Prudent Paralegal Services

Equally capable and more economical than outside counsel

According to the American Bar Association (ABA), certified paralegals have received specialized training and experience performing substantive legal work, differentiating them from clerical staff. In essence, a paralegal is capable of doing everything an attorney does as long as their work is supervised by the responsible attorney, and as long as those tasks don't include giving legal advice, setting fees, appearing in court, or accepting or rejecting clients. A lack of understanding the capabilities of certified paralegals and the ethical requirements that govern their utilization leads some attorneys to delegate work to outside counsel which could otherwise be completed by a competent certified paralegal at a lower pay rate. For more information about the capabilities, training, and ethical rules governing certified paralegals, please visit the ABA's website by clicking here.

30% less expensive than hiring full-time employees

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 4th Quarter 2007 Report, the average private industry employer's cost for employee benefits equal 29.3% of the total compensation! The employer saves those costs and the resulting paperwork by hiring contract paralegals since contractors are responsible for their own benefits; for example, I simply receive my benefits through my husband's employer. In contrast, a regularly employed staff paralegal will require the same pay rate, plus nearly 30% in benefit costs! Additionally, the aforementioned costs do not include the expense of workers compensation insurance and employment taxes that are required of employers who hire staff paralegals!

Available as-needed

Law offices often experience rising and falling workloads - some days are slow, some are more demanding. Contract paralegals allow you to hire them on an as-needed basis, so you aren't stuck paying for a salary on those days when you don't need help, and there isn't substantive work to be done.

Available for urgent projects

Contract paralegals also provide flexible availability a regular employee can't. If you have an urgent project which requires evening or weekend work, often a contract paralegal can provide the "odd hours" assistance without additional cost to you, while a regular employee will most assuredly expect overtime pay since they already worked their scheduled 40 hours.

Proven financial benefits

An informative analysis of the financial benefits of employing paralegals can be seen on the ABA website by clicking here. The essential takeaways from this analysis are that the lawyers can reduce each client's total bill, decrease their hours worked (if desired), while increasing their total revenue and caseload!

Let's get started then! Contact the Prudent Paralegal today. You may have questions: how to delegate work to a contractor, how the billing works, and more. I can answer all your questions.

Please click on the links at the top of the page for more information about Prudent Paralegal Services. Thank you for visiting my site. I look forward to hearing from you.