I love reading articles like this one from Law.Com’s Legal Technology section (hat tip to @nikiblack for pointing it out!) It reminds us all, lawyers and businesses like mine that serve lawyers, to look at how we are storing our files and protecting them.

What kind of security do you have in place on your computer? What kind of backup do you use?

Personally I have a couple of systems in place. I do password protect my computer files. I don’t send confidential data via email and I have a couple of backup methods in place. I use both an external hard drive and SugarSync, a platform that allows me access to my documents across all of my computers and acts as a continuous backup on those computers. I can also access my documents from any computer or even my mobile phone with my username and password. I also always use strong passwords (ie – not my name, my kids names etc!) that contain letters, numbers and characters. Better safe than sorry!

I know there are a lot of lawyers out there who are, understandably, concerned about cloud applications and storage methods. I think with the right research though you can find the right service providers and detailed information to help you see the many benefits of utilizing some cloud apps in your law practice. I know they are key to helping me easily run my virtual legal assistant practice!

As usual I was spending a little time after dinner tonight catching up on some Twitter. I read this tweet from @SamGlover which sent me on over to the recently re-launched Lawyerist. There are tons of interesting posts to read there, but the one that really caught my eye tonight was one that talked about what applications, software etc Sam uses to run his law practice.

I not only enjoyed reading what Sam uses for his legal practice, but also the different choices made by the commentors. So I decided to put together a quick post outlining the various applications/software I use to run my virtual legal assistant practice.

• Calendar: Google calendar/wall calendar combo
• Tasks/to-dos: Teamwork PM
• Contacts: Gmail
• Email: Gmail/mobile Gmail from smartphone while on the go
• Word processing/documents: Word 2007, Open Office, PaperPort
• PDF Creation: Adobe/CutePDF
• Timekeeping/billing: Quickbooks
• Bookkeeping/accounting: Quickbooks/accountant
• Backup: External hardrive and SugarSync (love how SugarSync securely lets me access all from laptop/desktop/mobile phone)
• Client/Project Management: TeamWork PM (256 bit SSL)
• Blogging/Website: Wordpress self-hosted

Like Sam and several of his commentors I’m a big fan of cloud computing. I like to be able to access my work from anywhere – my main computer is a laptop for that very reason! And while I know not everyone trusts “the cloud”, I research applications quite carefully before choosing them and feel pretty confident that I’ve made choices that will protect my clients information and my own.

So how does your office run? Does your work live in the cloud at all?!

Welcome to my series on partnering with a virtual legal assistant! If you are a solo lawyer, or part of a smallish law practice, and you know you need some administrative help, this is a great place to start.

A virtual legal assistant (aka virtual paralegal or virtual assistant specializing in legal assistance) can provide a truly wonderful solution to a lawyer’s needs. A virtual legal assistant is an independent business owner who will provide basically any services an in-house legal assistant or paralegal would provide, but the services will be provided on a contract basis. You may hire the VLA to work on an hourly basis, a per project basis or some other arrangement that is mutually agreeable.  If you need some information about what services a virtual legal assistant can perform take a look at this list.

Part 1 of my Partnering with a virtual legal assistant series addresses a simple, yet clearly critical, question. Where do you find a fabulous virtual legal assistant (aka VLA)? Well, if you’re here anyway, obviously you could just check out my services! But really, you probably want to look at several options so I’m going to suggest some general resources and some individual virtual legal assistants you may want to consider:

Previously I’ve suggested that Twitter is one great way to look for a virtual assistant, and that still applies to looking for a virtual legal assistant. Virtual paralegals are not quite as large of a subgroup on Twitter as general VAs, but there are some great ones who love to Tweet. I suggest using a site like Twellow to find a Twittering VLA.

Another option for finding a great virtual legal assistant is to utilize a virtual assistant directory/forum. Most offer a listing of their members and may note any specialties the VA may focus on, allowing you to weed out any without a legal background. A few of the leading virtual assistant directories are:

Virtual Assistant Forums (by specialty)
VAnetworking Directory (by location, but not specialty)
IVAA’s Member Directory (by specialty)

Similarly, if you want to work with a virtual assistant who belongs to one of the above types of virtual assistant organizations, you can look submit a Request for Proposals (RFP) on their sites, but be prepared for a lot of responses, of which several may be people who want to do legal work, but won’t necessarily have a legal background.

You definitely should consider checking out a few of the following virtual assistants who I happen to know specialize in legal/paralegal services:

Tina Hilton of Clerical Advantage

Dawn Draper of The Virtual Paralegal

Andrea Cannavina of Legal Typist

Kate of Kerans Virtual Assistance

Aretha Gaskin The Virtual Legal Assistant

Marion of The Satellite Secretary

And of course, as with almost any service provider, a good place to “look” for them is to ask your own inner circle. Do any of your colleagues recommend a particular virtual legal assistant? Does your favorite legal blog author recommend his/her virtual paralegal to others? You’d be surprised at the number of people who are familiar in your regular (aka offline!) life who are familiar with the concept and might even know someone who provides such services. Just the other day I was at my local credit union and I was so impressed to learn my banker is familiar with virtual assistance!!

If you have any suggestions to share or questions you’d like addressed in this series in the future, please leave a comment or email me at laurie@halosecretarial.com!

I know this topic has been done to death – what should we call ourselves, is a virtual assistant a good name etc. I’ve addressed it before myself and  I’ve never really been able to come to a satisfactory conclusion although obviously I did choose my business name as Halo Secretarial Services not Halo Virtual (although I do own domain names for both, lol!) I even had a great suggestion not long ago to call myself a practice project manager after I wrote this post on project management for lawyers (hat tip to @matthomann for that suggestion – still thinking about it!)

I had someone find, and hire, me today though by doing a local search for “Spruce Grove Secretarial Services”. Awesome!! I rank #1 on Google for that (not exactly shocking – it’s a small city), but I realize I don’t rank so highly for Spruce Grove Virtual Assistant, let alone just “virtual assistant”. Partially just because I’ve mostly marketed online, not in my own town. I did send out post cards to lawyers in Edmonton and elsewhere in Alberta to let them know that a local virtual legal assistant was available, haven’t had any response from that yet. I also think though that despite the fact that many who do admin work don’t like to be called a secretary, it is still a very well known and widely used title. And ultimately, as long as my clients understand what I can do for them and happily pay a fair rate for the work I do, that’s enough for me. A title is just a word and words can be so limiting. So call me a legal assistant, a secretary, a practice manager, etc. etc. – it’s all good!

Anyway – just wanted to share my excitement about the search results and the new client. I’ve had a great couple of weeks for new clients and I’m so thrilled my practice is growing.

I just read the tuition announcement from Solo Practice University (courtesy of founder Susan Cartier Liebel via Twitter).

I’ve been keep an eye on all the amazing faculty announcements and developments happening over at SPU recently and I have to say it sounds like such an amazing concept! I can’t imagine a better way for new lawyers to learn about running a solo law practice. Topics that will be covered include blogging for your law practice, business strategies, virtual law practices, marketing for attorneys, technology, along with many in-depth courses on specific legal areas like accident law, trial law, entertainment law, estate planning and so many other great topics!

I also was so impressed to see that a virtual legal assistant will be on the faculty. Aretha Gaskin is the owner of The Virtual Legal Assistant and a respected member of the virtual assistant community. Having a professional virtual legal assistant educating new solo attorneys on the benefits of utilizing virtual legal assistants and virtual paralegals can only be good for our industry.

I think Solo Practice University is a model for virtual education and I personally would love to see something similar in the virtual assistant industry! There are plenty of learning programs, books, and certification processes available, but most are over-priced and several offer little value at all. There are definitely some good (and reasonably priced!) books available, but to have an interactive community of learning and support like what SPU is offering would be amazing. And if the legal community can provide it at such a reasonable price, the virtual assistant industryshould be able to offer it at a price that is affordable to those just starting out or considering their options.

Anyway, if you have recently hung your solo practice shingle, or if it’s a move you are considering, I highly recommend you check out Solo Practice University!

I wrote a guest post about Google Notebook replacements and project management systems that went up today over at the Small Business Idea Generator Blog. If you are looking for a great project management system, I recommend you check the post out – it’s full of details about several leading systems.

If you are a lawyer looking for a project management system, or like me you offer services to lawyers, just make sure you take into consideration security. Not all systems include ssl encryption, particularly free versions or the lowest paid plans. Currently I’m using Zoho Projects for my virtual legal assistant business, but also love the TeamWork project management application. The reason I’m not using TeamWork for my client work is that they don’t offer ssl encryption on their less expensive plans (only at the $49/month level) and I don’t need the project space offered in the more expensive plan.

Project management applications like TeamWork and Zoho (also Basecamp if you are familiar!) are  fabulous tools when you work virtually with your clients. It allows the service provider and client to share documents, make comments, set deadlines, etc all within a secure environment. Email is often not an ideal choice for document sharing, due to both security issues and size limitations on attachments.

Have a great day!

Do you think the recession is good or bad for work life balance? Obviously some think that the recession will make some lawyers work harder in hopes of avoiding being laid off.  Wow, what a set back that could be for finding true work life balance!

My take is that the recession can be great for giving you some extra time in your day, if that’s what you want. If you know your employer needs to cut costs it might be better to offer to work part-time and lose some of your pay, rather than end up completely unemployed if your employer starts laying people off. Already some companies are speaking with their employees about taking pay-cuts to avoid layoffs (Fed-Ex did it), so why not go that one step further and say here is a way to save money, and we’ll work as hard as we can while we are here, but we want more time off as a benefit of the pay cuts. Maybe you want shorter days, a shorter work week, or even just one extra day off per month. Time is a gift and may be worth the financial cost.

Yes, I definitely think this is a great time for firms to truly embrace part-time and flexible schedules. I left my paralegal position because I wanted and needed more flexibility in my life. For me being an entrepreneur was the right answer, but I had many colleagues who would have given up money for a part-time position. Unfortunately, in every law practice I’ve worked at it was very difficult to work part-time or flex-time. Many claimed to have flexible work arrangements available, but they weren’t easy to access and sometimes meant as little as working 30 minutes less every day so you could go home “earlier”. Let’s hope that one benefit of a recession is a little more appreciation for the people who want it all – careers and time to enjoy their life!

Oh and if you are concerned about work life balance maybe you should check out this conference in Chicago – the Get a Life Conference for attorneys – looks pretty cool!

I was reading again yesterday a post over at Law21 about law school and the legal system. It was a fascinating read since Jordan touched on whether students going into law school truly realize what the realities are for them once they finish law school.

It reminded me of when I first decided to go to school to become a paralegal. I took a couple of years off after high school (in my family it was a big deal simply to have graduated high school, there was no expectation to do anything more). I knew that I wanted more out of my life than minimum wage jobs and I’d always had a keen interest in the legal field. I did consider going to university and then law school, but I was well aware that it was going to cost me a LOT of money. I decided paralegal school would be a good option since the program was much shorter, the overall tuition more reasonable and i would still have decent earning potential.

It also reminded me a job I had at a law firm about 3 years after getting my paralegal diploma. I’d worked for a sole practitioner for those three years and gained invaluable experience. Then I went to work for a mid-size law firm. It was a very different experience and my first time working with articling students. They were paid barely more than I was (I made about $30,000 a year at the time). They often seemed ill-prepared for the real work of a law firm. Don’t get me wrong, they were smart and I really enjoyed working with them. It just made it clear to me that law school didn’t bother with practical matters, teaching a lot about theory and research and not much else. These are important things, but my opinion is that all schools should combine theory with practical work. An articling year helps, but it would, in my opinion, probably be worthwhile to incorporate some on the job time in every year of study. Why wait until all the studying part is over?

Thankfully for me, my paralegal program did prepare me quite well for my career in the legal field. The ten years I spent working for lawfirms further enhanced my skills, leaving me feeling particularly prepared for my current career as a self-employed paralegal. I love the work I do and I love helping lawyers meet their business goals. Being a virtual paralegal is a perfect choice for me!

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.

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!