5 reasons why you should hire a freelance paralegal
Hiring an employee at a law office is not just a matter of adding more support or an additional resource. it also involves several commitments, financial considerations, and time-related constraints not limited to the following:
financial burden of salary + benefits;
time to recruit, interview, hire, and train;
on-boarding period after hiring where the employee is not as productive; and
legal obligation to comply with certain hiring practices.
Highly consider adding a non-committal, 1099 contract paralegal (otherwise known as a “freelanceR”) to your firm for the following benefits:
1. cost savings.
-reduced overhead; they use their own resources and don’t require office space or utilities.
-they aren’t entitled to benefits i.e. health insurance, retirement, PTO, etc.
-Nearly 100% of their invoices time is straight substantive, billable legal time.
2. Specialized skills.
-they have a diverse background at multiple offices where they developed a unique skill set and thorough understanding of what what is effective and efficient, and what is not.
-their skill set can be utilized by the firm without the need of extensive training.
3. Flexibility.
-freelance paralegals are flexible in that they can be hired on a project-by-project basis based on workload.
-increase in caseload or a complex turn in a litigation case? no problem. a freelance paralegal can work as much or as little as needed.
4. Zero obligation.
-can reduce the legal obligation and compliance requirements that are associated with full-time employees i.e. labor laws, regulations, employee benefits, workers comp, etc.
-no long term commitment as required of a permanent hire.
5. Tailored focus.
-when certain tasks are outsourced to a freelancer, the firm’s core legal support can focus more on their specialized work , alleviating their workload of tasks or cases that may not be efficient for them. as a result, this increases overall firm productivity.
