3 Reasons Why Your Small Law Firm Should Contract a Virtual Paralegal in 2021

With the New Year approaching, many of us business owners find ourselves at the drawing table.  We stare at numbers, look at our client acquisition success rates, and scratch our heads wondering what changes we can make to improve in 2021. 

For small and solo law firms, it is undeniable that staffing is the foundation to your success.  Without good people backing your practice, it is nearly impossible to have good outcomes.  The turnover rate for paralegals and other administrative staff is incredibly high and rising in small and solo law firms.  The constant restructuring of staff is a detrimental cost of business. 

As your firm heads into the New Year, take the time to consider the lucrative and appealing alternative for your staffing solutions:

 Unprecedented Times Brings Staffing Challenges

 Let’s face it -2020 has been incredibly challenging for all businesses large and small. The ebb and flow that all law firms experience (with our without a pandemic) has been stronger than ever before for many attorneys.  This highlights and intensifies the staffing predicaments attorneys already feel on a yearly basis.  They are feeling overstaffed for those slow down periods, and understaffed for the busy times. 

This leaves law firms with two choices: (1) Risk overstaffing and navigate through financial hardships as a result when the market backs off; or (2) Understaff the firm and have the attorney put in triple overtime to stay caught up with the demand. 

With a virtual and contracted paralegal, attorneys managing small or solo practices no longer have to feel they must choose the better of two evils.  When you hire a paralegal on a contract basis, you have the option to increase or decrease your use of them to match your current and ever changing workflow without losing the feeling of having a full time employee. 

At Jaclyn Foster Paralegal Services, LLC, we match you to your ideal paralegal with the exact experience level you have always been looking for in an employee.  This paralegal will become and remain your right hand man, even when things get slow.  You are no longer overstaffing, having to sacrifice your own salary for a month or two to keep your employee.  On the contrary, you are no longer understaffing and having to nearly triple your hours to keep your cases moving forward. 

Unlike a traditional employee, we as professional contractors are here and amendable through the ebb and flow.     

 A Contracted Paralegal Could Be the Missing Component to Reaching Your Goals

Many of my solo attorneys have been forcing themselves to find ways to run their law firms without a huge support staff.  Because of this, they are finding and reaching their ceiling of revenue each and every month.  When you are trading only your hours for dollars, this is inevitable.  However, they feel they have no other option, as the talent pool in their area for what they can afford would never be sufficient to hire someone that can do their level of work.  This is usually why they contact me after hearing about our solution.    

We provide only senior level support at a price specifically chosen to serve and appeal to small and solo law firms.  With this, hiring us is only an investment and never an expense.  When solo attorneys reach their revenue ceiling because they have reached their self-production cap, hiring a virtual paralegal is absolutely the solution.  Attorneys can feel confident in bringing in more clients monthly knowing they have the experienced support backing them, all while never fearing the risk of having to lay off or fire an employee. 

In addition, attorneys in small and solo law firms are notorious for subconsciously not marketing themselves, as they fear they do not have the bandwidth to service all of what their marketing efforts may attract.  Alternatively, they may be longing to dedicate more effort into marketing, but simply do not have the time.

What I see my attorneys do with their marketing plans once they hire us for their paralegal needs is amazing and inspiring.  I watch them seek out marketing consultants and ramp up their online presence, brainstorm ways they can get out in their communities for seminars and networking, and overall increase the quality in the word of mouth referrals due to the exceptional experience they are now able to provide to their clients.

Hiring a virtual contracted paralegal makes it possible for attorneys to mold their practices into what they desired when they first opened their doors. 

Save Money

Most business owners are surprised to learn that, on average, an employee will actually cost 25%-40% above their wages/salary amount. Edwards, Michelle. “How Much Does Your Employee Actually Cost?” CPA in Erie CO, cpainerie.com/how-much-does-your-employee-actually-cost/.  This percentage is due to recruiting costs, on-boarding and new hire training costs, and employee costs such as benefits, state and federal taxes, unemployment insurance, workers’ compensation insurance, office space and equipment, retention and unproductive hours.  This reality doesn’t account for the hidden costs such as bad hires and lack of experience resulting in you sacrificing your billable time to correct mistakes or, even worse, having to utilize your malpractice insurance.    

The national average annual salary of a senior level paralegal with seven or more years of experience at a small law firm is $62,250.00. “Paralegal Salary.” What Is a Paralegal What Does a Paralegal Do, www.paralegaledu.org/salaries/.  Thus, an experienced paralegal will cost a law firm anywhere from $74,700.00 to $87,150.00 per year. 

This reality leaves attorneys that operate small and solo law firms with a staffing predicament.  They are faced with the decision of who to hire:  a cheaper legal assistant with no experience, or an expensive paralegal that will have to handle the secretarial tasks at a paralegal rate.

Contracted work may cost more per hour, but hiring a senior level paralegal employee will end up costing more in the long haul. In utilizing a contracted paralegal, your firm eliminates the cost of those additional aforementioned expenses, saving you potentially up to $24,000.00 per year if you choose to utilize a contractor full time.