How Much Money Your Small Law Firm Saves When Hiring a Freelance Paralegal
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.
Hiring a Freelance Paralegal Not Only Saves You Money, it Also Maximizes the Return on Your Investment.
Hiring a freelancer will save your firm money each year. Freelance work may cost more per hour, but hiring a senior level paralegal employee will end up costing more in the long haul. In hiring freelance, your firm eliminates the cost of those additional aforementioned expenses, saving you potentially $23,805.00 per year if you choose to utilize a freelancer full time.
You no longer have a staffing predicament. You will always have access to a senior level paralegal that can provide both administrative and paralegal services at an interchangeable rate based upon your immediate needs.
You will never pay for hours that you don’t need. A freelance paralegal only bills for the hours in which actual work is being performed, eliminating wasted resources on unproductive hours. As small law firms experience a great deal of fluctuating workloads, adding a freelance paralegal to your team gives you the flexibility you need in your staffing to avoid those unnecessary costs you only accrue during your firms’ slow seasons, while still giving you immediate access to an experienced professional during your busy seasons.
It is my intention to always set my prices in a way that provides you with your biggest profit margins. Therefore, hiring a freelance paralegal isn’t a business expense, it is an investment that can help you reach your firms’ bottom line. My freelance company operates in a way that provides to you a senior level paralegal, even for the tasks billed at an administrative rate.
Hiring a Freelance Paralegal Will Allow You to Increase Your Billable Hours.
I understand that most small and solo law firms do not have the funds to hire a human resources department or office manager to handle their interviewing, hiring, on-boarding and ongoing payroll, and other employee relations. However, someone has to do it. If you are the managing partner at your firm, reflect on how many hours you are spending on administrative tasks to employ your staff that could be spent on billable hours to your clients or leveraging new, quality potential clients.
“For lawyers working an 8-hour work day … they only bill for 2.3 hours of their time. After factoring in realization and collection rates, the average lawyer only collects 1.6 hours of billable time per day.” Macaulay, Don. Lawyers Only Bill 2.3 Hours A Day. What Happens To The Rest Of It? | the National Jurist, 8 Feb. 2018, www.nationaljurist.com/smartlawyer/lawyers-only-bill-23-hours-day-what-happens-rest-it. This is because lawyers are spending too much time on non-billable administrative tasks and/or do not have enough clients (or time to find clients) to support billable targets. Id. Therefore, if you bill your clients at a $200.00 per hour rate, you are missing out on an upwards of $1,280.00 in billable hours per day.
Contact Jaclyn Foster Paralegal Services, LLC today
Hiring me for your staffing needs will not only be saving you up to $23,805.00 per year, it will also free up your time so you can focus on billable hours and finding quality clients which, in turn, brings more profit to your firm.
At Jaclyn Foster Paralegal Services, LLC, I have only senior level paralegals on my team. Because of this, you are utilizing seasoned and professional paralegals that are specifically skilled and experienced in working independently, with minimal supervision. We are already experienced in working remotely, eliminating the need for micromanagement. I already have the knowledge to know how to prioritize your case tasks, eliminating the need for you to constantly assess and establish the priorities for your staff. Better yet, I will never charge you a paralegal rate for legal administrative work.
Not convinced yet? Here is how you can be sure a freelance paralegal is right for your firm.