Can a virtual paralegal benefit a solo or small office litigation practice? Absolutely! The purpose of this series is to discuss those benefits, and answer some of the questions litigators have about working with a virtual or remote working paralegal.
In recent posts I discussed a way to think about the title "virtual paralegal," the readily available technologies virtual paralegals use, and issues related to security and confidentiality.
Today we discuss another area to investigate when contemplating working with a virtual paralegal:
Trust. In all work relationships, trust takes time to build and develop. When attorneys hire permanent staff, they do their best to assure the new employee will be an asset to the team, and then take the time to get to know the employee's work first hand.
Of course, when a full time or contract paralegal works in house, the attorney can obverve his or her work ethic and output. But how does an attorney monitor a remote working paralegal?
First of all, every attorney contemplating hiring a paralegal, whether full time, contractor or remote working, inquires into the paralegal’s training, background, work history and references. In my home state of California, an attorney will also want to verify that the paralegal has met the training and continuing education standards required by Bus. & Prof. Code §6450.
As we discussed last time, all paralegals are bound by the same rules of professional conduct regarding client confidentiality that attorneys are. A qualified virtual paralegal selling services to attorneys knows this, and wants to protect the confidentiality of an attorney’s clients. Moreover, the virtual paralegal’s Contractor Agreement will no doubt address this issue.
In addition, a competent virtual paralegal will have enough work experience to provide a reasonably accurate estimate of the amount of time a given project will take. She or he will provide regular progress updates, and immediately advise an attorney client of the reasons for any delays or revisions to that estimate. A remote working paralegal’s business will suffer if she proves herself unable to perform the requested work in the allotted time frame.
Attorneys and firms will want to vet any virtual paralegal they are considering hiring. Perhaps they will even want to spend time developing a professional relationship prior to hire, or assign small jobs to see how the paralegal performs before entrusting her with major projects.
As with all other aspects of the working relationship, clear and frequent communication is the key to developing trust when working with a virtual paralegal. When each party communicates clearly about his or her expectations, the project instructions, and the progress being made, everyone wins.
And finally we come to the last question to consider in hiring remote working paralegals: Delegating suitable tasks. Tune back in next time in for Part 5.
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