Life as a lawyer never seems to stop. The glamour and drama of TV shows like Suits and Boston Legal make many people think that courtroom glory and slick designer suits are the order of the day. The reality couldn’t be further from the truth. Hard work and long hours are standard for most lawyers and often there just aren’t enough hours in a day. Finding time for admin and personal matters is always a challenge and when you’re selling your time it costs to focus on the little things.
With time being at a premium, outsourcing the admin seems like a logical decision. Virtual assistants are fast becoming an integral part of law firms around the UK and can be a welcome and useful addition to the team. Here are some examples of what a Virtual Assistant can take care of at a law firm.
Bookkeeping
Bookkeeping is full of tasks that are necessary but boring and time-consuming. Since these tasks are systematic and repetitive, they are well suited to be handled by a Virtual Assistant. Many Virtual Assistants have prior bookkeeping experience, so these tasks are not a huge challenge for them. Some things VAs can do:
- Invoicing your clients
- Pay your bills
- Bank reconciliations with your cloud accounting software
- Keep track of your accounts payable and receivables
- Renew your bar association dues
- Remind you when it’s time to pay bills
- Emails
One of the most-common tasks that clients ask Virtual Assistants to do is to help them with inbox management. Once they have access to your email, they can easily sort and organise your inbox for you. For example, your bar-related emails can go to a specific folder. Listserv emails, potential clients, and current clients can go to separate folders. Virtual Assistants are also able to prioritize your emails, so you won’t have to spend as much time scouring for the most relevant emails and answer the most important ones first. Another thing they could handle is emailing prospective and current clients to set up meetings and answer simple questions like directions to your office.
Correspondence between firm and clients
Whether it is reminders of outstanding accounts, confirmation or reminders of meetings or just day to day correspondence with clients that eat up precious hours that could be spent elsewhere, a Virtual Assistant can relieve you of these tasks and easily manage them on a day to day basis.
Answering phone calls
One of the things that takes up far too much time on a daily basis is talking on the phone, whether it’s spam or sales calls or simply people calling at inconvenient times. A Virtual Assistant can answer your calls and screen them to ensure that you’re only taking the most important ones.
Travel bookings
There is no need for hours of research on hotels and flights when you can ask your Virtual Assistant to do it for you. They’ll be able to find the best hotel for your budget and book your flight within the timeframe you’re after.
Personal Appointments
From dinner reservations to doctor’s visits, little things that take up time can easily be managed by a Virtual Assistant. Rather have them spend time on the phone and find a gap in your schedule whilst you focus on the important things.
Personal meetings
Whether it’s meeting a friend for lunch, a date you’ve been meaning to go on or seeing your mother when she’s in town, personal meetings can be challenging to schedule and find time for. This is another task that can be scheduled by a Virtual Assistant.
Paying accounts
Paying accounts is just one more thing on the list of things to do. Your Virtual Assistant can easily handle these if you wish. if you’d prefer to pay them yourself, they can always remind you or schedule a regular time slot without interruptions for you to do so.
On the whole, a virtual assistant is an extremely useful addition to any law firm and is available at a fraction of the price of a regular assistant. When there is so much that they can take care of, it makes sense to consider the option.
If you’d like to work with a PA but you’re not sure how it could work for you then why not speak to one of our experienced client services directors. We will advise you on how to start delegating, how to start working with a virtual team, how to build your outsourced team and much more.
