How Flexible Fractional Paralegal Services Can Bring Value to Your Firm
It’s no secret that paralegals of all degrees can provide instant relief to law firms and sole practitioners. Paralegals and legal assistants have been around for centuries assisting licensed attorneys in the practice of law, and it is the paralegals and legal assistants that are often the master of the behind-the-scenes action of an attorney’s practice. The traditional model involves hiring a paralegal or legal assistant on an hourly or salaried basis as a W2 employee, but for emerging firms or solo practice offices that don’t have the current bandwidth to offer the benefits employees are demanding such as paid time off, comprehensive medical insurance, and retirement plans, it can be hard for these smaller entities to compete.
Thankfully, the concept of the fractional paralegal is becoming more and more prevalent in today’s legal industry. A fractional/contract paralegal is a legal professional who works under contract under the supervision of an attorney providing a certain scope of services. This arrangement is much more flexible and cost-effective than the traditional W2 model because it allows for easy implementation into existing systems, low initial engagement costs, and accountability among all parties involved in the working relationship. Below are some additional highlights to fractional paralegals, and why your law practice should seriously consider contracting with a fractional paralegal.
The fractional concept has been around for decades in various industries, including law.
Temporary and contract assistance is not a new concept. Multiple industries utilize consultants, fractional CEO and CFOs, consulting experts, visiting professionals, of-counsel contract positions, and even virtual assistants. In the legal profession, contract professionals are abundant: temporary litigation counsel, temporary legal assistants, of-counsel positions, and others have been utilized over the course of time. The fractional concept has also worked for paralegals and legal assistants, most notably in the context of filing in for other positions that have temporarily exited due to illness, family leave, vacation, or other circumstances. You should not be afraid to embrace the fractional concept for paralegals and legal assistants because it has been utilized before, and many law firms report successful arrangements either resulting in continuing work or full-time employment.
Fractional Paralegals offer decades of experience in various practice area.
Law firms and attorneys can tap into the knowledge and resources that a fractional paralegal offers that an employee may not be able to provide. For example, fractional paralegals have more range and selection with their own vendors for court reporting, discovery management, trial exhibit preparation, and case management software, whereas law firms may be bound by client billing guidelines, especially in insurance defense practices. Paralegals should be seen as experienced professionals that attorneys can consult with and not look down upon. Often times paralegals are proactive and able to suggest different strategies or flag potential problems before they become an issue. It’s this type of error prevention and strategizing that comes with years of experience which makes paralegals so valuable to work with.
Access to substantive and procedural knowledge, as well as knowledge of local courts.
Often times, attorneys are not the ones reading the local court rules or filing their pleading submissions due to time constraints. Paralegals and legal assistants are the individuals on the front line accomplishing these tasks. But what about ensuring the pleading formatting is consistent with local court rules? How about determining how many copies to provide to the court as working copies? What about the proper procedures on how to note a motion on a judge’s specific calendar? How do you obtain the remote zoom link to appear at the hearing? Paralegals and legal assistants are the in the best position to answer these questions because these tasks are often delegated to them, and with years of experience, the memory recall of how a process is done is very swift to the point where these trained professionals can handle any substantive or procedural request you send their way.
Significantly reduced overhead costs, time consumption , and fee predictability.
Since fractional paralegals are considered 1099 contractors, there are less costs that the law firm or attorney have to consider when utilizing a fractional paralegal compared to a W2 employee. For example, the attorney does not have to worry about calculating and paying overtime, since most fractional paralegals operate on subscription bases or flat hourly rates. This also means that the attorney does not have to go through the process of calculating the appropriate taxes to withhold, as well as any benefits that need to be added to the payroll, or any other supplemental costs associated with a W2 employee. When working with a fractional paralegal, you can rest assured in delegating your project along with a reasonable deadline, knowing that the activity will be completed by that established deadline. Additionally, some fractional paralegals may be able to give you an estimate of billable hours spent, which allows you to efficiently bill back to the client, making them happy because they have fee predictability and can budget for additional legal costs.
Virtually zero-loss billing, as all the work can be billed back.
Fractional paralegals love to help with giving back the attorney’s personal time and increasing attorney profitability. In credit to their years of experience and credentials, billing back their services to a client is highly justified. A fractional paralegal may be paid a similar hourly rate to that of a W2 employee, but because there are no additional costs associated under the contract, the attorney can bill back the paralegal’s services 1, 2, or even 3 times the amount paid depending on the value estimated and rate set by the attorney. This means that the work performed by the paralegal pays for itself, meets the necessary profit margin for the attorney, and usually results in a little more profit to the law firm due to non-existent overheads. This is a highly efficient arrangement for solo and small firms where every overhead dollar is paramount.
Low cost, easy onboarding, and seamless integration into existing systems.
Fractional paralegals should not be seen as direct competitors to W2 employees – instead, they should be regarded as additional support or professional consultants who exist in the marketplace to help law firms whenever possible. Their low costs associated with their contracts and billback ratios, combined with ease of onboarding and integrating into current law firm systems makes the value they provide they attorney priceless. You never know when a vacancy might appear in your law practice, therefore it’s always a good idea to keep a local fractional paralegal in mind for contract work to ensure the work doesn’t slip through the cracks, and that your clients continue to be satisfied with the services you provide.
Fractional paralegals can provide the main, ongoing support for your firm, and help you comply with the Rules of Professional Conduct.
The traditional model of legal assistance is that an employee is hired and assigned to work with an attorney or a group of attorneys. While the model has worked for many firms so far, the more flexible and cost-efficient fractional paralegal model is slowly taking over. There are various firms which work solely with fractional and contract paralegals as their main line of legal support, and these firms are thriving in ways that traditional attorney-employee firms could benefit from. In addition, a law firm which provides adequate legal support by hiring fractional paralegals is directly correlated with compliance of the Rules of Professional Conduct. An attorney has an affirmative duty to provide competent representation under RPC 1.1, and part of competent representation is having adequate preparation, use of technology, and utilization of professionals who can help accomplish the attorney’s objectives. Fractional paralegals time and time again demonstrate this and more.
You should not fear the fractional paralegal model or deem it “inferior” to the traditional W2 employee model. Fractional paralegals are here to stay and support, not run out the already hardworking salaried legal support staff. Think of the added projects your law firm could take on by hiring additional support in the form of a fractional paralegal, and best of all, think of how much personal time you can save by working with these trusted professionals. If you are interested more in how fractional paralegals can assist your law practice, reach out to the professionals at Momentum Paralegal Services for more information on how to get one added to your practice!