A few days back, Andrei, a legal firm owner, connected with our business development team. Andrei’s business was in bad shape, and he was considering whether he could choose to outsource legal services and cut costs. Upon further nudging by our BDM personnel, he revealed the following major concerns:
- AI adoption– Law firms are increasingly adopting AI, and clients too seem to be either agnostic or prefer to work with firms using AI. Surely, the use of AI has led to an increase in automation, but it has also meant that Andrei’s firm now spends less time on a particular case. And since his firm used to bill clients by the hour, AI adoption has led to a potential loss in revenue.
- New Business– Since automation and AI use have reduced the amount of revenue that Andrei’s firm can now bill from an individual client, it has made him and his team seek more new business opportunities. However, with increasing digitalization and reduction in cost structures, the competition has grown more intense. Moreover, his team, comprising primarily of lawyers, aren’t very good at engaging prospects or following up with opportunities. Hence, new business is hard to come by.
- Lack of Recommendations– Andrei’s team, comprising primarily of lawyers, aren’t particularly good at responding to client worries or concerns over email or phone. Thus, most of their clients do not promote their brand through word of mouth.
As a law firm owner, do you also resonate with the challenges that Andrei’s firm is facing? If yes, then this blog is for you. In the following sections, we will talk about the solutions to these challenges and tell you what you could gain by hiring a virtual legal assistant. We will also walk you through the steps you can follow to partner with a company offering virtual legal assistant services and hire the best assistant for your firm remotely.
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Your Problems and Their Solutions
Our research shows that the challenges faced by Andrei’s firm are not unique to them but are, in fact, faced by several other firms. So, in this section, we will particularly focus on the solution to these problems.
1.1 Problem 1: AI Adoption
Figure 1 AI adoption amongst legal professionals
We found in our research that AI adoption is progressing at a rapid pace in the legal industry. In total, 79% of legal professionals who participated in a recent survey revealed that they were using some form of automation.
Our research further revealed that 74% of the hourly work in the legal industry could be automated by AI. Additionally, we found that the tasks AI could mostly automate include recording information and documenting, analyzing information or data, retrieving information, etc.—which together account for 66% of hourly work.
Figure 2 Percent of hourly work that AI could automate
Since AI is doing a major chunk of the hourly billing work, law firms are spending less time on individual clients. That means law firms that bill clients on an hourly basis are able to charge clients less.
1.1 Solution 1: Focus on Higher Value Activities
To increase the revenue per client, you should have your internal team of lawyers focus on services that lie higher up on the value chain. One way of making this possible is by opting for virtual legal assistant services to handle lower-level activities. As you hire virtual legal assistants to take care of tasks lower on the value chain, your in-house legal team can focus on personalized customer care and other high-value activities—letting you differentiate from the competition and extract higher billing from each customer.
1.2 Problem 2: New Business
In our research, we also discovered that driving new business continues to be a lingering challenge for law firms. The challenge has become more pronounced as clients have become more sensitive to prices and can easily access alternative legal firms due to growing competition.
On the other hand, as law firms aren’t able to extract the same amount of billing from their clients as they could previously do due to a reduction in the billing hours, they are in a hurry to attract more customers. However, it is not always sustainable to reduce prices and be the cheapest player in the market to attract customers.
Another factor that doesn’t help law firms is that lawyers or solicitors aren’t usually trained in marketing and sales. Therefore, they often fail to engage prospects or follow up on potential opportunities. For example, a recent survey conducted on 500 law firms found that only 52% responded to phone calls and 67% responded to emails with customer queries.
Figure 3 Response of phone calls and emails
The law firm websites do not offer much help to clients either, as only 30% could understand the process of hiring a lawyer and 14% could figure out pricing information through the website.
1.2 Solution 2: Hire Virtual Legal Assistant
It is understandable that lawyers are not experts in client follow-ups and maintaining engagements. This is where you can score brownie points by hiring a virtual legal assistant. When you have a virtual employee to offer virtual legal assistant services, you can relax knowing that the individual will take care of tasks like email outreach and management, client communication, appointment setting, and calendar management.
This automatically leads to better follow-ups on customer queries while helping you offer personalized attention to each customer. Moreover, with the virtual legal assistant managing your appointment setting and calendars, your legal team won’t miss appointments—resulting in more satisfied customers.
1.3 Problem 3: Lack of Word-of-Mouth Promotion
Research shows that 73% of customers who are likely to connect with a law firm regarding their problem are unlikely to recommend them. Thus, most law firms aren’t able to benefit from word-of-mouth promotions.
Figure 4 Shoppers likelihood to recommend
1.3 Solution 3: Hire Virtual Legal Assistant
A primary reason behind customers not wanting to recommend a law firm is the poor experience they have while communicating with its representatives. Again, this is where you could benefit immensely by hiring a virtual legal assistant or outsourcing legal services.
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Sourcing the Virtual Legal Assistant
Through the discussion in the above pages, we could understand why law firms should hire virtual legal assistants and how they could solve many of the challenges that law firms face. The question now arises: how to choose and hire the perfect virtual legal assistant for your firm?
In your quest to hire a virtual legal assistant, you could choose to follow different methods: 1. Working with freelancers 2. Outsource legal services 3. Partner with a remote staffing organization.
2.1 Working with Freelancers
One of your options is to choose freelancers offering virtual legal assistant services. Through this alternative, you can hire a person at a fraction of the local hiring rate. However, finding the perfect resource on freelancing platforms is similar to trying to find a needle in a haystack. Therefore, while this option is possible, it is often time-consuming and filled with hassles. Moreover, freelancers often take on multiple projects simultaneously. This can jeopardize the final delivery or timeline of your project.
2.2 Outsourcing
A second alternative is to outsource legal services to partner firms. Outsourcing lets you save costs, leverage the benefits of economies of scale, and increase focus on your core competencies. However, with outsourcing, you tend to lose control of the operations.
2.3 Partnering with Remote Staffing Organization
The third alternative is to partner with a remote staffing organization to hire individuals specializing in virtual legal assistant services. By hiring a virtual legal assistant through a remote staffing partner, you can save costs, hire faster, scale freely, and experience more flexibility. Moreover, as the virtual legal assistants you hire through a remote staffing partner report directly to you, you experience full operational control.
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Choosing and Hiring the Perfect Virtual Legal Assistant
The beauty of partnering with a remote staffing organization to hire a virtual legal assistant is that you don’t have to source the candidate yourself. A premier remote staffing organization like Remote Resource® has a pre-vetted talent pool of top candidates who are communication-savvy, shift-friendly, and give their 200% commitment to grow your business.
Once you present your requirements, Remote Resource® will present you with an assorted collection of candidates matching the same. You can then choose a candidate that suits you best.
Final Words
Hiring a virtual legal assistant has become a necessity for law firms trying to cope with challenges and stand out from the competition. Therefore, they must partner with a reputed remote staffing organization like Remote Resource®. Remote Resource® can offer top virtual legal assistants at a fraction of local hiring costs.
Connect now to know more. And if you are raring to make a start, get in touch for a one-week free trial. Yes, you don’t have to pay anything for the first week, and we will start billing only if you continue after the trial period.
