Skills from outside the area

For Bob Farrar, an attorney in Rome, Ga., virtual assistants offered an opportunity to obtain high-quality skills that were not readily available outside an urban center. Farrar has a part-time, in-office secretary who greets clients and does most of his dictation and correspondence work. But he uses a virtual assistant in Atlanta to handle office and case management and a virtual assistant in Orlando, Fla., to keep his books. A virtual paralegal works part-time -- but solely for Farrar -- from her home in South Carolina.

He loves having the support without what he called the distraction of having that many people on-site. "I like to practice law. I don't like to manage an office," Farrar says.

He also appreciates how his virtual assistants feel about their business and what they contribute. "They're genuinely interested in how you're doing. They're not showing up 9 to 5 to get a paycheck," he says. "These are people who are bringing fresh ideas they're learning from people in other states. For someone in a town like Rome, it's an incredible resource."  By Pat Curry • Bankrate.com

Example of Cost Savings

This is an example of a VLA and sole practitioner who charges $300 an hour for his legal services. The attorney is spending time each week entering billable time, reviewing files, returning phone calls, preparing pleadings, rummaging through paperwork, and sorting through the tons of email he gets on a weekly basis. Since the attorney is doing this work himself he is paying $300 an hour for these services when, in reality, it would benefit him to partner with a VLA at a rate of $25 an hour and save tons of money a year. Plus, he could be generating more revenue because he would have more time available for doing what he does best-practicing law. See how it works? As evidenced in this example, clients can't afford NOT to have a virtual legal assistant on their team.