I know many of you lawyers out there are realizing the advantages of blogging, every day it seems I find a new (at least new to me!) law blog out there.  Just this week I discovered Lindsey Krolik and MamaLaw.

I bet many of you are inspired by law bloggers like Grant Griffiths, Carolyn Elefant or Susan Cartier Liebel. Looking at someone else’s blog is a great starting point, but after that you still need to actually get your own blog set up, start posting and try and attract some readers. I was reading a great post today over at Chris Brogan’s blog, 50 Ways to Take Your Blog to the Next Level.  It’s great for current bloggers, but actually even better for prospective bloggers, as it is best to start out on the right foot in your blogging attempt.  You will make mistakes, we all do, but at least you can avoid some of the pitfalls.

I think all of Chris’s tips are helpful, but if you are just starting out I really, really recommend that you look at tips #4, 6, 11 and 12:

If you’re going to be a professional about your blog, carve out the time to do it right. Never, ever, ever post a “sorry I haven’t posted lately” blog post again. Ever.

It’s okay to use a personal voice. In fact, there’s no point blogging if you’re going to write like a cold robot. But keep personal and useful in balance.

Get your own unique URL. It matters in the long run, especially should you choose to change hosts. For instance, if you move off a blogger account at *.blogspot.com , you lose all link equity and page rank for that domain. This means you’d have to start again from scratch.

Consider moving to a hosted blog

I regularly search for new law blogs to follow in my google reader and I can say that irregular posting and lack of personal voice are two things I notice far too often.  Not much point in subscribing to your blog if you only post 4 times per year or you only post reprints of decisions.  Add some commentary, add your opinion, post at least once a week if you can – and more is better!

As for the unique url/hosted blog – really it’s important people.  There are options that aren’t quite the same but pretty good, but if you go with them (ie a site like typepad) you can find yourself stuck there because you don’t want to lose your traffic later.   And while I think Typepad has a lot of benefits, it’s not cheap, especially if you decide to go with something past their “basic” offering.  If you find a reasonable host and do your own wordpress, moveable type or something newer like Habari it can cost you around $100 to $150 a year, including your domain name! And there are some beautiful free themes available (I love these ones!) Currently I use wordpress and LOVE it – I had no html/css type of knowledge before and yet in a very short time I learned to manage and update my wordpress and even alter my themes a little!

Good luck in your blogging journey!

I was on Twitter earlier today, checking out some new followers and I have to send a quick thanks out to a couple of the lawyers I noticed following me today (yep that’s you Stephanie Caballero, Gerry Riskin and Adam Dlin)!  It’s nice to think I’m starting to reach some of my target audience!  (**found out that my new followers are courtesy of this great post at JDScoop!)

Also on Twitter today I found this article about Twitter!  It’s a great read, especially if you are new to my favorite microblogging/social networking platform.  There is one point in particular I think we all need to remember when using ANY new tool, it takes time to see results.  As noted in the article:

many professionals consider Twitter pretty much worthless on first look. But those who stay for about a month start understanding the value. I didn’t think much of Twitter for 60 days, until my casual mention that I was in Boston landed me a dinner with a nearby friend who saw my post. Since then, I have been invited to speaking engagements in five countries and even get to write a guest column for a prestigious old media publication.

Remember that old, old saying – good things come to those who wait.  Twitter is definitely like that – you don’t get 1000 followers in your first week (not usually anyway!) and you don’t make sales left, right and centre.  But if you interact with your customers and have some patience Twitter will be good for business!

If you are interested check it out and feel free to follow me on Twitter!

Thanks to Jordan Furlong of Law 21, I found this recent article from the American Bar Association, which is very positive sign of the growing acceptance of legal outsourcing, including outsourcing to non-lawyer support staff such as virtual legal assistants and virtual paralegals.

Lawyers with concerns about the ethics should be reassured by the ABA’s opinion on the matter.  A couple of points noted in the ABA article:

U.S. lawyers are free to outsource legal work, including to lawyers or nonlawyers outside the country, if they adhere to ethics rules requiring competence, supervision, protection of confidential information, reasonable fees and not assisting unauthorized practice of law.

And this:

Outsourcing can reduce client costs and enable small firms to provide labor intensive services such as large, discovery intense litigation, even though the firms might not maintain sufficient ongoing staff to handle the work, according to a new ethics opinion issued today.   Ethics Opinion 08-451 details ethics obligations of lawyers and firms that do elect to outsource legal work.

With a recognition of the cost benefits to law firms AND approval as to the ethics of legal outsourcing I think more and more lawfirms will start to take advantage of outsourcing arrangements.  2009 may just be a real turning point in the outsourcing field.

I found this article recently on the CBA website – A to Z: 26 Trends for the Legal Profession.  It’s a fascinating read and it posed the question – which trends matter the most to you? If you give it a read I’d love to hear your opinion!

For me, a few of the mentioned trends really stood out as areas in which the contracting of a virtual legal assistant could help legal practitioners manage and grow their business.

B is for BLOGS

You need to write your own posts of course, but you can get a virtual assistant to help you with research, coming up with some topic ideas, proofreading, managing comments and spam and monitoring google alerts for mentions of your company and blog.

H is for HOME

Do you work from home or a small office? If you do, maybe you’ve realized you don’t have much room for office/support staff.  A virtual assistant gives you a lot of flexibility to get help when you need it, without worry about them invading your physical space.

O is for Outsourcing

Outsourcing your administrative and paralegal work to a virtual legal assistant is a tool I really think lawyers should start opening up to.  Save some money, some on carbon emissions by eliminating commutes, save your time since your VA is going to be ready to hit the ground running and get the work done!

Interestingly, the article I mentioned is not that recent, but most of the items are still applicable and often have not been embraced by lawyers.  There are opportunities for those who have vision – reach out and grab them!

Check out my guest post about virtual assistance this week over at Grant Griffiths’ Home Office Lawyer. Grant was kind enough to ask for a guest post from me – I just love his work! Grant also has a couple of other sites you may want to check out G2 Web Media and Home Office Warrior.

Have a wonderful long weekend everyone! I’m going to enjoy it – we’re having a birthday party for our just turned four year old and getting ready to send the biggest boy to grade one!

Not too long ago I wrote this post on the financial cost of hiring a virtual assistant. In today’s post I’ll address a different kind of cost – the cost of time spent unnecessarily.

How much time did you spend on email this week? How many emails are sitting in your inbox? Have you struggled with formatting your documents in a time crunch or have you missed sending invoice reminders because you are too busy to get to them? Do you have a regular assistant but she too is overwhelmed with tasks?

Most of us feel like we could use more time in our days, but we rarely realize how much can be delegated if we find someone reliable, dedicated and trustworthy to take on some of the burden. The right virtual assistant will help you streamline the running of your business or your law practice and you will have more time in your day finally!

I read a great article today from Law Practice Today where one lawyer documented her first use of a virtual legal assistant and how quickly it lead to an ongoing partnership with a VA, as she realized the potential benefits were significant. One thing you might note in this article is that the lawyer needed assistance on an urgent basis – something a virtual assistant can often easily step in and provide. Virtual assistants each set their own working hours, but many of us are open to assisting after regular office hours, on weekends and on a rush basis.

I challenge those of you who think you don’t “need” a virtual assistant, but who are running a business, to document over the next few days how much time is spent on tasks that could be delegated – whether that is your email, document proofing and formatting, calling a client to schedule a meeting or doing a draft of court documents from your client meeting notes. Realize that if you gave clear instructions to a qualified virtual assistant that you could save all that time and put it to wonderful use – or you could just enjoy some free time!

The rat race – aka the “real” world – is not all it’s cracked up to be. Commuting, meetings, contributing for yet another group gift – working in an office takes a lot out of us all. If you are thinking about getting out and starting a home-based or virtual business I highly recommend you check out The Rat Race Rebellion or the blog of the same name. The authors of the site/blog are the wonderful individuals who wrote the book The Two-Second Commute, a book I absolutely enjoyed and was critical in helping me decide to start my own virtual legal assistance business from my home.

Having said that, you’ll understand how pleased I was when my google alert this weekend turned up a notice that of a hit on my name from The Rat Race Rebellion Blog – on a post about how virtual paralegals are a great option but need more media attention to get lawyers to realize the value. Guess that interview with the CT Law Tribune was a great idea!!

One big concern a lot of lawyers might have with hiring a virtual paralegal or virtual legal assistant is how privacy and confidentiality will be handled.

Even with in-house staff this is a legitimate concern that must be managed carefully. The ABA had an article that discussed some potential pitfalls in this regard. I think that hiring a virtual legal assistant would actually assist in this aspect, as if you hire a virtual assistant from another state or even another country, she is less likely to have any involvement with the principals of your specific litigation.

Once you have decided to retain a virtual legal assistant you can do a couple of things to protect your interests. First you can have her perform a conflict search of her current client list to see if there is any reason for concern. If there is a conflict she can refer you to another LVA who will be able to assist you. Second, have her sign a non-disclosure agreement as part of her contract. These safeguards should lessen your worries and set you up for a successful partnership.

This is Part 1 in a series about the most common concerns with regard to hiring a virtual assistant to help you in your business/law practice. Feel free to suggest concerns you would like to see addressed.

I’ll address actual monetary concerns first in this series, as I suspect fear of the cost is one of the biggest holdbacks for most people. Fortunately, it is actually affordable and cost-effective to hire a virtual legal assistant for your practice!

First let’s take a look at what an in-house paralegal or assistant would be paid. The numbers are going to vary of course depending a lot on where you live and how experienced you want your staff to be. Altman Weil, Inc. reports in a recent survey that the 2007 national average salary (including bonuses) for a paralegal was $59,973. For a specialist the amount is significantly higher coming in at $84,000. Payscale.com suggests the averages are a bit lower, ranging from approximately $39,000 to $51,000, depending upon years of experience.

Of course after you pay your paralegal her salary there are further costs associated with having an in-house assistant – computer equipment, desk, telephone lines, gifts on Secretary’s Day, and on and on it seems to go.

Sounds like a lot of money, doesn’t it? Especially if you are trying to keep your overhead down, you’re just starting your own firm, or you don’t even need full-time help.

Now let’s look at the cost of a virtual assistant. Most virtual assistants are paid on an hourly basis, charging their time in increments of 6-15 minutes. Others are happy to work on a project basis for a set fee. Beyond that most virtual assistants will charge for significant disbursements, for example if you need something couriered out to 20 people, you will be responsible for the courier charges. You may also pay a surcharge for rush or weekend work, although a lot will depend on your needs and your virtual assistant’s schedule. Other than that, there are generally no extraneous costs associated with hiring a virtual assistant. She will take care of her own taxes, equipment and benefits.

So how do the two compare then? In the case of the VA, you probably only have her work 48 weeks out of the year or less (you won’t pay her when she takes a 2 week vacation, or a few days at Christmas, etc). You only need your VA for 20 hours a week (or even fewer) because in the 20 hours you are paying her she is working literally every minute, or she isn’t charging you. Your in-house assistant is paid for 52 weeks in the year (you have to pay her during her vacation, sick days, etc) and while she may show up for 8 hours a day, she will during her paid time take coffee breaks or chat with friends or surf the internet. So how many hours a day is she truly productive?

So your basic costs would be a yearly salary of perhaps $44,000 for an in-house assistant. Add an additional estimated 10% a year for overhead costs and you have further costs of $4,400, for a total of $48,400. For a virtual assistant being paid $30 per hour, your yearly total would be only around $28,000.

I bet you are realizing that a virtual assistant is a very cost-efficient solution to your staffing needs. You have other concerns though – and we’ll address those in part two of this series – stay tuned!!!

I try to read legal blogs regularly – many are fascinating and thought-provoking, some are funny and some are really informative. One of my regular reads is Real Lawyers Have Blogs and he has a post up right now about blog spamming. One thing I really loved in his post was this:

And at all times, add value to the discussion. You went to law school. You have 7 years of college and graduate education. It is actually possible to offer insight and commentary, as opposed to looking for the next get rich/cut corners advertising scheme.

I personally have been working to establish myself as a blogger and as a virtual legal assistant, so I’ve been commenting, linking, etc. I try to either add value to conversations or to congratulate or praise a blogger because their blog has been meaningful and inspiring to me. In my time commenting I have noticed a few of these blog spammers (and had some comment on my site) and think it is really sad that some people hire someone to comment on blogs in this manner. It’s no wonder outsourcing and virtual assistance sometimes has a difficult time getting respect – I’m thinking that it is cheap outsourcing or low-cost (and low-value) virtual assistants who are performing some of these spamming tasks.

If you are trying to establish your online presence go right ahead and hire some help to do it – but think about the best way to do it and what kind of presence you want. As was quoted in Kevin’s post (from Simple Justice’s post Comments as Lawyer Advertising) in reference to one comment linking to a lawyer’s site, that contained broken english and no value,

It makes you look like a blithering idiot. Is that what you are trying to accomplish?

So if you are short on time and choose to hire someone, possibly a virtual assistant or the like, who can research your networking options, help you find relevant posts to comment on, find blogging material for you and generally assist you in growing your online presence – take the time to choose the right helper and make sure they (and YOU) go about building your presence in an appropriate manner. It will help give your business a better reputation.