Most virtual assistants are freelance independent contractors who work from home. They usually do administrative tasks that are similar to what clerical help, executive assistants, and secretaries would do.

An article published on August 10, 2018, by Inc, stated that working from home is the world’s smartest management strategy.

According to Harvard Business Review, one study showed that those who worked from home completed 13.5% more calls than the staff did in the office – meaning the companies got one extra day of productivity than those from the in-office staff.

Your virtual staff may feel more engaged and productive. They also quit at half the rate than those in the office and were more satisfied with their jobs. The article went on to note more benefits and cost reductions of having employees that work from home.

Virtual assistants can work 8 to 5 or 9 to 5. They can also offer you extended hours of availability or work around the clock to make sure your tasks are accomplished.
Our virtual assistants are tech-proficient. They can assist you with clerical tasks and back-office management.

Hiring a VA enables you to work less, serve your clients at a more affordable cost, and increase the value of your billable hours.

Please see our page on  “Services”

Virtual assistants share their time among several clients, especially when you may not need a full-time person. You can use your virtual assistant as needed for only several hours a day. You won’t have to worry about whether you have enough work for them because they can take the work from other clients during their time away from your business.

Using a virtual assistant reduces overhead. They are not paid overtime, so there is no need to pay time and a half. You also do not need to purchase a desk, computer, or equipment for them. They do not take up office space. You do not need to pay their taxes, benefits, vacation time, sick time, workman’s compensation insurance, FICA, etc.

If you need a task done over the weekend, it is best to plan. Therefore your virtual assistant can opt to work on the weekend or delegate the task to another virtual assistant who would be working on the weekend. They may need to train that virtual assistant, so you should inform them in advance.

Legal Support Help observes major U.S. holidays. Your virtual assistant will be offline and spending quality time with family and friends on these occasions during the year:

  • New Year’s Eve
  • New Year’s Day
  • President’s Day
  • Memorial Day
  • Independence Day
  • Labor Day
  • Day Before Thanksgiving
  • Thanksgiving
  • Day After Thanksgiving
  • Christmas Eve
  • Christmas Day

When a holiday falls on a weekend, Legal Support Help will follow the U.S federal day of observance.

Our virtual assistants are from South America and the Philippines. As the wages in these countries are lower than the United States, we can provide you with cheaper rates than most virtual assistant staffing firms.

Comments to Model Rules 5.3 and 5.5 regarding the unauthorized practice of law states that a lawyer may delegate work to a paraprofessional. However, the attorney must supervise the delegated work, retain responsibility for the paraprofessional’s work, and limit the paraprofessional from providing legal advice.

Absolutely. Your virtual assistant can coordinate meetings, schedule appointments, and manage your Google Calendar with ease. Simply share and grant your virtual assistant access to manage your calendar. It is that simple!

Our virtual assistants exclusively use and manage Google Calendars. At this time, we cannot guarantee support for Outlook, iCal, or other calendar applications, although we will do our best to accommodate your needs.

You can communicate with your virtual assistant through several programs, including Skype, Google Hangouts, Slack, Email, and Whatsapp.

We work as a collaborative team, which means you will not have a dedicated virtual assistant. We believe that we need to match people’s strengths with your needs, and no one person can do it all. For example, you may need a nurse to draft your medical summaries, you may want someone who is versed in drafting demands or pleadings, or you may also want a Microsoft Excel master who knows how to do spreadsheets and pivot tables.

As a result, virtual assistants share their time among several clients, especially when you may not need a full-time person. Your virtual assistant can only work for several hours a day, as required. We do not offer an immediate turnaround. However, you may expect their completion within 24-48 hours. We encourage you to prioritize and set deadlines for the tasks.

Our VAs have been vetted for basic administrative skills. We have them work with our firm for a while before approving them to work for any other law firms or medical practices. Even though they have skills in administrative tasks, however, they would need to be trained for the specifics of your company to ensure the quality of their work.

You can train your virtual assistant using videos, screen share programs through Zoom, Google Hangouts, Skype, or screenshots and specific step-by-step instructions.

Keep track of all the tasks you and your team do for a week by writing it down. At the end of the week, write everything out on a whiteboard and categorize it by what is a dollar-producing activity and what isn’t. Consider delegating the essential but non-dollar-producing activities to a VA.

Here are some other questions to consider before delegating any tasks to a VA: 

  • What do you like to do? 

  • What should you avoid doing to make the most of your time? 

  • What are you not good at doing? 

  • What do you dislike doing? 

  • What produces revenue? 

Yes, your virtual assistant can purchase on your behalf.

You can tell your virtual assistant what you are looking for, then ask him/her to look for the best products, read reviews, and compare products online. Your virtual assistant can purchase an open box or used items – just a tip we learned when we got items on Amazon.

Your virtual assistant can order items on eBay, Amazon, or Walmart, then create a spreadsheet of commonly bought office supplies, their lowest rates, and where to purchase these items in the future.

Consider having your virtual assistant use Amazon Smile, which donates money to charity with every purchase. He/she can also use your Amazon credit card, which normally credits you with 5% cashback towards purchases. As they check out, your virtual assistant can show you a screenshot of your purchases before clicking the submit button.

Your virtual assistant can contact vendors, make appointments and reservations, and place calls for you. However, they cannot make sales or prospecting calls to solicit customers.

Yes and no. Your virtual assistant will be accessible to you via phone, hangouts, or Skype. This line is available for your convenience. Not all virtual assistants will be able to accept calls from contacts, vendors, or service providers on your behalf. However, if you pay for a premium virtual assistant, they will be able to take calls from your clients, customers, vendors, and service providers.

Yes, your virtual assistant can tidy up your email inbox. Just create rules and if then rules so that they know how you want your email inbox tidied up. For example, if you see this then archive it. If you see this then put it in this folder. Unsubscribe from these things. Our virtual assistants work exclusively out of Gmail and we cannot guarantee support from Outlook or other email providers, however we will do our best to accommodate your needs.

Your virtual assistant can organize your presentations in Google Slides and edit your personal and business presentations with the content, images and detailed instructions that you provide. However, as talented as they are, our virtual assistants cannot do design work for you. We do have several virtual assistants that can do design work in Adobe Illustrator at an added cost should you need something more robust than Google Slides. 

You can also request that your virtual assistant research and vet qualified freelancers and graphic designers for you.

All of our Virtual Assistants went through rigorous training so that they can assist you from day one. While we do not provide specific software training our virtual assistants are more than happy to assist you if you are able to provide instructions. Currently, our virtual assistants are knowledgeable in Microsoft Office, Microsoft Excel, Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Drive, Gmail, Filevine (please contact us for the code for a discount), Practice Panther, Asana, Tettra (Please use code VanLaw upon sign up) and Clio.

Your virtual assistant will happily find you an excellent bookkeeper or CPA. However, due to certain legalities, our virtual assistants are unable to provide assistance with Quickbooks or other accounting tools. They can however help you with data entry and spreadsheets.

Your virtual assistant can research and vet qualified freelancers or graphic designers. However, they cannot personally provide assistance with design projects.

Your virtual assistant can research and vet qualified video and audio editors. However, they cannot personally assist with video and audio editing projects.