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...

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...

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...

You want to hire a virtual legal assistant or a virtual paralegal, but you are worried about confidentiality issues aren’t you? Well relax, a good virtual legal assistant will have practices in place that protect your confidential information! There is some great information on this topic in this guest post by Tina Hilton over at VLOTech. Tina also has her own blog over at Virtual Assistant Conference Table that is worth checking out. ...

Carolyn Elefant over at My Shingle suggests in a post today that lawyers who are being laid off due to economic downturns consider going solo. I completely agree and I also recommend that support staff in the same boat consider a virtual career. It’s a difficult time to go through, but it can also be a wonderful opportunity to re-invent your career and your life. Have you always wanted to live near the beach? Or maybe you want to move...