Challenges of a Solo Attorney and a Small Law Firm
Solo attorney’s and small law firms face a lot of different challenges that larger firms don’t need to worry about. Some of those challenges include:
Competing with big law firms who have much bigger budgets.
Time management. Having to balance client and run a law office is hard to do when you are a solo attorney or running a small law office.
Overhead costs. The costs of running a law office or any office really are high, then adding in the cost of hiring support staff can really be difficult for the solo attorney or small firm. They also have to spend money on salaries, training, benefits, supplies, etc. these extra costs add up really quickly.
Experienced in house paralegals can cost anywhere from $74,700 - $87,150 per year or more, that is just the cost of their base salary.
Acquiring new clients and keeping existing clients can be really difficult for small law firms as they don’t have the capital for marketing like the bigger firms do.
Solo attorneys/small firms have to spend a lot of time on non-billable work to ensure their practice continues to run so they may not be able to bill clients consistently and are missing out on that money coming in.
Benefits of hiring a freelance paralegal.
Saves time and money.
Freelance paralegals can be experienced in various areas of law and generally do need to be trained.
More available than in-house paralegals.
Only spending money on the work that needs to be done, firms aren’t spending money on salaries or hourly wages.
You might be paying the freelance paralegal’s hourly rate for the work the work they are doing, but you don’t have to pay for benefits, taxes, insurance, etc.
More efficient and cost effective.
Freelance paralegals can help manage routine tasks, allowing attorneys to focus on more billable work.
More knowledgable and experienced than recent graduates.
