You already know that running a small personal injury firm is a full-time job. You have to be present every day, 100%, give your full effort, and work continually to help get clients the best results possible. But those core objectives can become far more difficult when you don’t have the support to help you tackle administrative tasks.
Maybe you’ve thought of bringing on a paralegal, but the high cost of US-based office help is making you think twice. Besides, you’re used to doing everything yourself, and you don’t want to lose direct control over the high quality of your firm’s work. Understandable.
But handling everything alone can lead to exhaustion, burnout, and a loss of enjoyment in what you do over time. So allow us to introduce you to the benefits of using virtual paralegals for your personal injury firm.
To be clear, what DocketWorks offers is far more than a virtual paralegal. Instead of a law student or recent graduate, we offer you the opportunity to work with an accredited fellow attorney who can help you tackle a variety of administrative tasks with professionalism, care, and greater efficiency.
We call these assistants International Licensed Attorneys, or ILAs. They work when you work, and you sign off on each task they hand back to you. Your personal injury firm saves valuable time, winning you back the hours to hone in on representation, strategizing, and advocating for your clients at the negotiating table and in court.
Minus the distracting bottlenecks caused by too many of what I call “satellite tasks”. So what are those tasks, and how much work can an ILA help you clear off your desk?
Your ILA can handle everything a paralegal handles. And as a licensed attorney, they already have ample experience filing motions, drafting documents, reviewing evidence, and summarizing medical data. In short, your ILA can handle…
How much time could you win back if you had someone capable and well-trained to handle this for you? 10 hours? 20 hours? More? The saved time allows you to get back to your core work, helping you take on even more clients, earn more, and focus even better on each new case you accept.
ILAs cost considerably less than in-office support. And to be fair, this is in no way a criticism of US-based paralegals. The costs of everything in the United States have risen considerably over the last several years, and it’s not uncommon for an experienced paralegal to ask for $70,000 or more annually.
ILAs cost half that for full-time hours. Don’t need full-time support? That’s fine. Book as little as 10 hours per week. Scale up or down as needed. You pay by the month and can cancel at any time. This helps save you significant money, and we handle all payroll and taxes behind the scenes.
You simply pay a flat rate and get attorney-level support each week.
So why do many smaller PI firms choose to take on virtual administrative support? For one, virtual support can be simpler. You don’t have to create more space in your office, and you don’t have to buy any new furniture, either. With an ILA, you still coordinate in real time but digitally, across secure platforms.
Many PI firms are also realizing that the valuable time and mental bandwidth saved by delegating some support tasks can help their attorneys work with far greater focus and drive. After all, you went to law school to help injured clients win back damages and regain dignity; not answer the phone.
Our virtual ILA program saves you office space, time, money, mental energy, and attention, all while keeping you in control of output. You’re now free to work at your best, head home on time, and still take on new personal injury clients.
So what qualities should a good virtual paralegal service bring to the table? For one, their paralegals should be an excellent value for your money. Can their paralegals answer the phone well? Are they fluent in English? Will they know how to handle a client who’s frustrated, angry, or belligerent?
At DocketWorks, we partner you with accredited professionals who fully understand how to handle emotional conversations with care, grace, and objectivity. They’ve done this work before, have clients of their own, and understand how upsetting a case can be for someone who’s hurting and just needs answers.
In all, you should partner with a virtual paralegal company that can offer you support that’s truly attuned to your needs as a personal injury firm. Genuine value keeps more money in your wallet and partners you with someone skilled, professional, highly trained, and capable on day one. And that’s precisely the kind of help and caliber DocketWorks offers.
Here’s what you should know: not every personal injury firm needs an ILA. If you already have a paralegal who’s heading home on time, if you have the bandwidth to get everything done and you still get Saturday and Sunday off, and if your firm is running at a healthy pace each week without the added support, you likely don’t need an ILA.
But if you’ve been waiting to pull the trigger on hiring in-office help, if your existing paralegal is working late or in danger of burning out, if you’re heading home at nine each night, or if you can’t remember the last time you had a weekend off… an ILA might be exactly what your personal injury firm needs.
In all, if you need quality, careful, diligent legal support that won’t cost you $70,000 (or more) per year, and if you need someone trustworthy and efficient to help you manage satellite tasks, an ILA could be the breakthrough your personal injury firm has been searching for.
Q: How much does a virtual paralegal cost compared to hiring in-house?
A: Compared to an in-house U.S. paralegal, an ILA from Docketworks will cost roughly half what you would pay for full-time (40 hours per week) help. You’ll pay less if you only need 10-20 hours per week, and can scale up or down as needed.
Q: What tasks can a virtual paralegal handle for a personal injury firm?
A: An ILA from DocketWorks can help you handle motion drafting, legal research, client intake, evidence review, e-filing, and client billing. The only things your ILA will never do are give legal advice to a client, strategize for a client, represent a client, or decide on your behalf whether to accept a case. That core work remains fully with you.
Q: Is a virtual paralegal the same as an outsourced or overseas paralegal?
A: An ILA from DocketWorks is an accredited lawyer who works from any one of several countries, including Pakistan, Brazil, and Spain. They’re carefully vetted for fluency in English, professionalism, a genuine commitment to the work, and strong ethics.
This gives them several unique skills and qualifications not found in most other overseas paralegal programs, allowing both of you to collaborate far better from week one.
Finding excellent virtual office support doesn’t have to feel like an endless, tiring scavenger hunt. At DocketWorks, we’re ready to pair your personal injury firm with a capable, well-trained, attentive fellow lawyer at half the cost of in-office help.
You pay a flat fee, then delegate with ease. It’s one of the simplest, most cost-effective, professional virtual programs available. Interested in seeing what an ILA could do for your personal injury firm?
Reach out for a Discovery Call with our legal support specialist, Parke Parker, today.
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.