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

1. 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
   
2. Once you click the icon, a Redact menu appears.
   
   
3. In the “Redact Text & Images” dropdown, open “Properties” and make sure the redaction color selected is black.
   
4. 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:

1. Select or mark your redaction
2. Apply the redaction
3. 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].

1. 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.
   
2. 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.
   
3. 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.

1. 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.

1. Select or mark your redaction
2. Apply the redaction
3. 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?

1. Open your redacted file
2. Highlight the area that is redacted and use CTRL + C to copy it
3. 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.

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.

Contact us today to learn more about how Amata can help you. Email [email protected]

Discover our paralegal services in Chicago.

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.

Discover our paralegal services in Chicago.

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.

Paralegals serve a critical function in larger law firms, providing client work at a billable hour but lower rate for clients, and freeing up the attorney’s time to work on more complex matters. But can contract paralegals offer the same benefits to solo and partner practice law firms?

Billable Hours & Paralegals Explained

Billable hours are the foundation for revenue for many law firms and attorneys. To increase your potential revenue, then, you have to increase the amount of billable hours in any given year. Extending the day cycle and adjusting the turn of the Earth is not an option, so many firm hire paralegals, who can perform client work and be billed back to the client. Yet recruiting full-time paralegals is costly, particularly for private practice law firms with fluctuating needs.

Many solo and partner practice law firms choose to forgo the assistance, but doing the work of a paralegal by yourself can cut into the firm’s bottom line. Additionally, other firms may be offering the same services at a lower cost because they are using the paralegals with lower billable rates on part of the casework.

While larger firms have the resources to take on a full-time staff member, and use them to their full-advantage, on-demand paralegal services (also referred to as freelance or contract paralegals) offer private practice law firms an alternative that is budget friendly.

What is a Contract Paralegal?

While a full-time paralegal is a permanent part of your law firm, a contract or freelance paralegal works on behalf of a licensed attorney for a specified period of time or specific case matter. They will only be paid for the work that they perform, usually by an hourly rate. Some concierge paralegal services only specialize in certain types of tasks and practice areas, while others can handle a variety of client work.

Generally speaking, a contract paralegal can perform the same tasks as any other paralegal, including:

• Drafting procedures, correspondence, and policies
• Researching memoranda
• Reviewing and assisting in payment processing of different invoices received from legal vendors
• Conducting advertisement reviews
• Creating case reports
• Handling special projects whenever assigned
• Responding to counsel requests on time
• Performing multiple duties whenever assigned to assist the chief legal officer in managing the company’s legal affairs

Before hiring a contract paralegal, make sure that they are equipped to handle the tasks you are assigning them. Some research may be necessary before hiring a paralegal to work freelance for your firm to ensure they are experienced in your practice area.

Benefits of Contract Paralegals

Cost Savings

Among the benefits of using contract paralegals, cost savings ranks highest on the list. And the cost-savings are two-fold:

1. You keep overhead low by not taking on a full-time employee
2. The client saves money by having a lower rate paralegal perform their work, giving your rates a competitive edge

Scalability

If you’re working on a large matter that requires more staff than your firm has on hand, your team can quickly upsize to take on the expanded workload, and then easily downsize once the project is done. On-demand paralegals fluctuate with your need, making it attractive for case-specific matters.

Professionalism

Contract paralegals have already been vetted by the ALSP (alternative legal service provider) they work on behalf of. There’s no need to look at a pile of resumes to find the right person, as their skills have already been qualified and the ALSP will know the right personnel for the job. As ALSPs depend on quality of service to operate, you can rest assured that their skills will match with your case needs. They are professionals who know how to help your legal practice.

Easy Client Billing

Since the paralegal performed billable work, and sent you an invoice, billing your client back is very simple. You simply mark up the service costs and apply to your own invoice structure before billing back.

Amata’s Legal Support Staff

Contract paralegals can provide an immeasurable amount of assistance to law firms, particularly smaller practices who don’t have the resource cushion to build out a team in-house. Using freelance paralegal services can help your business without cutting into your bottom line.

Aside from being a leading provider in shared office space for law firms in the Chicago area, Amata also offers services like contract paralegals and live legal receptionist services—both can be added onto existing programs or used as standalone services. Rather than paying by the hour, our staff charges for actually time spent on work, ensuring that every dime is spent on your clients’ legal matters.

Amata Law Office Suites is more than just an office space: it is an all-encompassing solution for legal practitioners that offers the benefits of a larger law firm at prices solo practitioners can afford. Contact us today more information about our services.

Discover our paralegal services in Chicago.

When it comes to juggling motherhood and practicing law, Natalie Harris, a partner at Baron Harris Healey, candidly admits that it’s no easy task.

“It was totally horrible,” she said about transitioning back to work after becoming a mom 11 years ago.

At the time, she was an attorney at a boutique law firm and roughly 10 years out of law school, the typical time frame for rising to partner status. The firm had few full-time, female partners and no one before her returned to work at the firm after having a child. 

As her family’s primary breadwinner, Harris couldn’t afford to take a few years off. While she was able to negotiate a “generous” amount of time for maternity leave, she said she didn’t receive any accommodations, such as daycare assistance, to help her ease back into her role. The firm also reduced her annual billable hour goal and salary — for the next few years.

“It was as if I came back from vacation,” she recalled. “Hope you had fun. Now, let’s get back to work.”

She eventually made partner after having her second child, but she thinks motherhood “absolutely” delayed her promotion.

Does Being a Mother Impede Career Prospects as a Lawyer?

It’s no secret that the legal industry is struggling to retain female attorneys. While roughly 50% of law students are female, legal news service Law360 found that women represent less than 40% of attorneys in law firms and just over 20% of equity partners. 

Becoming a parent certainly seems to factor into the diminishing numbers. A 2019 study from the American Bar Association reported that nearly 60% of female lawyers cite caretaking commitments as an “important influence” on their decision to leave their firms. More than half said arranging child care is their full responsibility, compared with 1% of male lawyers.

As a solo practitioner specializing in international law, Sandra Chiarlone agreed that it was “very difficult” to manage her practice and a new baby in 2017. While she was able to find a babysitter whenever she had in-person client meetings, she often depended on others to visit the various entities with which she communicates, such as the Illinois Secretary of State office and Consulate General of Italy. Her quarterly trips to Italy also stopped.

“When you’re lawyering in your early 20s, no one asks you, ‘What kind of lifestyle do you want?’” Harris said. “Do you like being in the office all the time? Or do you like having control of your schedule?”

Family law attorney Michelle Sinkovits Ferguson decided not to wait for others to ask. Instead of continuing her career at an established firm in 2012, she chose to start her own practice, Greenberg & Sinkovits, LLC, with fellow attorney Stephanie Greenberg. She knew that working for herself would eventually provide more flexibility when she wanted to have children. But a firm with two women at the helm also poses unique challenges.

“I think my first maternity leave … was a learning experience for both of us … how to handle things when the other one is on leave for an extended period,” Greenberg said.

Now, Greenberg and Sinkovits Ferguson are both moms and split their time between their at-home and in-person offices. While many other attorneys find challenges with working from home, they relish the ability to see their children the moment they stop working.

Legal Support Services Help Lawyers Who Are Mothers Excel

According to the 2019 American Bar Association study, levels of stress at work and work-life balance are top reasons that women leave their law firms. Luckily, the COVID-19 pandemic has stirred change in the legal industry. A hybrid setup — renting a few offices that attorneys can share during their periodic downtown trips — or working completely remote is no longer frowned upon. If more female attorneys feel empowered to find a work setup that suits them, it could improve overall retention. 

Chiarlone, Greenberg and Sinkovits Ferguson have learned to adjust their schedules so they could devote necessary time to their children and practices, and they credit Amata Law Office Suites (Chicago’s first legal community of more than 700 attorneys and six Class-A downtown offices) with helping them reach their law practice and parenting goals. In addition to physical office space, teleworking services and virtual office programs, Amata offers them premier legal support, such as live legal receptionists who perform client intake and an experienced legal support team. Not to mention the potential to network with fellow lawyer moms and other attorney parents.

Greenberg and Sinkovits Ferguson decided to move their office to Amata last summer when their previous lease ended. For now, they prefer the virtual office approach rather than a hybrid or completely on-site option. They use Amata’s reservable day-offices and meeting room space for client meetings and have taken advantage of the live reception services. Sinkovits Ferguson said the arrangement is working “really well.”

 Chiarlone appreciates the location of her downtown office, as it’s very convenient for clients to visit. But what she loves most about Amata is the empathy that she found in the personnel.

“On a scale of one to 10, they’re more than 10,” she said. They do what you need in a very precise and kind manner.”

After 15 years with her previous firm, Harris also made the move to Amata in 2019 when starting her partner practice with former colleagues. The goal was to live a more fulfilling life. She said Amata has helped them keep overhead “extraordinarily low,” earn more revenue and be more selective with their work. Most importantly, she has more time to spend with her kids.

“We enjoy our time together so much more,” she said.

There’s more work to be done to empower lawyer moms. 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. Or keep the conversation going by contacting us at [email protected].

Discover our legal support staff for lawyers in Chicago.