Posts made in December, 2008

Change

Posted by Laurie on Dec 30, 2008 in Entrepreneurial, Legal Practice, virtual legal assistance | 1 comment

I just read this post by Jordan Furlong over at Law21. I know it doesn’t seem like it at first, but it is a post about hope and about change. And I was honoured that Jordan mentioned Halo Secretarial as being a legal secretarial service that is ready for the changes that are (hopefully) coming in the future to law firms. Being included with the likes of game changers like Solo Practice University, JD Supra, or Virtual Law Office is so rewarding.

Change is exactly what I was after when I started my virtual legal assistance practice. Change for me personally but also with an awareness that if I could do this, so could so many other people! I have many friends who are paralegals, legal assistants and legal secretaries who feel trapped in the world of big law. They hang on to the ideals of pension plans, benefits and employer provided equipment. They love the idea of having flexibility, but traditional law firms think flexibility is letting you start at 9 am instead of 8:30 am!

Being a virtual legal assistant allows me the ability to create my own future – one where my days are about finding solutions for my clients, not just about putting in my time. If my clients are having a slow month, or are taking a vacation, I’m not going to bill them just to protect my own income. I believe in results oriented billing – when I am doing work for you, then I deserve to be paid a good rate, but when I take a break and go for an hour long walk, that’s on my dime! That’s why I didn’t even go with the traditional virtual assistant model of offering mostly hourly billing or retainer only. I don’t worry about minimum hourly requirements. I simply provide whatever level of assistance my clients need – an hour a month, an hour a day, or working on a project by project basis.

I plan to keep evaluating the changing legal world too – I sure hope I always have the vision to keep up with the changes that are sure to come and the wisdom to know that the best way to get ahead is to be an early adopter of whatever new systems and technologies seem to be the most valuable.

Choosing a Virtual Assistant Twitter Style

Posted by Laurie on Dec 29, 2008 in Entrepreneurial, Legal Practice, virtual assistance, virtual legal assistance | 2 comments

I’ve seen a lot of chatter on Twitter lately about needing a virtual assistant. I think the start of a new year encourages people to plan for their coming business needs and Twitter is a great way to find a VA to help you streamline and grow your business.  I personally love finding clients on Twitter and I know many of my colleagues also respond to tweets about possible virtual assistant opportunities!

I do think it’s important though not to get caught up in the ease with which you can find a VA (on Twitter or otherwise) and make sure you stop and really think about what you need from a VA and be sure to choose one who meets all of your qualifications. You may want a virtual assistant with a particular skillset, a certain personality, or one who is familiar with your industry.

To get you started, consider these virtual assistant niches and how they might (or might not!) be appropriate for your needs:

• Marketing virtual assistant
• Speaker’s virtual assistant
• Virtual bankruptcy assistant
• Author’s virtual assistant
• Coach’s virtual assistant
• Virtual assistant catering to Web Designers/Technology Gurus
• Real estate virtual assistant
• Construction virtual assistant
• Virtual assistant to insurance industry professionals
• Bookkeeping virtual assistant
• Virtual receptionist
• Virtual assistant to wedding professionals
• Virtual legal assistants/paralegals (like me!!)

As you can see, there are many virtual assistant niches and if you are, for example, an accountant who needs some general virtual assistance and someone who can help with your Quickbooks work, your best bet is probably a virtual bookkeeper. But, if you need email management you may want a virtual assistant generalist, or you may find that a virtual assistant familiar with your  industry would be your preference. Of course there is a lot of overlap between the services offered by virtual assistants, as most virtual assistants offer some general administrative work.  If what you need is highly specialized or requires some training don’t feel that means you can’t hire a VA, as you will find that most VA’s love to learn new skills!

And if you are finding or vetting your virtual assistant choice via Twitter, do make sure to read through their tweet history. Does he or she seem professional? Friendly? Thoughtful? It’s a great way to get some insight into the person you may be working very closely with!

Take care!

Merry Christmas

Posted by Laurie on Dec 22, 2008 in blogging, Family, work life balance | Comments Off

I know, it’s not Christmas for a few days yet. But I’m not really planning on blogging much, or even – gasp – Tweeting that much, over the next few days. I am doing work for my clients and some research for a project, but otherwise this week is about family. I’ll be enjoying my children, getting together with friends, and doing even more baking in preparation for dinner on the big day (next on the agenda is homemade pie!!)

In fact today, I actually kept my laptop off for several hours (I hate to have it off during the day, lol) and put together a gingerbread house and gingerbread Santa sleigh with my older boys. It was a wonderful afternoon and I hope you all are able to enjoy your family and friends as 2008 draws to a close.

So Merry Christmas everyone, and Happy Holidays!

p.s. I will have posts up next week – be sure to check in!!

2008 In Review

Posted by Laurie on Dec 18, 2008 in blogging, networking, virtual assistance, virtual legal assistance | 1 comment

This year is rapidly coming to a close and it’s that time when many of us business owners decide to spend some time reflecting on the year past and planning for the future.

This year was my first year in business as a virtual legal assistant and it was a great year in my opinion! I started out last January with a 6 week old baby plus two older boys and the knowledge that things really had to change. I had already been researching virtual assistance for a while and really felt it was the right choice for me.

So I spent the late winter and spring months making plans, starting very slowly to blog and hanging out at a couple of my favourite VA forums (Virtual Assistant Forums and VAnetworking) to learn all I could about starting my business. Thank goodness for all the wonderful virtual assistants on those forums – they really helped me figure out where I wanted to go with my business!

Sometime in the spring I discovered one of my favourite blogs – Home Office Warrior. Grant Griffiths (also of Blog for Profit) has so much great information on his blogs! Lots of info about technology, blogging and networking and running a homoe office (particular emphasis on lawyers since Grant is a lawyer!)

Spring turned into summer and I excitedly went and registered my business name at the local registry office. I found someone to help me customize my site/blog and I designed some business cards. August in particular was a great month – I did my first guest post, found my first client and got quite involved in my favorite networking site – Twitter!

Then it was fall. My darling oldest son went off to grade one, I went for my first getaway weekend since having baby #3 and I got another client! Slow progress in the client department, but I knew that good things were coming!

And now it is winter. Not generally my favorite season and yet, as we move into 2009, I feel a real sense of achievement in this year and so much excitement for the year to come. I’ve gotten one more client recently and hope for many more next year. In the summer of 2009 I’m going to my first blogging conference and next fall my middle child will go off to kindergarten, adding some room in my schedule. I’m going to make a big list of my goals for 2009, but that is another post!

And now, time to go do some more work and then make some Christmas cookies! Take care!

Independent Paralegals

Posted by Laurie on Dec 10, 2008 in Legal Practice, paralegal | Comments Off

So recently I was contacted by a couple of very nice ladies that actually live quite close to me. They had found me through my blog! They recently started up an independent paralegal practice, providing document preparation services for the general public, including things like uncontested divorce documents, dependent adult applications and will preparation.

And I have to admit that my first reactions to their business were “cool!” and “trouble” all at the same time.  What can I say? I’m a rule-follower, I like to colour inside the lines most of the time. The idea of running an independent paralegal business and risking being charged with unauthorized practice of law isn’t so appealing to me, although I do think independent paralegals can offer a cost-effective benefit and if they were regulated and insured they would be a viable alternative for some people.

In Alberta, where I live, there is very little that an unsupervised paralegal can do on their own.  In Ontario though, they’ve recently allowed paralegals into the law society on a limited basis.

What are the rules like in your province/state/country? Do you agree? Do you think there are better options? I read a report from 2005 about reform in Alberta’s system which discussed mechanisms that might give litigants more choices (unbundled services, pro bono requirements for lawyers, better information for self-represented litigants) but no solution will be perfect for everyone.

And for the record, personally I provide virtual paralegal services to lawyers – not the general public! This way I get to do work I love but my work is always supervised by a lawyer, and therefore completely “by the rules” so to speak! I do provide general virtual assistance to business owners and entrepreneurs, but not legal assistance!