Virtual Paralegals in Litigation Part 2: You Do Have the Technology!

As noted in Part 1, many virtual paralegals encounter resistance among litigation attorneys to utilizing our services. Even though their offices might be perfectly suited to using a virtual paralegal, many litigators are most comfortable with a contractor whom they can see and hear, no matter how small their office might be.

In my last post, I discussed ways in which confusion about the title Virtual Paralegal can give rise to resistance about hiring us. Today I discuss the next roadblock:

Technology. Some attorneys believe they do not have the requisite technology for utilizing a paralegal working from a remote location. However, this is not the case. Tools employed by every office – telephone, mail, email, fax, scanning and internet access – can be used to share documents, information and projects back and forth with a remote working paralegal. In fact, these are the tools routinely used for sharing documents and data within the office, and outside it to clients, experts and the courts.

In addition, virtual paralegals are already set up to work remotely. They typically have additional tools at their disposal to work effectively and efficiently with a law firm client in any location.

There are a number of software programs available for securely sharing files back and forth between remote locations. The oldest tool is an FTP client (File Transfer Protocol), which enables both lawyer and paralegal to upload and download large files over the internet.

Other software programs provide secure on-line repositories for documents. While designed for safe on-line computer back-up, they also provide a secure means of file sharing. Using one of these programs, a remote working paralegal can create a series of folders and sub-folders for storing case documents. These files are accessible via link or password to both the lawyer and the paralegal from any computer or location. In this way, both lawyer and paralegal can store, access or revise any case related materials whenever they need to. Dropbox and SugarSync are two examples. (Note: Dropbox gets a lot of great reviews in the legal community, and for good reason - it's an excellent product. I prefer SugarSync myself. I’ll tell you why in a future post.)

Finally, there are software programs that actually create a secure collaborative project management system of sorts on line. They enable the lawyer and paralegal not only store case files and edit documents, but also to design a project, assign tasks to different team members, and track everyone's progress. Box.net and Basecamp are a couple of examples.

So you see, every lawyer has all the technology he or she really needs to work effectively with a remote working paralegal. It's much easier than you think!

However, this leads us to another roadblock to hiring virtual or remote working paralegals: Security and Confidentiality! Tune in next time for Part 3.