virtual legal assistance

Parenting at the Law Office

Posted by Laurie on Sep 21, 2009 in Legal Practice, virtual legal assistance, work life balance | 2 comments

I read a great article thanks to a tweet by @lisasolomon today about a law office where parents can bring their babies to work with them – not just occasionally either!! Now that’s work-life balance for sure.

I’ve heard of some pretty wonderful sounding law offices ever since I started my virtual legal assistant business and had my eyes opened to alternative ways of doing things within the legal profession, but I think this is definitely near the top of the list in my opinion. It’s a small change, and yet it is HUGE for people who want that elusive “all” that we hope is out there somewhere. I think I especially liked that the initiative applies to lawyers and staff, as long as they don’t abuse the process!

I would have been shocked had any of the traditional firms I worked in ever offered a person to bring in their infant on a regular basis. Admittedly, since I’m from Canada many people were able to take a fair bit of time off after having a child without losing their job. Still, I actually think some people would have happily returned to work more quickly given the option to bring baby along. Our maternity is usually only partially paid and some people would love to keep a full paycheque without having to put a young child into full-time childcare. Actually, most of my places of employment frowned strongly on bringing children almost anytime, despite official initiatives like “bring your child to work day” or the like.

Fortunately for me, being self-employed allows me that elusive “all” that I had hoped for once I had my children. I can get my boys off the bus and then get right back to business while they enjoy an afterschool snack. I can fit document drafting around naptimes and usually still have time for a quick park break in the late afternoons. The occasional (okay, more than occasional!) late nights are well worth feeling like I usually have time for my clients and my children.

Time Tracking Tool

Posted by Laurie on Sep 1, 2009 in Legal Practice, Time Saving Tips, virtual legal assistance | 2 comments

I was recently given the opportunity to review Chrometa, and the review is now up over at Alyssa Gregory’s Small Business Idea Generator blog. You may note that it is a “sponsored” review, simply because Chrometa gave Alyssa (who then gave me) one full license for Chrometa in exchange for the press. The review is 100% my honest opinion though – so please take a look at it!

I am pointing the review out on my blog, though I have no obligation to do so, because I truly believe Chrometa is a tool that can help lawyers and virtual legal assistants who charge clients on an hourly basis. It’s a handy addition to my arsenal and I think you would find it to be the same!

Masterminds and Mentors

Posted by Laurie on Aug 25, 2009 in Entrepreneurial, Inspiration, virtual legal assistance | 2 comments

I’ve been thinking about becoming part of a Mastermind group or mentor/mentee relationship for some time now, and last night (when I should have been sleeping!) I read a great post from the Build a Solo Practice Blog over at Solo Practice University about why solo practitioners need a mastermind group. Whether you are a lawyer, a virtual assistant or any other kind of business owner, there are good options available for you. For example, if you are a virtual assistant there is a colleague I really respect, Alyssa Gregory, who has just started an intriguing looking program at VAHub, called the VAHub Club. Definitely worth looking into, especially if you are a new or aspiring VA!

I’ve personally looked at a variety of options for a mastermind group, ideally with other virtual legal assistants. There are some paid options, but my personal preference is for a small group with no fee, where everyone in the group would be treated as equals, although some members are likely to be more experienced than others.  I think a better group dynamic will be achieved without paying a fee. But I could be wrong and some people may not take it seriously without paying. Any thoughts from my wonderful readers on this topic?

I am definitely going to include this in my development plan – to help grow Halo Secretarial into my vision of what a virtual legal assistant business can be, a mastermind group surely can only help! Now, to figure out exactly how to get started…

Virtual Legal Assistance and Efficiency

Posted by Laurie on Aug 20, 2009 in Legal Practice, virtual legal assistance | 2 comments

This morning I was involved in a wonderful webinar all about finding and working with a virtual legal assistant. Larry of Rocket Matter included some poll questions, including one about support staff to lawyer ratios. This is an interesting topic to me, as I’ve actually got a really wide range of experience with respect to staffing ratios. My very first legal assistant position was one where there were three assistants and one lawyer. Then I worked in a firm where the ratio was generally two lawyers and one legal assistant and finally I worked somewhere where the official ratio was three staff to one lawyer, but due to general shortages, vacations and set-up there frequently was only one staff to every four lawyers or so.

Now, obviously I’m only talking about my experience but I can say that I think the first two firms were far better run than the last. In the first the lawyer kept very busy with clients. His staff could do everything else. In the second, a ratio of two to one actually kept the assistants both busy and happy, as they had more variety in their daily work routine. But when there are three or four lawyers to one support person? Things get missed, balls get dropped, lawyers do a lot of their own admin work. It was inefficient and created some serious morale issues for staff and lawyers alike.

Consider this when wondering whether a virtual legal assistant is right for your practice. If you get extra help will it make you more efficient? If you already have staff, could providing supplementary assistance make them more efficient? Correspondingly though, if you already have good processes in place and excellent administrative staff, don’t consider switching to a VLA to reduce costs. Depending on the size and style of your practice a virtual assistant may in fact not be necessary, or only needed on an occasional basis.

I read a post with some good points and law practices and efficiency over at The Virtual Lawyer.  Roger notes that to truly be efficient lawyers must leverage their time appropriately, whether by utilizing other people’s time, using appropriate technology or finding ways to package your services. Kathleen Brady shares some great suggestions about improving the productivity/efficiency of your law practice in her Law Practice Today article called Achieving Life/Work Balance Through Effective Time Management and in her post Read These 10 Secrets To (Fill in the Blank) Susan Cartier Liebel points out that good processes and choices will lead to a productive law practice, but also notes one of the most important points when it comes to growing your business: It Takes Time.

So if you want to improve the efficiency of how your practice is running, look at what you have in place, evaluate what tasks and work you need help with and then see if a virtual legal assistant might just be the perfect solution!

Learn About Working With a Virtual Legal Assistant

Posted by Laurie on Aug 18, 2009 in virtual legal assistance | Comments Off

Thanks to Rocket Matter, I’m participating in a webinar with Andrea Cannavina where you can learn all about choosing and working with a virtual legal assistant.

The webinar will be this Thursday at noon (EDT), which is 10 am if you are on mountain time like me!! It’s a free webinar, so if you have the time you should definitely join us. And if you don’t have the time but want to know more about partnering with a VLA, feel free to check out my series all about choosing and working with a virtual legal assistant, I have lots of great tips for you!

Outsourcing More Than Legal Assistant Tasks

Posted by Laurie on Aug 11, 2009 in Inspiration, Legal Practice, networking, virtual legal assistance | 2 comments

Last week I participated in a really interesting call with Laura Lee Sparks about outsourcing. Obviously I’m a fan of lawyers outsourcing work to a virtual legal assistant, but there are so many other ways to outsource and thus streamline your business and hopefully increase your revenue. In fact, as a virtual assistant there are tasks I should be outsourcing!!

Some great examples:

• Bookkeeping/billing
• Web site design
• Client intake
• Document drafting
• PR
• Call answering
• Court filings

I already do outsource some of my web design needs; I had neither the ability nor the desire to spend hours and hours trying to design a pretty logo for example! I also use an accountant to help me with my taxes and am working on training someone to assist me with transcription eventually. What tasks are you outsourcing and which ones do you think you *should* be outsourcing, but currently you are muddling along with?

Another point of the discussion on outsourcing addressed where to find good people to outsource to. You don’t want to waste time on in effective outsourcing after all! I realized I had never really considered it but even some tools are a way of outsourcing, like using Ruby Receptionist for call answering. And the best way to find help is of course to go to your network and ask for reliable references! Just yesterday I went to my Twitter peeps and asked for suggestions for one of my client’s needs and quickly hooked her up.

Speaking of Twitter, I have noticed in checking out my Blawger Survivor companions and many of them have Twitter feeds in their sidebars – love it! Check the feeds out at  Two Lawyers in a Pod[Cast], The Connecticut Employment Law Blog,  Leadership, Women, Lawyers, No Reins Girl.   Twitter is my biggest online network and I love how involved so many lawyers seem to be getting in it. Okay, and I love that clients have found me on Twitter too!!