Law Firm Efficiency: 4 Ways to Maximize Your Productivity

October 2, 2026June 22, 2021 by Amata Law Offices

The most productive law firm is one in which lawyers are spending the maximum amount of time practicing law, and minimizing the amount of time performing ancillary tasks that, while important, do not result in billable time. Regardless of a lawyer’s expertise or successes in the courtroom, the main financial commitment of a lawyer depends on spending time with casework.

This is, of course, easier said than done. A lawyer may want and intend to practice as much law as possible during any given day, yet certain tasks are essential to their business. Ongoing training, client acquisition, marketing efforts, and other activities fuel your activities.

In this blog, we analyze the best methods for remaining as productive and efficient as possible without neglecting other duties crucial to your practice.

Four Routes to Law Firm Efficiency

Track All of Your Time, Not Just Billable Hours

As a lawyer, it can be tempting to only track the amount of time you spend working for clients. After all, this is where revenue comes from, and is arguably the most important part of the profession from a financial perspective.

While billable hours account for your profit, other time spent throughout the day can help illustrate where the rest of your efforts are spent. This can help lawyers gain a better understanding of your most productive periods of the workday, as well as where time could be better spent.

By understanding workflow on a granular level, lawyers can fine-tune their process to maximize revenue and learn their weaknesses.

Avoid Multitasking

Although it is sometimes impossible to avoid, multitasking is a less efficient way of getting results that you need. Blocking off time to perform a single task, as opposed to trying to accomplish multiple things at once, can help ensure that the most immediate and demanding jobs get done first. It also makes it easier to track your time performing certain tasks.

Alternative Legal Service Providers

Lawyers, particularly solo or private legal practices, must wear many hats throughout their career. Sales, marketing, management, secretarial work, and other fields all fall under the umbrella of the lawyer at some point or another.

With only so many hours in a day, how can a lawyer expect to fulfill all of these tasks? Hiring alternative legal service providers, or ALSPS, can often serve to rectify lost time. While these services incur expense, the amount of money saved by utilizing these services by netting higher volumes of billable hours eclipses the payment required.

A primary advantage to utilizing ALSPs is that they require no training and can scale with your business as needed. Smaller legal practices are often strapped for cash and time, and don’t have the resources required for recruiting and training employees. ALSPs offer a plug-and-play approach – their models adapt to your business.

For instance, consider virtual receptionists. Traditional avenues of hiring a receptionist require you to conduct interviews, find a candidate with proper experience, and train them into your business. This also requires paying them a salary and benefits, as well as carving out a work space for them to operate. This takes a great deal of time and money. Hiring virtual receptionist services from an ALSP, by contrast, makes this process considerably easier. Their messaging can be customized for your business, they can handle your onboarding pipeline even after regular business hours, and can even be temporarily turned off.

Contract paralegals serve a similar as-needed ancillary function. Smaller law firms often have to manage the ebb and flow of unpredictable workloads, and may not require a paralegal on staff full time. ALSP paralegal services allow for assistance as the need arises.

Solo and private legal practices often cannot manage their workload alone. Alternative legal service providers offer a range of services that can help lawyers focus on accruing billable hours first.

Sharing Information with Other Lawyers

While many lawyers operate small practices, they are never alone. Networking with lawyers can give you a sense of how they run their operations. This is made easier than ever when you’re working in the same office environment as them.

Amata Law Office Suites offers more than just office space for lawyers. We provide a community where lawyers can work side by side and access the expertise across a wide variety of specializations. More, we offer alternative legal services in-house. Virtual receptionists and contract paralegals are all a part of our services, making us the premiere legal office experience.

Are you looking to make your practice more efficient? Contact us today and learn more about our services.

Discover our legal support staff for lawyers in Chicago.

Is it Too Early to Find On-Demand Paralegal Services? Researching Your Options

October 2, 2026June 15, 2021 by Amata Law Offices

When is the best time to find on-demand paralegal services? As anyone with crushing deadlines knows, you often know best when you need help after its already too late.

As a lawyer, you understand the flux of your business better than anyone else. Solo and private law firms can’t handle the same volume of cases that larger legal practices are able to leverage. While these types of firms typically exert greater control over their business, without the right help work can sometimes become overwhelming. This can lead to a feast-or-famine flow of business, particularly for more seasonal lawyers that specialize in fields like taxes.

As Louis Pasteur once said, fortune favors the prepared mind, and nowhere is that clearer than in the legal profession. The best time to learn what services are available to help supplement your workload is now.

When Do I Need On-Demand Paralegal Services?

On-demand paralegals, sometimes referred to as contract paralegals or freelance paralegals, are professionals who perform the same tasks as full-time paralegals but in shorter engagements. They operate best for law practices that need the assistance of a paralegal, but cannot afford the rates of hiring one on full-time.

For smaller law firms, this offers an incredible boon. The cost savings alone can help ensure that you net more billable hours – the paralegal’s work can be tracked and is billable in the same way your work is billable.

Additionally, on-demand paralegals can be easily scaled to meet your workflow. Their skills and professionalism have already been vetted by the alternative legal services provider they operate under. When you need them, they are merely a call away, and don’t require the same kind of training that hiring a full-time paralegal necessitates.

As a legal practitioner, only you know when you need a helping hand. The best time to start researching your options is now.

What to Look for in an Alternative Legal Services Provider

When you are researching options for on-demand paralegal services, consider the reputation and experience of an ALSP. What kind of training are they implementing? Are they undergoing the same continuous education that you as a lawyer require to be at the top of your field? ALSPs need to maintain the same level of focus

The benefit of going through an ALSP directly rather than individual freelancers is that their quality is vetted ahead of time. Their business is built on lawyers who are happy with their services, and their quality assurance is essential to their bottom line. ALSPs invest time and money into the people that they hire, so that when their services are called upon, they are delivering the best results.

A final consideration to make regarding an alternative legal service provider is their location. Some services like virtual receptionist services don’t require in-person interactions. Paralegals typically do. Law firms that are paperless can hire virtual paralegals from anywhere across the United States provided that they are educated on region-specific laws pertaining to your services. However, most law firms continue to use paper, requiring that on-demand paralegals remain within driving distance of your practice.

The Best Time to Find On-Demand Paralegal Services is Now

On-demand paralegal services can be extremely beneficial to businesses that have fluctuating workflows or those that can’t afford to hire paralegals full time. They are trained professionals that can quickly scale and execute to your business.

The problem facing most solo legal practitioners is knowing when they need help. Many lawyers forego contract paralegals thinking they can take on the workload themselves, at the cost of cutting into their bottom line.

Even if you don’t find that you need an on-demand paralegal at this particular moment, developing connections with alternative legal service providers can ensure that when the time comes, you can contract out work quickly and efficiently. In the legal profession, every minute counts.

Billable hours are the lifeblood of your business. On-demand paralegals can help ensure that your client needs are met in a timely manner, leading to better reviews, better referrals, and better business.

Amata Law Office Suites offers more than just a legal space for solo and partner practice law firms. It also offers services that matter to legal professionals, such as contract paralegals, virtual legal receptionist services, and more. Contact us today for more information about our services.

Discover our paralegal services in Chicago.

Thirteen Years of Watching Attorneys Start Firms

October 16, 2026June 3, 2021 by Amata Law Offices

In 2013, Chicago-Kent asked whether we’d give some space to attorneys in a programme they were starting.

The idea was an incubator for recent graduates going out on their own — structure, mentoring, and a place to work while they figured out whether a practice was viable. They needed somewhere for those attorneys to sit, take calls, and meet clients without signing a lease they couldn’t afford.

We said yes, and I assumed it would be a year or two of goodwill.

It’s been thirteen. More than fifty attorneys have come through. Two of the ones I’ll name below are still clients years after their programme ended, which was never the point and is the part I find most interesting.

In full disclosure, obviously: this is a programme my company supports and these are our clients. I’m telling you about it because thirteen years of watching people launch practices taught me things I couldn’t have learned any other way.

What is the Independent Practice Initiative?

It’s Chicago-Kent’s incubator for alumni going into solo or small firm practice, formerly called the Solo and Small Practice Incubator. The programme runs twelve to eighteen months, is open to alumni admitted within the past seven years, charges participants nothing, and operates out of the Conviser Law Center.

Participants get training, business development coaching, mentoring, networking, and CLE access. The law school also lines up external resources — which is where we come in.

Amata provides phone and reception services, dedicated offices, and virtual office programmes to participants free of charge for the duration of the programme. We’ve done that since 2013.

Why does an incubator exist at all?

Because law school teaches you to practise law and then hands you a business, and almost nobody prepares you for the second part. An attorney leaving a firm at least has seen how one runs. An attorney going straight out has seen nothing of intake, billing, trust accounting, or where clients come from.

That gap is the whole reason these programmes were created, and Chicago-Kent’s isn’t the only one — the Chicago Bar Foundation runs the Justice Entrepreneurs Project in the West Loop on a similar premise.

What an incubator supplies is the year nobody gets. Structure, people who’ve done it before, and permission to be inexperienced at the business part while you’re competent at the legal part.

What do the attorneys actually get from it?

Time and company, more than training. The coaching matters and the CLE access matters, but what participants actually describe is the effect of being surrounded by other people in exactly the same position, and having somewhere to be each day that isn’t their own kitchen table.

I’ve watched this closely enough to be fairly confident about it.

An attorney alone at home makes decisions alone. An attorney in a building with other attorneys asks a question in the corridor and gets an answer that would have taken three days to work out. Over a year that compounds into something real.

And the clients notice the room. A new attorney meeting a client in a proper conference room is having a different conversation than one meeting at a coffee shop, particularly in practice areas where the client is anxious.

Who stays afterwards?

More of them than I expected, and that’s the part worth noticing. Participants receive everything free while they’re enrolled. The programme ends, the free arrangement ends with it, and each of them decides whether what we provide is worth paying for out of a new practice’s money.

Kendra Spearman came through the 2016–17 cohort. She’s still a client.

Alberto Gonzalez went through the programme and is still with us several years later.

Andrew Willis is a current participant, working out of 33 North Dearborn.

Two people who could have walked away the day the subsidy stopped, and didn’t. I don’t think that’s about the offices, and I’d be suspicious of anyone who claimed it was.

I think it’s that by the end of the programme they had colleagues. Leaving meant giving that up, and they’d worked out what it was worth.

What does thirteen years of this teach you?

That the attorneys who struggle are almost never the ones who spent too much on space. They’re the ones who ran out of money before the work arrived, or who spent their first months building a website instead of telling anyone they’d launched.

A few other patterns that have held:

The ones who ask for help early do better than the ones who tough it out. Consistently, and it isn’t close.

Practice area matters less than temperament. I’ve seen good practices in areas I’d have thought were crowded, and failed ones in areas that looked wide open.

Nearly everyone underestimates the gap between doing the work and getting paid for it. They plan for billings and get caught by collections.

And the ones who build a referral network in year one are still practising in year five. The ones who relied on marketing alone mostly aren’t.

Should a new attorney apply?

If you’re a Chicago-Kent alumnus admitted within the last seven years and going out on your own, it’s hard to see the argument against it. It costs nothing, it runs twelve to eighteen months, and the alternative is doing the same thing alone.

If you’re not eligible, the thing worth taking from this is what the programme actually supplies: structure, other people, and somewhere to be. Those are available without an incubator. They just require deciding they matter.

Details are on Chicago-Kent’s website under the Independent Practice Initiative.

Frequently asked questions

Chicago-Kent’s incubator programme for alumni entering solo or small firm practice, formerly the Solo and Small Practice Incubator. It runs twelve to eighteen months, is open to alumni admitted within the past seven years, charges participants nothing, and operates from the Conviser Law Center.

Chicago-Kent alumni who were admitted to practice within the past seven years and are entering solo or small firm practice. The programme is free to participants and includes training workshops, business development coaching, mentoring, networking opportunities, and continuing legal education access.

Phone and reception services, dedicated offices, and virtual office programmes, all provided free of charge for the duration of the programme. Amata has supported Chicago-Kent incubator participants since 2013, and more than fifty attorneys have come through in that time.

Yes. The Chicago Bar Foundation runs the Justice Entrepreneurs Project in the West Loop on a broadly similar premise, offering subsidised space and structured support to lawyers who are building sustainable practices that serve modest-means clients across the Chicago area.

Participants consistently describe the effect of being around other attorneys in the same position rather than the formal training. Questions get answered in a corridor that would otherwise take days, and having somewhere to be each day changes how the year goes.

Some do. Participants receive services free while they are enrolled, so continuing afterwards means choosing to pay for something previously provided at no cost. Kendra Spearman and Alberto Gonzalez both came through the programme and remain Amata clients years afterwards.

Running out of money before the work arrives, most commonly. In thirteen years of watching attorneys launch, the ones who struggled were rarely those who spent too much on space — far more often they misjudged how long the gap between billing and collecting would be.

Why we kept doing it

People sometimes ask what we get out of thirteen years of giving services away, and they usually expect a marketing answer.

The honest one is that it started as a favour and became the best view in the business.

Fifty-odd attorneys launching practices, in our buildings, where we could see what worked. Not survey data. Not a report. Actual people, over actual years, making the actual decisions — and us close enough to notice which ones mattered.

Nearly everything I believe about how a practice gets off the ground, I learned watching that.

Some of them stayed. Most moved on, which is what’s meant to happen. A few are now sending us clients of their own, which nobody planned.

And every so often someone walks past my office who I last saw with no clients and a laptop, on their way to a hearing, and it’s hard not to think that was worth doing.

Questions about any of this? 312.924.0200 or [email protected].

Ron Bockstahler is the founder and CEO of Amata Law Office Suites, a vendor member of the Chicago Bar Association, supporting Chicago-area law firms since 2002. He co-hosts The 1958 Lawyer podcast.

Amata Law Office Suites is not a law firm and does not provide legal services to the general public. Amata is not affiliated with Chicago-Kent College of Law or Illinois Institute of Technology; it provides services to programme participants as an external resource. Programme details are subject to change — confirm current eligibility and structure with Chicago-Kent directly.

How to Bates Number or Bates Stamp Documents| PDF Skills for Attorneys

October 2, 2026May 4, 2021 by Amata Law Offices

Bates numbering (or Bates stamping) is a helpful way to keep track of the documents you sent or received in your case. Gone are the days of manually adding that control number to your documents or trying to recall whether you received documents from opposing counsel or from a third-party subpoena.

This inexpensive process is just another way to stay organized and take advantage of the tools in your PDF software.

Basic Questions to Ask and Information Needed

Do the documents need to be Bates numbered in any particular order?
Do any of the documents need to be re-unitized?
- i.e. Logical document breaks
Are there any designations needed?
- i.e. CONFIDENTIAL
- CONFIDENTIAL – SUBJECT TO PROTECTIVE ORDER
- ATTORNEYS’ EYES ONLY
- CONFIDENTIAL – TRADE SECRETS
Identify the Bates prefix to be used, the starting number, and the number of digits/places
- i.e. AMA000001

When Bates numbering documents, you want to be sure each document is its own PDF file.

If you receive a single PDF file that contains multiple documents (like an employment file or insurance claim file), you will need to ask if the document should be unitized. Unitized means that each document is a separate file.

Best Practice Tip: Never combine multiple PDF documents into one document if you will be uploading documents to a document review system. Each document should be unitized so that you can flag, code, or comment on the individual document.

Steps for Bates Numbering Documents in Adobe Acrobat

Place all documents you need to Bates number in a folder called “originals.”
You might have a mix of Word docs, email files, and PDFs. You will need to convert all to PDF in order to Bates number them.
Create a target folder called “Bates.”
This is where you will put all the final Bates numbered documents.
This is where you will put all the final Bates numbered documents.
Then select the “Bates Numbering” option and click on “Add.”
Add all the documents you need to Bates number.
Arrange the documents in the order you want them to be Bates numbered. If you need to move a document up or down the list, select the document and use the “Move Up” or “Move Down.” If you added a document by mistake, simply click on “Remove.”
The settings should match the following.
Click Ok.
Then specify the formatting.
Select the font and size you want and check your margins.
Add the bates number conditions.
Insert cursor into the “Right Footer Text” box and then click on “Insert Bates Number”. Add an alpha prefix and specify the number of digits you want.
Click Ok.
Adobe’s coding will be inserted in the “Right Footer Text” box and you will see a preview of your Bates number. Make any adjustments here.
OPTIONAL: To add a designation as well, you can add it to the “Left Footer Text” box.
Once you click on OK, the Bates numbering process will begin.

Quality Check

Do a quick final check of your Bates numbered documents to ensure your Bates numbers are in the correct position and any designations are correct. A sample designation and bates number are below.

You run the practice while we run the office. Now, that includes expert paralegal support.

Amata Law Office Suites has tripled the Legal Support Services team to add senior paralegals with extensive expertise, over 100 years of it in fact. All led by Tisha Delgado, Director of Legal Support Services.

See how Amata’s paralegals can support your firm while your work from home, downtown, or even in another state. Contact Tisha for a consultation or for assistance.

Tisha Delgado | [email protected] | 312-741-1089

Amata Law Office Suites only provides legal support services to attorneys.

Amata Law Office Suites also offers office space for like-minded lawyers to collaborate and work. We provide our lawyers with comprehensive solutions to many of the problems they face on a day-to-day basis. Alternative Legal Services are offered as part of our model and allow solo or private law firms the resources they need to achieve success in their law practices.

Discover our paralegal services in Chicago.

How to Properly Redact Legal Documents | PDF Skills for Attorneys

October 2, 2026May 4, 2021 by Amata Law Offices

Stay out of the news and learn how to properly redact your documents. Personal identity information cannot be included in documents or exhibits that are filed with the court. Make sure you are not inadvertently exposing your client’s information and understand the correct way to redact, especially when using software to help you.

In the PDF Skills Webinar (see video) we covered:

Faux Redactions: How the media pulls ‘redacted’ content
Properly redacting in different PDF document types
Common struggles and how to troubleshoot

Below is the how-to tutorial for proper redaction using Adobe Acrobat.

Correct Redaction Setup in Adobe Acrobat

Open your PDF document and select the “Redact” icon.
Always use the software’s redaction tool

which can be found in the panel to the right of your PDF document or in the Tools tab
Once you click the icon, a Redact menu appears.
In the “Redact Text & Images” dropdown, open “Properties” and make sure the redaction color selected is black.
Click OK and you will go back to the Redact menu icons. You are ready to start marking your redactions.

The 3 Steps of Redacting Documents in Adobe Acrobat

Redacting is always three steps:

Select or mark your redaction
Apply the redaction
Save the document

When you hover near the text or area you want to redact, your cursor will become either a selection tool that looks like a plus + or a symbol that looks like a book [I].

Select or mark your redaction
Select the text with the book tool or draw a box around what you want redacted with the plus tool.
Apply the redaction(s)
After you have marked a redaction, the blue “Apply” button will become enabled. ONLY click on the “Apply” button when all of your redactions have been marked in the document.
After clicking “Apply” a pop-up box will appear
Make sure the “Sanitize and remove hidden information” is enabled/turned on and click OK.

Once you click on OK the redaction is burned in to the document and you see the resulting black box.

NOTE: You are NOT done. You must now SAVE THE DOCUMENT properly.

Save the redacted document
You MUST save the redacted document to ensure that the information is permanently removed from the document as well as any metadata.

Adobe adds the suffix “_Redacted” to the filename and prompts you to save the document.
Click “Save” and your redaction is now complete!

Remember: Always use the REDACTION tool and redacting is always 3 steps.

Select or mark your redaction
Apply the redaction
Save the document – this is where people are most likely to mess up!

If you simply draw a black box over information in your PDF documents, then you are not properly redacting. The media and all others can still access the information underneath the black box in the PDF.

Want to check if an item is properly redacted?

Open your redacted file
Highlight the area that is redacted and use CTRL + C to copy it
Open a Word document and use CTRL + V to paste

A properly redacted file will only show the non-redacted information. Word may even pick up a picture of the redacted area and show that. No information that is redacted will be able to get grabbed in the copy-paste procedure. If you are seeing information you thought was redacted, your document has not been properly redacted, and you are at risk of exposing said info.

You run the practice while we run the office. Now, that includes expert paralegal support.

See how Amata’s paralegals can support your firm while your work from home, downtown, or even in another state. Contact Tisha for a consultation or for assistance.

Tisha Delgado | [email protected] | 312-741-1089

Amata Law Office Suites only provides legal support services to attorneys.

Discover our paralegal services in Chicago.

Attorneys: Struggling to Maintain Good Mental Health? Learn How These Law Firms Support Their Teams.

October 2, 2026May 3, 2021 by Amata Law Offices

From client meetings and long work days to demanding deadlines and tense relationships with opposing counsel, it’s a well-known fact that practicing law isn’t for the faint of heart. About a decade ago, Chicago civil defense attorney Daniel Arnett was ready to leave the legal industry and become a bartender due to his “insane” stress.

According to The American Lawyer’s 2020 Midlevel Associates Survey, nearly 50% of midlevel associates have anxiety. Three in four associates also said their firms negatively affect their mental health.

“Sole practitioners get so overwhelmed from all of the built-up pressure, and they have nowhere to go with it,” said family law attorney David Kirsh.

While larger firms may have multiple partners for support, Kirsh said that doesn’t eliminate the pressure of clients regularly turning to their attorneys for important answers.

In addition to daily stress, the COVID-19 pandemic hit and added more anxiety. Courts closed, attorneys had to work from home and depositions were given virtually.

“There’s a whole new level of stress with technology,” said insurance defense attorney Margaret Bentley of Kelley Kronenberg. She explained that it’s now harder to determine the credibility of a witness without the ability to analyze in-person body language.

And all of this built-up pressure could ultimately impact client relationships.

“You cannot make good decisions and serve your clients if you’re fighting internally and taking things personally,” Arnett said.

Attorneys Seeking Tools to Manage Good Mental Health

Fortunately, resources are available for lawyers and staff struggling with mental health. Kirsh volunteers his time with the Lawyers’ Assistance Program to help lawyers and law students with substance abuse, addiction and mental health issues.

Before abandoning his legal career, Arnett sought help from coaches, seminars and books and ultimately followed his dream of opening his own law firm, Arnett Law Group, LLC. The firm has since grown to seven attorneys, and Arnett places mental health at the forefront of his efforts. He invited his team members to help revise the firm’s billing process, allowed them to work on a flexible schedule and checked on them throughout the pandemic via daily Zoom meetings. He even created a “Zen Den” at the office, a special forest-themed room where his attorneys can recharge.

“The culture here is unlike any other firm that I know of,” Arnett said.

While Bentley has learned tricks to minimize her daily anxiety, such as taking breaks throughout the day and staying prioritized, she’s grateful for the resources that Kelley Kronenberg offers its attorneys. Like Arnett, Bentley’s unit leader holds weekly Zoom meetings and stays in touch with the Chicago team throughout the day, as the firm’s headquarters is based in Florida.

Attorney Mental Health Starts in the Office

Bentley said another stress-reliever is Amata Law Office Suites, Chicago’s first legal community of more than 700 attorneys and Class-A downtown offices. She has been managing Kelley Kronenberg’s Chicago office at Amata since last year. Kirsh operates his firm here as well.

When the pandemic hit, Amata scanned lawyers’ mail for 90 days and handled document preparations (free-of-charge) to help reduce attorneys’ stress of managing their practices during a worldwide health crisis. With the help of Amata, Bentley and her team members were able to continue serving the needs of their clients without interruption or delay. She said she has been very happy with the services.

Don’t let long work days and demanding deadlines run you and your practice. Call us or visit our website and take an online or in-person tour of one of our Class-A law firm office spaces. Consider joining the Amata community to learn how our business model is perfectly aligned to combat lawyers’ stress. We run the office while you run the practice.

Discover our legal support staff for lawyers in Chicago.

What is an Alternative Legal Service Provider?

October 2, 2026March 29, 2021 by Amata Law Offices

If you’ve spent any time looking to expand or improve your legal offerings, you may have come across the term “alternative legal service provider.” For many practices, these services, commonly referred to as ALSPs, have become the new norm. They increase firm IP – for example, by adding expertise from contract paralegals to the matter – and do so at an affordable cost.

Especially for partners going solo or opening their own private practices, ALSPs provide a path forward. Hiring staff in-house isn’t always an option for the firm, especially not with the expertise their clients expect. ALSPs allow the firms to provide more competitive pricing without sacrificing quality and efficiency.

What is an ALSP, and how can it benefit your legal practice? In short: ALSPs take over the burden of tasks attorneys need not perform or provide additional expertise to assist a firm in a given matter or for long-term engagements through use of contract attorney and contract paralegals. This saves the attorney time, money, and boosts their firm’s IP, all at once.

Defining the Alternative Legal Service Provider

An ALSP is defined as any service that could normally be provided in-house by a law firm that is instead performed by an outside entity. It is not a law firm; it operates as an outsourced model that law firms can leverage to perform tasks that are too costly or time-consuming to perform in-house.

ALSPs offer a specialized service at-scale to meet with the demand of legal practices. With specialized tools, processes, and even technology at their disposal, an alternative legal services provider offers high quality service at affordable prices. As a result, ALSPs can outperform on the same tasks that are normally undertaken in-house.

The Thomson Reuters 2019 Alternative Legal Service Providers report found the top five services firms use ALSPs for are:

E-discovery
Legal research
Litigation and investigation support
Document review/coding
Non-legal/factual research

As the legal profession pivots from practicing in traditional law office space to operating from shared spaces, hybrid offices, and even the fully virtual law office, ALSPs provide expertise and efficiency for attorneys and law firms.

An Alternative Legal Service Provider Benefits Any Size of Legal Practice

A 2017 study by Georgetown Law School reported that over half of all law firms are using alternative legal service providers in some capacity.

While larger practices have been leveraging these services for a while to increase firm efficiency and lower overhead cost on work produced, partner law practices, solo attorneys, and boutique law firms can all leverage ALSPs to compete.

Private practice law firms are most likely to use the following types of ALSPs (as defined by Thomson Reuters):

Independent Legal Process Outsourcers (LPOs) – perform project or matter based work on behalf of the law firm
Managed services providers – usually handle on-going work for the law firm; like a contracted in-house legal team
Contract and staffing services – provide temporary staffing to the firm, from legal admins to skilled workers like attorneys and paralegals

For partner and solo practices that operate on limited resources or do not have the budget to hire full-time staff, an ALSP can also alleviate time spent on recruitment, training, and management of employees. Additionally, providers offer fully qualified employees that can immediately benefit your legal practice.

Alternative Legal Services Provided by Amata Law Office Suites

Solo and partner practice law firms rely on flexibility and adaptability to achieve success. At Amata Law Office Suites, we understand that time isn’t the only thing on your mind – quality of work and budgetary concerns come into play. We are committed to providing you with the services you need to accomplish the goals of your clients and focus on the practice of law, at a rate that assists your firm with running profitably and with expertise that contributes to your firm IP.

Our Legal Support Team Services

Expert Paralegal Support

For client matters, legal projects, and billable work, the Amata paralegals are some of the best in Chicago and led by Tisha Delgado, Chicago Paralegal Association President and litigation and e-discovery expert. Our paralegals average 27 years of experience each and have developed expertise in specific areas of law. As a team they provide support such as locating defendants and witnesses; preparing third-party subpoenas; Westlaw and LexisNexis legal research; document review; e-discovery and data collection assistance and more.

Additionally, they are knowledgeable on the inner workings of the courts, allowing them bring an efficiency to tasks like document processing that proves burdensome to many attorneys.

Better yet, their time is entirely billable by the firm back to the client and offered at cost-effective rates.

Legal Admin Support

For time-consuming tasks and attorneys looking to focus their own time on billable work, the Amata legal admin team steps in. They assist over 700 Chicago attorneys with client billing inputs, calendar management, mail processing, Microsoft office assistance and more.

Their assistance allows attorneys and firms to focus on the practice of law and relieve stress by outsourcing this non-billable work to a trusted partner at an affordable rate. Legal admin support is charged by the minute, not the hour, at Amata and fixed-fee items like court runs are also available.

Live Legal Receptionist Services

For solo attorneys, partner legal practices and boutique law firms, client intake processes are crucial for continued business and time-management. The Amata Live Legal Receptionist team brings proved process to firms just starting out or looking to improve call-management and client-intake efficiency.

Greetings, transferring processes, screening, and client-intake are customized specifically for the law firm. The team is also available at extended hours. While the typical workday is from 9-5, prospective clients don’t always operate on the same schedule – the Amata legal receptionist services operate from 7AM-10PM CST.

Discover our legal support staff for lawyers in Chicago.

Looking to Increase Your Law Firm’s IP? These Lawyers Say Paralegal Services are Key

October 2, 2026March 26, 2021 by Amata Law Offices

Last year, civil rights and immigration lawyer Janaan Hashim, Esq. was litigating a case when she hit a snag. One of her important witnesses wouldn’t be able to appear in court the next day due to his work schedule.

She needed a subpoena quickly. But with much of her focus on cross examinations, she wouldn’t have time to write and file it. Unfortunately, her firm didn’t have a paralegal on staff to assist.

“If we did not have him on the stand, it would have hurt our case significantly,” Hashim said.

Thankfully, there was another option. Hashim’s firm, Amal Law Group LLC, operates out of Amata Law Office Suites, a Chicago ALSP (alternative legal service provider) with a legal support team that is available to attorney members for things like contract paralegal support. Each of Amata’s paralegals averages 27 years of experience, which means it takes them little time to draft subpoenas and other documents.

On-Demand Paralegal Support When It’s Needed Most

Hashim turned to Amata’s team for help. Within a couple of hours, the subpoena was filed and her key witness was able to appear in court.

“Amata came to the rescue,” she said. “Their paralegals understand the nitty gritty of dealing with the court system. They don’t teach you that in law school.”

The value of paralegals’ skills is undeniable. They can handle back-office tasks more efficiently and other tasks that are sometimes beyond lawyers’ level of expertise, therefore boosting a firm’s intellectual property. For example, Amata’s paralegals specialize in litigation and investigation support, document review, e-discovery and legal research. But hiring an experienced paralegal can be costly and a difficult decision for small firms to make.

“As my firm is still growing, I don’t have the resources to hire somebody full-time,” said family law attorney Kellie Bylica of The Law Office of K.R. Bylica Flores, LLC. “So, I rely on the Amata paralegals on an as-need basis.” She said this approach is cost-beneficial for her clients, as the paralegal team can solve important problems while she spends more face-to-face time with clients.

Amata CEO Ron Bockstahler explains that an alternative to expanding your firm is partnering with an organization that provides built-in paralegal services, such as an ALSP. According to a 2018 study conducted by the Thomson Reuters Legal Executive Institute and other entities, roughly half of surveyed law firms said ALSPs can help expand their business, differentiate services and even retain client relationships. At the time the study was published, corporations had already reached or surpassed predictions for ALSP use in 2021. Software companies are also offering technology discounts to ALSPs as a way to tap into law clientele.

Amata: More Than An Alternative Legal Services Provider

While Amata’s paralegal services are easily accessible to all Amata-based attorneys, like Hashim and Bylica, they’re also available to outside firms or corporate law departments looking to outsource related tasks.

Whenever Bylica and Hashim need one of these services, they have confidence in the quality of work that they will receive. They said it’s as though they vetted the paralegals as members of their own firms.

“Their training and expertise are superb,” Bylica said, noting their collaboration and ability to think outside of the box. “There’s never been a request they can’t handle. They’re always spot-on.”

Want to increase your firm’s intellectual property and niche expertise? Call us or visit our website and take an online or in-person tour of one of our six Class-A law firm office spaces. Consider joining the Amata community to find out how our experienced paralegal team can help grow your practice and eliminate the burden of back-office tasks.

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When to Hire Law Firm Staff

October 2, 2026March 22, 2021 by Amata Law Offices

portrait of focused group of lawyers working in office

Solo and private legal practices often find themselves asking the perennial question of when to hire law firm staff.

You landed that case, the one with the prestigious client who could bring the firm a good deal of future work. Your firm’s attorneys are ready but this engagement will require hours of researching memoranda and creating reports and the client doesn’t want to pay the hourly rate of a lawyer for these kinds of activities. Realistically, you only have time to directly address the issues that need your expertise anyway.

A paralegal is key to your success. Hiring full-time staff would solve the problem, but do you have the time to find the right people? And can you justify the cost?

Contracting paralegal and legal admin services from an alternative legal services provider (ALSP) like Amata Law Office Suites could save you time and allow you to present impressive costs for high-quality work, ensuring this client continues working with your firm. And potentially getting you some referrals for work well done.

When to Hire Law Firm Staff, and When to Outsource From an ALSP

Time Management

Hiring the right paralegal for the project involves vetting the candidate’s expertise in the area of need. Are you confident you can find the right person for the job? Time is money; every hour you spend recruiting a capable paralegal is a billable hour lost. Once you make the right hire, onboarding that person also takes time. A full-time individual needs to become acquainted with everyone in your practice, your current clients as well as other support staff.

By contracting with an ALSP like Amata Law Office Suites, you’ll find professional, previously vetted, support staff (secretarial and paralegal services) ready to partner with you on an as-needed, pay-as-you-go basis. Developing relationships with Amata’s professional paralegals ensures you have the best person available for the client’s needs when that client returns with another project.

Monetary Considerations

Cost of Experience

Employing full-time certified paralegals and/or legal admin staff increases both your direct and indirect costs.

Direct expenses like…

salary
payroll taxes
employee benefits (such as insurance)

And indirect costs that increase as staff increases such as…

office space
equipment
software licenses

If you want a solid member to join your team, it’s going to mean much higher salaries as well. The Amata paralegal team, for instance boasts an average of 27 years of experience (as of 2020) and they specialize in certain areas of law. Expertise means they can excute items quickly and accurately for your clientelle, but that costs more money than an entry level paralegal. For solo and private practice firms, taking on the salaries that accompany this level of support and experience is not an option.

Since ALSPs charge for work done, however, you can receive this experience at a cost that is affordable. Plus, an experienced team can execute documents quickly. It may only take a staff member fifteen minutes to complete the work you need, which means you’re only billed for those fiftenn minutes. And you can bill your clients back for the work.

Cost of a Bad Hire

But the after-hire expenses represent only part of the cost. The U.C. Berkeley Institute for Research on Labor and Employment estimates recruiting costs for a new employee can range from $2,000 to $7,000. Ongoing expenses include the employer’s portion of FICA, 7.65% of the employee’s annual salary, healthcare coverage, unemployment insurance, and retirement benefits.

And what is the cost of a bad hire? The U. S. Department of Labor recently listed the average cost of a bad hiring decision at a minimum of 30% of the individual’s first year salary. In legal work, your service is your brand; a bad hire can turn away clients and leave you repairing a damaged reputation. It can also bring more of a headach to you as you try to manage inexperienced staff, versus having an experienced staff member who is only an asset.

Hiring Takes Work!

Unless you practice employment law (and are already well versed), you, as an employer of full-time staff, must now also stay current on HR policies. The legal requirements change from time to time; medical benefits need explanation and annual review, sexual harassment training is required by certain states. Plus, personnel problems can arise. Managing a larger staff adds complexity. You can avoid this work by contracting an ALSP like Amata Legal Office Suites to handle work instead of hiring yourself.

Before you decide to hire a full-time paralegal, legal admin, and/or receptionist, consider how your firm can benefit from contracting with an ALSP. Gain the trust of that important client while saving time, money, and work by contracting with Amata Legal Office Suites. We provide impressive office spaces, and well-vetted paralegal and legal admin services. Contact us today for more information about our services.

Discover our legal support staff for lawyers in Chicago.

The Struggle for Diversity in Law Firms is Real. These Legal Experts Share Their Stories and Strides

October 2, 2026March 16, 2021 by Amata Law Offices

What People Aren’t Addressing About Diversity in Law Firms

The statistics are harsh. According to the ABA National Lawyer Population Survey, lawyers of color represented just 14% of all lawyers in 2020. And that percentage has grown less than 3% over the past decade.

While the legal industry has further emphasized diversity and inclusion, it’s still branded as one of the least diverse professions. Specifically, only 5% of lawyers are Black; 5% are Hispanic; 2% are Asian; and 0.4% are Native American.

“It makes me recognize that there’s a lot of work to be done,” said Leslie Davis, CEO of the National Association of Minority & Women Owned Law Firms (NAMWOLF).

The industry may need an overhaul when it comes to diversity, but resources are available. Founded in 2001, NAMWOLF works to promote diversity within the legal profession by advancing successful relationships among its roughly 200 member firms. In 2010, NAMWOLF launched the Inclusion Initiative, an effort that aims to increase corporations’ retention of minority- and women-owned law firms. By 2014, 30 corporations were involved in the initiative and spent $212 million with diverse firms.

Davis joined the NAMWOLF community earlier this month after spending more than 25 years as a lawyer and litigator in the Chicago area. In 2014, she was honored at the Chicago POW! Awards for showing “game-changing leadership in business and their communities.” Davis represented the 5% of Black U.S. lawyers as well as another bleak statistic. As a partner, she represented one of the less than 2% of Black partners in Big Law.

“It wasn’t easy, but I was fortunate and blessed to have great mentors, sponsors and people who cared about my trajectory,” Davis said.

Some attorneys have cited a lack of mentorship and cultural isolation as reasons why they left their firms. Davis said she always tried to make herself available to lawyers of color, acknowledging that she was often one of few Black women in her positions who could provide the insight and guidance that fellow Black lawyers needed.

Why Promoting Diversity in Law Firms Matters

For entertainment law attorney Odell Mitchell III of Thirdinline Legal LLC, incorporating diverse voices into law firms is very important. During his time as a solo practitioner, he said clients have expressed comfort in working with him, and some have admitted that he’s the first young, Black lawyer to whom they have spoken.

“The level of representation that I get to provide directly for people, especially young Black men, is something I don’t take lightly,” Mitchell III said. “People appreciate me being who I am.”

Family law and criminal defense attorney Chelsey Robinson of Owens & Robinson can also speak firsthand on the importance of representation.

“I have had situations where opposing counsel referred to me as ‘sweetie’ or ‘honey,’” she said. “I find that very degrading. It shows that we need more diversity training. Because a lot of times, we’re not aware of biases.”

While training is important, Circuit Court of Cook County Judge Erika Orr thinks the answer is simpler than implementing various initiatives.

“The only way you get diversity and inclusion is to have a diverse and inclusive workplace,” she said. “The key is to recruit from everywhere, not just from select schools.”

Before becoming an Illinois judge, Orr operated her own firm from Amata Law Office Suites, Chicago’s first legal community of more than 700 attorneys and six Class-A downtown offices. Mitchell III and Robinson call Amata home as well.

Amata’s Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

Amata offers premier legal support, including live receptionists and an experienced paralegal team. Orr, Mitchell III and Robinson commend Amata for filling these roles with diverse individuals and for highlighting diverse voices through its various communication channels. Amata’s CEO, Ron Bockstahler, also sits on the board of directors of the Justice Renewal Initiative, a program geared toward helping young men and women transition out of the criminal justice system.

“When you have groups like Amata, who interact with lawyers and law firms on a daily basis and see the need for change, … it’s impactful when they decide to get in the fight and make a difference too,” Davis said.

During her time as NAMWOLF CEO, Davis wants to see the statistics improve. She hopes to provide more opportunities for minority- and women-owned law firms to work with corporations as well as public and private companies.

“It’s a great responsibility and honor to be doing work on a daily basis that’s been so important and meaningful to me throughout my whole career.”

At Amata, we know there’s more work to be done to empower lawyers of color. Call us or visit our website and take an online or in-person tour of one of our six Class-A law firm office spaces and consider joining the Amata community to learn how we can help. Or keep the conversation going by contacting us at [email protected].

Discover our legal support staff for lawyers in Chicago.