Home » Blog » Why Should A Practice Outsource A Paralegal?
There are many reasons for why a business or legal practice would want to consider outsourced paralegal services and paralegal staff augmentation. In this article we will examine the role of a paralegal in a practice or business and how to outsource paralegals. We will also provide a Top 10 List for why do outsourced paralegals make sense.Â
Role of a Paralegal
According to job post site Zip Recruiter a Paralegal job description is as follows:
A Paralegal works alongside Lawyers and has a knowledge of legal matters, but is not qualified to practice law. Paralegals provide a wide range of legal assistance and support to Attorneys in law firms, performing duties before, during, and after trials. On a given day, a Paralegal may spend time drafting legal documents, organizing files, and taking notes and transcripts for the attorneys they work for. They are often called upon to participate in trial research by interviewing witnesses, arranging evidence, and preparing exhibits. Paralegals must stay current on relevant laws, regulations, and legal articles in order to better assist their Attorneys.
We agree 100% with that assessment. The Paralegals that we provide meet all of the above and more. We also are able to provide them for a fraction of what it would cost to have them inhouse. However, that is just one of the reasons why outsourcing can make sense.
Why Do Outsourced Paralegals Make Sense?
There are many reasons to outsource paralegals and contract paralegal staff augmentation. We would like to provide a Top 10 list of Reasons Why to Outsource Paralegals in this article.
Acquire Needed Skills
Getting needed competencies and skills in the door is the number one reason to outsource staff and use staff augmentation services. Frequently specific skills can be hard to hire staff for. Other times it is possible to find staff but not within the budget a company or practice has available for a position. Getting needed skills in the door helps a practice execute on its goals and serve clients.
Reduce Costs
When a practice or business combines the salary for a role with additional costs it gets an accurate picture of the expense for every role. Federal and state or provincial taxes must be accounted for. Benefits for health care and retirement are also part of the package. Infrastructure and overhead costs must also be examined. After adding all of these up staff augmentation can often fill roles for 30% to 50% of these total costs.
Flexibility
Service providers of staff augmentation and outsourcing are able to scale up and ramp down quickly as needed by their clients. Companies engaged in staff augmentation are in constant recruitment mode and have ample candidates to bring on to serve new clients. They can also re assign workers quickly should a business need to scale down due to business conditions.
Economies of Scale
Service providers of staff augmentation are specialized. They also have critical mass. They have infrastructure in the form of service centers with 100’s of staff working in them. They have ample access to talent and are typically located in countries where there are young and well educated people looking for careers.
Speed of Implementation
Service providers are able to provide resources quickly. They have made the investments already to operate quickly and efficiently. Frequently they have people on staff ready to assume roles. If this is not the case, they are typically constantly recruiting and have a steady pool of candidates.
Focus on the Core Business
An often overlooked reason to engage with service providers of paralegal staff augmentation is the ability to focus on the core business and practice and the reason a company or practice is in business in the first place. Many roles filled by staff augmentation service providers are back office roles and roles that are not central to the mission of a practice. Assigning this type of work to someone who is virtual makes tons of sense.
Consistency of Expense
When it comes to staff augmentation agreements, costs and charges are well defined. The scope and statement of work are agreed upon ahead of time. Rates are typically locked in and do not fluctuate. Defined running costs let a practice or business focus on other priorities.
Stop Spending Time on Recruiting
Any executive or practice owner who has done recruiting knows how much time it can take to do it well. It is a time consuming process. Recruiting also comes with risks and not every candidate hired works out. Why not outsource the recruiting of staff in addition to the worker. Staff augmentation service providers are pros at recruiting and are engaged in the process every day of the week, and every week of the year.
Talent Management
The staff and resources are the responsibility of the service provider. After a client assists in the initial onboarding the service provider will manage the resources and also train up back up staff and any potential future staff additions or replacements. HR process and strategy is already in place with service providers.
Complement Existing Staff
In nearly all of our engagements, paralegals we provide work very closely with local staff and help them to be more efficient. While we can outsource entire departments it is much more common for us to provide several, a few, or even one person to support existing staff. We are typically offloading all the work that does not need to be done in person, plus back office work that is best done offsite at lower costs.
How to Outsource Paralegal
How to outsource paralegals is as simple as calling or emailing Valenta. During a call, virtual meeting or in person meeting with one of our Managing Partners we will get to know your business and the scope of work for the role you wish to fill. We will discuss important software tools a business uses as well as discuss already established workflows. We will discuss the timeline of a business and also ensure that there is a match on budget. Once this is complete, we will look to see if we have staff on the bench that meet the requirements. If this is not the case, we will examine our current candidate recruitment funnel and do the same. Finally, if required we will do a short recruitment process. Once we have identified the right resource, we will forward profiles and videos of candidates for review.
Want to Learn More?Â
Everything we do at Valenta is about helping companies focus on and have time for what they do best and their core mission. We do this through process consulting, digital transformation, and the automation of tasks. We also do this by providing staff augmentation.  Valenta is focused exclusively on SMB clients, typically enterprise customers with 10-1,000 employees. We have Managing Partners located in cities across the US, Canada, the UK, the EU, and Australia. Our Managing Partners work with other onshore consultants, plus offshore consultants, developers, and managers of outsourced staff to deliver the best services to our clients.
Please reach out to us here to discuss your staffing requirements at any time. We look forward to serving you and helping your business. Please find an overview of some of the roles we fill here.