It’s a simple question, but one that’s likely to resurrect a wave of slightly unpleasant feelings or memories. And every attorney will have a different answer.
But what we’re asking, in essence, is how many times you’ve gone through the entire application review, interviews, hiring, training, and departure cycle with a paralegal?
It’s a cycle that begins to feel all too familiar. You find a strong candidate, the interview goes well, then you find yourself setting aside crucial work to sit down with them, train them, and ensure they understand how your firm works. It takes weeks away from your cases, and you’re staying later just to catch up.
But it’s worth it, you tell yourself, and it’s all part of the process. Eight months later, your paralegal leaves you for a five-dollar-an-hour pay hike offered by another firm across town. They were genuinely good, you liked them, and now they’re gone.
Time to start over and wade through a sea of resumes again. Not to mention the weeks you’ll spend training someone who’s likely to be gone in a year. Is there a better way? A way that doesn’t waste time or need to be repeated every several months? These hassles are exactly what DocketWorks was created to end, once and for all.
In short, when you partner with an ILA, they’ll be the last paralegal you’ll have to train.
When you take time away from your casework to train a paralegal, you’re not doing one thing. You’re actually training for four entirely separate tiers of knowledge, over the course of weeks.
Here’s the excellent news. DocketWorks handles the first three training steps before you’re even paired with your ILA. Our training and onboarding process is comprehensive, multi-layered, and geared toward success and efficiency on day one.
All you need to do is teach your ILA how you want each task handled and the requirements and standards specific to your firm. And one of our account managers will make sure these processes are recorded and noted clearly in a formal phone call. That call is recorded, transcribed, and edited for maximum clarity.
It becomes a training document that goes into a vault owned by you. This means your next ILA simply reads that document and understands your processes on week one. You taught the skill once; it’s been recorded, and there’s no need to take time away from your schedule to teach it again.
We make sure the pace is reasonable for both you and your ILA. Your ILA will pick up two skills per month. By the end of month two, they’ve picked up four. By month three, they have six key tasks in their arsenal.
And every skill’s process is carefully recorded, giving you and any future ILA an easy-to-understand, comprehensive document that becomes a library of information, helpful for years to come.
That’s what makes this process so different. Each ILA comes with the basics already locked and loaded; you simply train on the exact way you want tasks handled, maximizing efficiency and saving weeks, even months of time.
This all sounds fantastic. But every attorney we’ve talked to also wants to know, “Ok, how long until this ILA finds a better offer and leaves me, too?”
Here’s the key difference between an ILA and a US-based paralegal. An ILA is a licensed and accredited attorney. They already have a legal career and won’t be job-hunting during their lunch break or taking an offer from a nearby firm for a few more dollars per hour.
They’re professional, loyal, hard-working, bright, and dedicated. And the tenure we see is nothing like what most lawyers experience when they hire a local paralegal. You’ll be paired with someone who already understands the importance of legal work, precision, care, and attention to detail.
And you have a training system already set in stone and ready to go. That training doesn’t leave should an ILA step down someday. It stays with you, saving you valuable time as you integrate your next paralegal.
That’s why we proudly and enthusiastically advertise that an ILA is the last paralegal you’ll have to train.
Q: How does DocketWorks make paralegal training simpler?
A: DocketWorks handles general paralegal skills, area- and state-specific law, and training on the exact tasks you’ll need your ILA to do. All you have to do is show your ILA how, specifically, you would like these tasks to be done (e.g., the software used or type of paper needed).
Q: How quickly will my ILA master new skills?
A: Your ILA will pick up two new skills per month. By three months, they’ll know exactly how you want six different administrative tasks handled, saving you significant time each week.
Q: Do ILAs have the same tenure as a US-based paralegal?
A: We’ve found that ILAs have a significantly longer tenure than a local, stateside paralegal. They already have their own careers and won’t take a slightly high-paying offer three blocks away. This improves security, longevity, and predictability for both of you.
Q: What happens to my training processes if my ILA leaves?
A: Your firm-specific processes are documented during onboarding and remain part of your training library. This allows a future ILA to review and learn those processes quickly, rather than requiring you to retrain from scratch.
Want to end the training-hiring cycle? With DocketWorks, you train once on the processes specific to your firm, and you’re good to go for years to come.
The rest of the training is handled for you, before your ILA even starts. So what’s the first task that you’d like off your desk? Reach out for a Discovery Call, let us know, and get to see the difference an ILA could make to your firm.
Grace Singh is a writer and editor for DocketWorks. She enjoys bridging services and client needs in ways that are meaningful, memorable, and human-focused, even as technology continues to change. When she’s not at her home office, she enjoys nature walks, reading, and brewing coffee.