant’s arrangement, minimal management time may be required from the firm owner. Larger companies often offer managerial support, reducing the need for direct oversight. However, some firm owners may prefer a more hands-on approach.
Ensure you and your virtual assistant are on the same page to avoid any confusion or letdowns. Here are some things to consider including in your agreement:
- Keep communication clear and regular. In a virtual law firm setup, staying connected is super important. This helps you know what’s happening with tasks and projects and keeps everything running smoothly.
- Decide on how you’ll communicate. If you like emails best, say so. Ensure your assistant knows you might not always want to do video calls. Choose the best ways to talk, considering all the tools available.
- Explain how your law office works. Every law firm is different. Spend time showing your virtual assistant how things are done so they fit right in.
- Talk about your management style. Do you want them to handle things mostly on their own? How will you give them tasks? Do you use a special system to manage projects? How often do you want updates on their work? How will you provide them with feedback, and how frequently?
Inbox and Calendar Management Tasks
In the past, inbox management primarily focused on email correspondence. However, with the expanding use of text messaging, social media platforms, and online review sites, it’s essential to consider all communication channels that warrant monitoring by a virtual assistant. Every platform with an inbox or messaging feature should be included, ensuring timely responses to inquiries across various channels. Whether it’s an email or a Facebook message, each deserves a prompt reply.
Calendar management involves scheduling, rescheduling, and reminding clients of appointments. Additionally, it may entail reaching out to clients scheduled for court appearances to ensure their punctuality and appropriate presentation. A law firm virtual assistant with directions to the courthouse, parking instructions, and other specialized insights can significantly enhance their value from moderate to substantial.
Setting Expectations
Calendaring demands meticulous attention to detail, sharp listening skills, and clear communication regarding availability, expectations, and, if necessary, associated costs. It’s not uncommon for consultations to require payment, so a law firm virtual assistant handling bookings must be authorized to accept credit card payments over the phone, through law firm billing software, or by sending payment links via email, text, or social media messages.
Virtual assistants assigned these tasks must navigate sensitive matters, balancing the client’s urgency with the firm’s scheduling preferences. When demand exceeds availability, they must diplomatically manage expectations, remaining gracious, patient, and understanding. They should also possess problem-solving abilities, understand boundaries, and maintain composure under pressure.
Seek virtual assistants who remain calm and adhere to instructions, as clarity in communication is essential. Expectations should be clearly outlined, preferably written, and discussed in a face-to-face (virtual) meeting. It’s crucial to enforce these expectations early to prevent foreseeable issues, ensuring you remain in control.
Benefits of Delegating These Tasks
Nobody enjoys the hassle of coordinating appointments with multiple parties. Attorneys’ time is valuable and better spent on billable work, firm management, and strategic planning. By assigning virtual assistants to handle inbox management and calendaring tasks, attorneys can prioritize their time, significantly impacting the firm’s success.
Data Entry and Document Management Tasks
Virtual assistants for lawyers play a crucial role in data entry and document organization, ensuring that information is stored correctly within software systems rather than traditional filing cabinets.
Additionally, their duties may encompass transcribing calls, taking meeting notes, processing audio and video files for secure server uploads, and drafting manuals and guides for firm operations. Surprisingly, the latter task is often overlooked despite its potential benefits. Frontline virtual assistants are usually best positioned to document processes in detailed guides, contributing to the firm’s operating manual.
In the event of a virtual assistant’s departure, this manual is a valuable resource for training their replacement or preparing the incoming assistant. It ensures continuity and efficiency within the firm’s operations.
Setting Expectations
Data entry and document management significantly impact case outcomes and client experiences, underscoring the importance of meticulous attention to detail for virtual assistants. It’s crucial to ensure that each user’s actions within software systems are traceable through activity logging. This means never sharing logins between users. Each virtual assistant should have their login credentials. This practice ensures accountability, allowing for swift identification of errors or discrepancies without requiring extensive detective work to determine responsibility.
The Benefits of Delegating These Tasks
The benefits of offloading duties like data entry and document management are akin to those gained from calendaring, inbox management, call answering, and other tasks mentioned earlier: increased productivity, enhanced focus, fewer interruptions, reduced time spent on mundane chores, and more availability to focus on casework requiring an attorney’s expertise.
The Bottom Line: Virtual Legal Assistant Services
Attempting to juggle every aspect of a law firm’s operations can lead to burnout and inefficiency for the firm owner. No thriving firm owner can successfully wear every hat and fulfill every role. Delegating responsibilities is crucial to free up time and energy to concentrate on the bigger picture.
Leveraging technology to manage commitments is essential, particularly in light of the lessons learned during the pandemic. Agile firms are better positioned to thrive profitably, embracing innovation such as AI in legal practice, outsourcing recruitment to experts, and new business models. Taking calculated risks through innovation is preferable to stagnating with outdated business practices.
Virtual assistants, receptionists, and other remote staff can seamlessly integrate with your firm’s systems, including case management software. They are the ideal link between your firm’s current and future trajectory.
Discover the secret to a more productive law firm. Book a free discovery call with Aristo.Law.