Now that you’ve read Part 1 of Partnering With a Virtual Legal Assistant, I bet you’ve made a short list of virtual legal assistants to contact but you aren’t exactly sure how to proceed next. How do you decide who is the best choice for you? Do you interview them? Do you telephone, email, instant message? Do you just jump and hope it works out? What questions should you ask?

First, I’d recommend you carefully review the potential virtual legal assistant’s web site and/or blog. A lot is revealed about someone in their website and if they have a blog it will likely be a fabulous source of information on their practices and opinions. For example, one of my clients had questions about how information would be protected, but before she asked me she read my blog post about using a project management system with SSL security and realized I had it fully under control!

I also definitely recommend going through some sort of interview process or discussion to see if the virtual legal assistant is a good match for you. Here are some questions you may want to address:

How much experience does the VLA have (in legal in general and as a virtual legal assistant specifically)?

Does the VLA have any certifications – paralegal diploma, virtual assistant certifications, ethics check?

What kind of hardware/software set-up does the VLA use? Does she use a PC or a Mac?

How does she charge fees – hourly, by the project, retainer? Is there a monthly minimum? Does she like to be paid by paypal or other?

How do you get instructions and documents to the VLA?

Does she truly understand about confidentiality and protecting both your and your clients’ information?

The answers to these questions will definitely help you determine if the particular virtual legal assistant has the capability to meet your needs. There is more to the decision though. At least in my opinion, one part of equation is going to be chemistry. That’s why an initial phone call may be helpful to see if you think your personal style will mesh will with the assistant’s. Our gut instincts are often very accurate in helping us decide if a relationship, business or otherwise, is going to be successful.

Another, possibly controversial, step you may want to take is doing a quick google search of the prospective virtual legal assistant.  Now, a virtual assistant is a contractor, not an employee, but still you may want to read Donna Seale’s series about using social networking sites as part of the hiring process while you’re at it.

Any other questions about the actual choosing of a virtual legal assistant? I’d love to answer them! And stay tuned, next week’s installment of this series will address contracting the VLA and establishing a good working relationship!