4 Indicators your law firm needs a freelance paralegal
Circa de 2020, I was amazed at how many law firm owners were completely new to the idea that paralegals would work independently and run their own businesses as freelancers, despite me having been in this world since 2018.
The rush of new clients came into Del.Trust because with the COVID-19 stay at home orders, many employees were furloughed, and law firms couldn’t afford to keep them on full time when the world came to a standstill. 1099 remote freelance paralegals were an incredibly lucrative option for these law firms, and they didn’t anticipate all the added benefits they could experience.
Now, 2.5 years later, law firm owners still utilize freelance paralegals, but many have seem to somewhat forgotten what a great advantage this option can give law firms for their continued growth and future success.
In this article, I’d like to remind law firm owners across the nation of the five indicators that your law firm needs a 1099 freelance paralegal on a subscription basis.
ONE | You’re completely solo and the idea of payroll terrifies you.
A $50,000.00 per year paralegal will cost you closer to approximately $70,000.00 after statutory remittances and benefits, not including standard office overhead and recruitment and onboarding fees. (GET OUR EMPLOYEE COST CALCULATOR HERE) This can be an incredibly terrifying leap to make for an attorney that has recently gone solo or started their own law practice.
You don’t have to jump from no help to 70k costs overnight. Freelance paralegals provide you the option to ease your way into that hire. They allow you to bring in help for a handful of hours each month, which enables you to start advertising and taking on more clients without losing your entire sense of work-life balance. This will prevent you from the feeling of immediate burnout and regret for business ownership.
As business owners, we’re ready to hire on day one. We just need to recognize what type of hire is appropriate in the moment. As your client pool grows, you can increase those hours with your freelance paralegal, bring in more clients, and continue that cycle.
TWO | You’re in-between growth stages
There is always this chicken or egg dilemma in business growth, and I believe law firms experience that the worst. Need the extra support to bring in the new clients, need the new clients to pay for the extra support.
With a freelance paralegal, you don’t need to be in that dilemma. With Del.Trust, for instance, you can bring in a senior level paralegal for as little as 20 hours per MONTH. It is a low commitment that allows for exponential return as it increases your confidence in attracting more business. As that business comes in, you can increase your paralegals’ hours, attract more, and increase again.
As you start to see your bottom line move up and up, you will know when you feel completely confident to bring in a full-time employee, or your second or third employee. Better yet, you don’t necessarily have to give up the freelance paralegal when you do this. They can remain a great addition to your team, and a great tool to continue to increase that bottom line in a sustainable and non-terrifying way.
THREE | Your local talent pool doesn’t offer you a senior paralegal option.
I believe hiring a senior paralegal is one of the best hires an attorney that is growing a law practice can make. Hiring a paralegal that knows your practice area like the back of her hand is invaluable when you recognize the load she can take off your plate as an attorney.
Senior paralegals should be able to create the first draft of a complex trust, be able to draft motions and memorandum based on their own legal research, draft demands and complaints that are near completion, independently work through the discovery phase, and keep their attorney on top of deadlines and appearances. They can manage the case.
Imagine how this level of experience would free you up and allow you to bring in more clients.
Unfortunately, in many areas senior paralegals must be made, not found. It is incredibly burdensome for a law firm in the middle of a growth phase or just starting out to commit resources and time to developing this professional. Not to mention, at the end of the day it is just going to take a lot of time, years, and exposure.
With access to senior freelance paralegals, you can contract this individual and reap the benefits immediately without worrying about out-of-state payroll headaches.
FOUR | You experience extreme ebb and flows
Depending on the practice area and your years in business, you may experience extreme feast or famine moments in your law firm. You know, where you’re drowning in client work one quarter and twirling your thumbs in a panic the next.
Freelance paralegals can offer a more flexible arrangement. You will always want to make sure you’re doing your absolute best to keep that paralegal engaged with you, as we can’t forget they need to make money at the end of the day, but they are going to be much more accommodating than an employee when it comes to “slow seasons.”
In fact, your slow season may come right around the holidays wherein they don’t mind the slow down and have prepared financially all year for less pay that season. In the end, it is more of a professional relationship that can be adjusted for current needs.
CONCLUSION
1099 freelance paralegals can provide law firms with a logical and strategic way to navigate growth stages. At the end of the day, all developing firms experience periods of growth wherein a new hire is difficult to jump into until that growth proves to us it is going to stay.
A lawyer that opts into leveraging this wonderful industry on their way up is going to reach the top much faster than the lawyer that chooses to hustle their way through it on their own.
Del.Trust has successfully staffed law firms across the nation with 1099 freelance paralegals since 2020. Our entire placement team and founder comes with a strong legal background and can help identify the right freelance paralegal to work with!