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The One-Paralegal Trap

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You know the feeling. You’re a solo practitioner or run a small law firm, juggling a packed caseload and keeping your clients happy. Then, the email arrives – your trusty paralegal, Sarah, is out sick.

Suddenly, your carefully calibrated workflow explodes. Deadlines stack, discovery requests pile up, and preparing for that upcoming court appearance feels like climbing Mount Everest in flip-flops.

This is what we call “employee failover.” It happens when you rely on one person for everything – drafting legal documents, managing deadlines, conducting research – and they are the glue that holds your practice together.

But as you one day realize, that person is a human being who gets sick, takes vacations, and sometimes even, heaven forbid, moves on to other opportunities.

This scenario is more than just a headache; it’s a recurring nightmare for countless small firm owners in Chicago.

The One-Paralegal Trap

What happens when a key team member, like your paralegal, is unexpectedly out of the office? Missed deadlines, frustrated clients, and scrambling to catch up can quickly disrupt your firm’s momentum. And unfortunately, it’s up to the founder to take on the burden.

If you’re a law firm with one FTE paralegal and they’re out for any reason, you can be in a world of trouble. Forget weekends with the family or catching up on that ever-growing stack of legal journals. Your evenings and Saturdays become dedicated to scrambling to cover for workload. You answer frantic calls from clients asking about the status of their case, desperately trying to maintain the illusion of everything being under control.

This constant firefighting creates a vicious cycle: sacrificing personal time to meet client demands, which leads to exhaustion and can potentially bring your entire workflow to a halt.

The solution is to have a fractional paralegal or admin staff step in on an ad-hoc basis to ensure continuity. This is especially important if you regularly go to court.

Should you just hire another full-time paralegal? If you can afford it and have enough workload to keep them busy, go for it. But let’s face it: Hiring a full-time paralegal comes with a hefty price tag – salary, benefits, office space – which are hard on small firms, especially during periods of fluctuating case volume.

 

Amata’s Fractional Services Save You From the ‘One-Paralegal Trap’

Amata provides access to a network of pre-vetted, experienced paralegals and legal administrative professionals in Chicago. Here’s how Amata can save the day:

 

  • Fractional Talent, Full-Time Support: Imagine having a pool of qualified legal professionals at your fingertips. With Amata, you can hire a fractional paralegal for just the hours you need – a few days a week during peak periods, or even just to cover for Sarah’s vacation. This flexibility allows you to scale your team up or down as your caseload dictates.
  • Instant Employee Fail-Over: So, Sarah gets the flu? No problem. Use Amata’s network to find a qualified replacement immediately. This ensures critical tasks remain on track, deadlines are met, and your clients don’t suffer from the fallout.
  • Cost-Effective Expertise: Amata eliminates the burden of recruiting, onboarding, and managing full-time staff. You only pay for the support you use, freeing up valuable resources to invest in growing your firm.

Don’t let employee downtime be the reason you can’t enjoy a weekend barbeque with your family or attend your child’s soccer game. Amata offers the perfect solution – access to experienced legal talent, on your terms, at an affordable price.

Contact Amata today and discover how fractional paralegals and admin support can empower you to focus on what matters most – practicing great law, with strong profit margins, and enjoying a healthy work-life balance.

Running a ‘Lean & Mean’ Boutique Law Firm

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“I walked away from my law career to save my health.” This is how Jamie Sign, an attorney in California, titled her article. The post has more than a hundred likes and comments from other lawyers empathizing with her struggles working with “Big Law.”

The reality is that mental health is becoming a top priority for lawyers of all ages. Sacrificing everything at the altar of success is no longer the only narrative that’s available for attorneys. Today, new voices for sustainable work-life balance are rising.

 

Revenue Is Vanity, Profit Is Sanity

As a law firm owner, you may find yourself in a tricky situation where your firm wants to grow but doesn’t want to deal with more complexity. In the beginning, it may have been just you and a couple of friends, but as you expanded the team, the expenses started to pile up. Now, you have more mouths to feed, and the pressure of bringing in new business and expanding the business can accumulate like a pressure cooker.

 

At that point, you may find yourself making more revenue but receiving less actual-cash-in-hand at the end of each month. Making less profit while stressing more is hard enough to discourage even the most enthusiastic lawyers, and that’s when the question pops up:

Should I go back to when my law firm was a simpler business, I was making good money, and we had a small but might team?

For some, the answer is definitely yes. Attorneys like Jamie Rubin (who we interviewed in The 1958 Lawyer Podcast) intentionally decided to stay “lean & mean.” He runs a boutique law firm in a niche market, where they can focus on doing great work for a handful of clients.

 

The question is, what if you still want to grow your law firm but do it in a way that’s profitable and keeps you sane?

Finding Your Sweet Spot for Profitable Growth

Venture-backed companies have popularized the notion of scaling, and it has become the promised land for many companies. But for bootstrapped companies, a healthier, more realistic notion is that of sustainable growth.

 

Each organization needs to find its sweet spot between growth and profitability. In periods of high growth, it’s okay to invest heavily in new team members, software, advertising, and infrastructure. But there are also periods of retaining clients, improving systems, and streamlining costs, which are essential to maintaining a healthy balance.

 

At Amata, we want to make this balancing act easier with our Fractional Support Services. With them, you can hire paralegals, virtual assistants, and legal support staff on an hourly basis. Our pre-made packages can save you up to 60% compared to a full-time employee, and also save you time on recruiting new employees.

With the right setup, you can generate a healthy profit margin while still having steady growth and room to hire and delegate. Your core team can be composed of only the full-time hires that you are essential to your firm, like the owner and associates. Your fractional team can be composed of paralegals, virtual assistants, and on-site admin staff.

 

Whether you expand or contract, your fractional team can adjust and protect your profitability. We even have a pay-as-you-need-it model when none of our pre-made packages suit your needs.

 

In this way, you can run a profitable ‘lean & mean’ law firm that allows you and your employees to enjoy a healthy work-life balance with steady growth.

Interested in learning how our Fractional Support Services can get you there? Contact our team here and we’ll answer any questions for you.

Building A Lean, High-Quality Legal Team

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In 2023 Aaron Hall did a study of some of the highest hourly rates in the legal world:

  • $2,465 per hour was charged by Neal Katyal of Hogan Lovells according to Reuters.
  • $1,965 per hour per hour was charged by attorney Bryce Friedman of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett according to Bloomberg.
  • $1,950 per hour was charged by David Boies of Boies Schiller Flexner LLP according to Reuters.
  • $1,230 per hour per hour was charged by attorney Dirk Vandermeersch of Cleary Gottlieb in Brussels according to Lawyers Mutual.
  • $1,220 per hour was charged by tax attorney Ian Taplin of Kirkland & Ellis according to Lawyers Mutual.

And while some of these rates might seem outrageous (or aspirational, depending on how you look at them), the reality is that running a law firm has become more expensive. From office costs to social benefits and costly talent, it has become more difficult to run a highly profitable law firm without increasing rates for the end user.

 

However, there’s a limit to raising prices. Most law firms need to approach this problem in three ways:

a) Attracting well-capitalized clients who can afford higher rates

b) Focusing on solving bigger, more expensive problems

c) Lowering their expenses without compromising quality

 

That is why today’s article talks about the true cost of in-house support and how Amata’s on-demand services save lawyers money.

 

The True Cost of In-House Support

Office and team are the two biggest expenses law firms incur (besides taxes, of course). Previous articles covered how our flexible office plans save law firms money on office space, providing them wiggle room to scale. Now we have a new service that can save you money on your team-building efforts: Our new Fractional Services Packages.

Because let’s be real: Hiring people today is expenses. How expensive? Here’s a breakdown of 2024 rates in an established market like Chicago:

Associate Attorneys

The National Association for Law Placement (NALP) found that the overall median first-year associate base salary as of January 1, 2023, was $200,000, up to $35,000 from 2021, when the survey was last administered. This means a 21.2% increase in salaries in just two years, raising the bar for solo attorneys and small firms to be able to afford hiring.

Law Clerk’s blog also found that, in general, freelance lawyers are paid about 30-40% of the market hourly rate. This means that if the median salary for lawyers is $135,740 (According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics), the average hourly rate is $65,26 per hour and for contract lawyers it would be $85-$120+ per hour.

 

 

Paralegals

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the 2022 median pay for paralegals and legal assistants was $59,200 per year and $28.46 per hour. A closer look shows that in states like Illinois, an experienced paralegal can charge an average of $96,030 per year.

 

Executive Assistants

According to Indeed, the average salary for an executive assistant in the US can range from $64,986 on average to $103,983 on the high end.

 

 

Besides the high rates, there is an unspoken cost of building a team yourself: Time.

Posting on job sites, vetting applicants, interviewing them, training, onboarding, and then managing talent takes a lot of time. That is another benefit of our “curated-for-you” Fractional Support Services.

If you would like to build a lean, high-quality legal team, contact us to see how we can supply talent at rates you can afford, at just the hours that you need.

Is “Fractional Hiring” Here to Stay for Law Firms?

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In 1872, there were only 15 law firms with 4 or more lawyers in the US. By 1903, that number had grown to 210, and in 1924 it had grown to over 1,000 (Source). There used to be a time when most lawyers would work in-house in big corporations with rigid schedules. Then, in the 50s and 60s, law firms experienced what’s known as the “Golden Era”. Corporations grew rapidly and demanded lawyers to work inside firms, so they could serve several clients while managing their schedule.

 

Thus, the “Fractional Lawyer” was born. Working part-time, on-demand hours became the norm, and the fixed salaries were replaced with the billable hours and “per project” billing system.

 

This trend of fractionalizing workers has expanded to many other professions since. Today there are Fractional CFOs, CMOs, CTOs, and even CEOs. Businesses benefit because they can hire highly qualified talent without a full-time salary, and workers have more freedom over their hours, workload, rates, and professional future.

 

Here are Amata we are pioneering a new frontier in the history of Fractionalizing: Fractional Support Services for Law Firms, served as a “complete but on-demand” package. Here’s what that means.

 

 

Most solo practitioners and small law firms do not need a full-time receptionist, full-time assistant, or paralegal. Tight budgets and a fluctuation workload mean they need extra support in their business on-demand. What if there was a simple way to tap into this support?

Our new Fractional Support Service Programs allow you to do that. They include five packages plus pay-as-you-need-it pricing options. Here’s a detailed breakdown of how they work:

 

Fractional Support Service Programs

  1. 30 hours/month of Executive Virtual Assistant service and in-person administrative assistance. This is an 80%/20% program, where up to 20% or 6 hours of time each month may be allotted to an in-person administrator for court runs, courtesy copies to judges, trips to the clerk’s office and the vital records office. It may also be used for copy work or any other task an administrator can perform.
  2. 15 hours/month of Executive Virtual Assistant service. This program is 100% Virtual Executive Assistant service, including email management, appointment setting, social media management, and event scheduling, and any other task a Virtual Executive Assistant may perform
  3. 15 hours/month of On-site Admin Support. This program includes court runs, trips to the clerk’s office or Vital Records, copying, scanning, mail preparation, and all other admin support services available at Amata. 
  4. 10 hours/month of paralegal support. This service may include document drafting, document review projects, case management, and any other task a paralegal may perform.
  5. 18 hours/month of paralegal support. This service may include document drafting, document review projects, case management, and any other task a paralegal may perform.

These programs will auto-renew each month until canceled and must be purchased and paid for prior to work being performed. Any unused hours expire at the end of the month and do not roll over into the next month. All monthly overages will be invoiced at the pay-as-you-need-it rates.

 

“Amata makes the transition from large law firm to solo practitioner virtually effortless. Secretarial and paralegal services are available at competitive rates on an ‘as needed, pay-as-you-go’ basis which is ideal for the solo practitioner or small law firm.”

Paula Kaplan Berger BERGER LAW, LLC

 

We believe fractional hiring is here to stay for law firms. Most workers want flexibility in their calendars and most businesses want to pay for only the hours that they need. This setup meets the needs of both, allowing you to grow your law firm while delegating day-to-day admin tasks (at rates you can afford).

If you would like to know the cost of our Fractional Services Packages, click here to contact our team.

Your Employees Are Not Working 8 Hours A Day

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Recently International Workers’ Day was celebrated across the world, but not in the US. While in Europe, Asia, and Latin America, workers’ day is celebrated (on May 1st), labor day is celebrated in the US (on the first Monday of September).

 

The differences are immense. One celebrates the person, and the other the activity. Without getting into any political or moral discussions, this highlights the culture of glorified work that exists today in the US.

 

The eight-hour workday was created during the Industrial Revolution, after factory workers started to riot against 10-16-hour workdays in Chicago. The day was divided into “eight hours labor, eight hours recreation, eight hours rest.”

But this eight-hour moment didn’t become mainstream until in 1914, Ford Motor Company decided to cut the daily hours down to eight while doubling wages for workers. To everyone’s surprise, this increased productivity.

 

Today, a new movement arises: Should we cut the eight-hour, five-day-per-week work schedules even further? With the advances in technology, is working all these hours even necessary?

 

Your Employees Aren’t Probably Working As Much As You Think

The truth is that most humans cannot concentrate for 8 hours per day. According to field studies, the average worker is only productive for two hours and 53 minutes per day.

 

That means only about 3 hours per day are devoted to meaningful work. The rest are spent checking emails, browsing social media, discussing non-work-related things with co-workers, taking breaks, researching, and making calls.

 

This means that your employees aren’t probably working as much as you think, which is great because it means they can still get a lot done with just a few hours each day. What is hard is realizing that you are likely overpaying for full-time employees, which impacts your clients because you need to raise prices just to stay profitable.

 

 

It is not that your employees are ‘bad’ or have dishonest intentions. Just like them, we probably only have 3 hours every day to do truly productive work. So what should we do, given this reality?

 

The New Way To Work

What people are realizing is that there are smarter ways to work. If we trim everything in our workdays that isn’t our core functions (such as emails, managing social media, answering calls, etc), we are left with just a handful of tasks that are within our zone of genius. These are the tasks where we can have the most impact, that we enjoy the most, and what ultimately we get paid for.

 

This is why at Amata we created Fractional Support Services. Most small law firms will not need a full-time paralegal, virtual assistant, and on-site administrative staff. What they need are flexible packages that allow them to hire support on demand (hourly), so that their in-house team can focus on their core responsibilities and become more productive.

Some of the benefits of hiring fractional (part-time) support are:

 

  • Save 60% compared to a full-time employee
  • Take mundane tasks off your daily to-do list
  • Spend more time working with your clients
  • Work with a team to support your practice, not just one or two employees
  • No more time or money spent recruiting
  • Zero employee benefits costs
  • Scale team up for busy periods, scale down when done
  • No more payroll to cover during slow periods
  • Get expertise to help organize your days and reduce the anxiety created when you feel under pressure
  • Make more client deadlines without sacrificing work/life balance
  • Make time to take on more clients

This removes the bottleneck on your operational needs while maintaining flexibility on costs. You can scale up and down without needing to pay for full-time employees, so your full-time associates and key employees can do the most profitable work that they love doing.

 

 

You don’t need a large hiring budget to get operational support for your law firm. With Amata’s new Fractional Support Services, you can hire the specific help you need at affordable rates, and only pay hours actually worked.

Click here to learn more about the different packages we offer!

Improving Client Retention With Done-For-You Relationship Nurturing

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There’s a story of a realtor who became Michigan’s top realtor by doing one thing really well: Building relationships. Instead of going door to door bugging people, he would keep a list of all his clients’ birthdays and favorite restaurants. When the client’s birthday arrived, he would send them a handwritten note with a coupon code to claim a dessert at their favorite restaurant.

That was it. No advertisement, no expensive marketing, or secret selling secrets. People would be shocked that this person (whom they have seen once or twice) would remember their birthday, and immediately refer him to the next person looking to sell their home.

By simply sending a special gift on people’s birthdays, he became Michigan’s top realtor for several consecutive years.

 

 

You probably know this, but relationships are the key to attracting and retaining clients. Long-lasting business relationships are built on trust, affinity, and going the extra mile. The question is, how can you nurture your relationships while also leveraging your time?

 

Enter Outsourced Relationship Nurturing

There are certain things that only you, as a founder and lawyer, can do. You are the only one who can go to networking events, create strategic relationships, and lead the strategy on cases. But one of the things you CAN delegate are micro-experiences that delight clients.

 

Small gestures like sending birthday greetings, remembering significant events like your client’s mother’s surgery, sharing insightful articles, and sending occasional thank-you cards might seem insignificant, but they can have a profound impact. These actions, which require minimal investment, can set you apart from the competition, forge deeper connections with your clients, and solidify their loyalty.

 

Not only will they be more likely to stay with you, but they’ll also be inclined to recommend your services to their network, expanding your reach and influence.

 

Most founders genuinely care about their clients, but the challenge often lies in finding the time to nurture these relationships effectively. This is where leveraging the support of a part-time virtual assistant can be transformative. By strategically delegating the task of relationship nurturing within your law firm, you free up valuable time to focus on core business activities. This not only enhances client satisfaction and loyalty but also has a direct positive impact on your bottom line.

 

 

Designing An 11-Star Experience

One of the things that has made Airbnb so successful is, in the words of their founder Brian Chesky, “scaling a magical experience.” When they were thinking about how to create a thriving company that would revolutionize the entire hospitality industry, they came up with the 11-star customer experience.

“What would it take for me to design something that you would literally tell every single person you’ve ever encountered?” Asks Chesky.

 

What would a 5-star experience for a law firm be? Maybe it is entering the office and being told to wait in the lobby. A 6-star experience might include a drink while the client waits.

 

Now, if you thought about a 10 or 11-star experience, it could include things like picking up clients at the airport on a Rolls Royce, listening to them with extreme care, solving their issues promptly, and going the extra mile on every single one of their requests. The point is to find the sweet spot between overdelivering for clients and creating a wow experience, while also being able to replicate this experience and sustain it over time.

 

So ask yourself: If there were no limits or constraints, what would you do for clients so that they couldn’t help but speak about you to every single person they encounter?

 

 

Building Relationships At Scale

Most lawyers are busy already. How can they find time to remember their clients’ birthdays and send them thank-you notes?

 

With Amata’s new Fractional Support Packages, you can hire an executive virtual assistant, an in-person administrative assistant, and paralegal support just for the hours that you need. No more overpaying for hours that you don’t need. You can pay as you need it with our flexible services that scale up and down to accommodate to your growth and seasonality.

 

By outsourcing these minor yet impactful details, you’re standing out and ensuring you remain at the forefront of your clients’ minds. This strategy also cultivates a loyal client base that will continue to seek out your services and enthusiastically refer others to you for years to come.

 

With Amata’s on-demand, fractional support, you can nurture your most important business relationships and create a direct ROI — Without the necessity of committing to a full-time hire.

 

Click here to learn more about our Fractional Support Services!

Starting Your Own Practice? Here’s How Amata Saves You on Costs

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Starting your own practice is both exciting and scary. You envision all the things you want to do, achieve, and create, but at the same time the road to getting there feels uncertain.

That is why today we want to show you a simpler, more cost-effective way to start your law firm: Amata’s full-service law firm programs.

 

The 2 Biggest Costs Law Firms Incur

Achieving profitability is a constant balancing act between increasing revenue and decreasing expenses. In the beginning, when you probably have only a handful of clients, you want to keep a close look at expenses. This is what creates the positive cash flow to invest in team and infrastructure, so you can grow your business.

At Amata we have served attorneys for more than 21 years. That is why we designed unique solutions to reduce your two biggest expenses: Hiring and office space.

According to the 2020 Report on the State of the Legal Market by Thomson Reuters and Georgetown University’s Center on Ethics and the Legal Profession, law firms’ biggest expenses are:

 

  1. Personnel Costs: This includes salaries, benefits, and bonuses for lawyers, paralegals, administrative staff, and other professionals. They typically represent the largest expense for law firms, accounting for around 55% to 60% of total expenses.
  2. Office Space: Rent or mortgage payments for office space can be substantial, especially in prime locations. Additionally, expenses related to utilities, maintenance, and insurance also contribute to office costs. Office space and related occupancy costs account for approximately 10% to 15% of total expenses.
  3. Technology Infrastructure: Law firms invest heavily in technology for case management, document storage, billing, and communication. This includes software licenses, hardware purchases, IT support, and cybersecurity measures.
  4. Marketing and Business Development: Law firms often allocate significant funds to marketing and business development efforts to attract new clients and retain existing ones. This may include advertising, website development, networking events, and sponsorships.
  5. Professional Development and Training: Continuing education and professional development are essential for lawyers to stay updated on legal developments and maintain their expertise. Law firms may incur expenses for training programs, seminars, conferences, and certifications.
  6. Litigation Costs: For firms engaged in litigation, expenses such as court fees, expert witness fees, deposition transcripts, and travel costs can be substantial.
  7. Insurance: Professional liability insurance is a significant expense for law firms to protect against malpractice claims. Additionally, firms may purchase other types of insurance coverage such as general liability and cyber liability insurance.
  8. Administrative Expenses: This includes costs associated with office supplies, postage, printing, and other day-to-day operational expenses.

 

As you can see, personnel costs and office space can account for up to 70%-80% of a law firm’s expenses. If you can reduce costs on these two items, you give yourself a massive advantage over every other competitor in your market.

 

 

How Amata Saves You On Personnel and Office Expenses

Our full-service law firm programs are designed to do three things:

 

  • Give you access to everything you need to grow your law firm, including paralegals, virtual assistants, administrative staff, conference rooms, and more.

    Whether you’re running a virtual or physical office, Amata provides on-demand (hourly) support services in the form of admin assistants, paralegals, receptionists, and business phone/phone app services that help you cross tasks off your to-do lists and get back to growing your business.


  • Grow in a flexible way that adjusts to the ups and downs of the market. For example, if an associate suddenly leaves, you can drop office space without penalties. Or if you see a surge in clients and need new offices, you can also add them without rigid lease terms that impede it.

    Amata provides 12-month lease terms with a 30-day notice to adjust office space. This allows you to reduce costs and maintain profitability when you need it most.


  • Build a team you can delegate to, so you and your associates can focus on billable hours and enjoying a healthy work-life balance.

    When revenue goes down, you need to reduce expenses to maintain profit. Amata provides flexibility to achieve this in your office space and personnel costs.

 

Fractional Support Services

Our newest package allows you to hire pre-vetted talent at just the hours that you need. There are five pre-made packages, plus a pay-as-you-need-it option:

 

Program Benefits

  • Save 60% compared to a full-time employee
  • Take mundane tasks off your daily to-do list
  • Spend more time working with your clients
  • Work with a team to support your practice, not just one or two employees
  • No more time or money spent recruiting
  • Zero employee benefits costs
  • Scale team up for busy periods, scale down when done
  • No more payroll to cover during slow periods
  • Get expertise to help organize your days and reduce the anxiety created when you feel under pressure
  • Make more client deadlines without sacrificing work/life balance
  • Make time to take on more clients

 

To learn more about our program, contact our team here. Our programs allow you to hire support staff and access premium offices at flexible rates. We are ready to support your new law firm and see you thrive!

3 Steps to Boost Your Law Firm’s Profitability

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There is nothing more heartbreaking than working extremely hard the entire month, only to realize there is little to no money in the bank account and wondering where did all went.

Law firm owners work way too hard in order to not enjoy reliable profits from their business. That is why this article will center around a 3-step formula to boost your law firm’s profitability.

 

Sales Do Not Equal Profits

 One of the most common mistakes beginner law firm owners make is equating sales to profits. It is simple to chase one client after another without considering that revenue is not the same as profits.

In simple words “revenue is what you make, profit is what you keep.” Recognizing this, you will see that what most lawyers are looking for when they think “I want to make more money” is profits, not revenue. Because profits are what pays for your vacations, your kids’ school, and your growth plans; not revenue.

 

 

How to Boost Your Profits: A 3-Step Formula

Now that we have established that it is profits that most law firm owners want, it’s time to set a proven formula to increase them. Melissa Houston, a Forbes contributor and CPA with over 20 years of experience, explains this as a 3-step formula.

(Pricing x Sales) – Expenses = Profits

It’s simple when you think about it. Your pricing times your sales volume, minus your expenses, equals your profits. Here’s an example:

($300 per billable hour x 60 billable hours per month) = $18,000 in revenue

$3,000 in office rent + $5,000 in staff + $1,500 in tech + $500 miscellaneous = $10,000 in expenses

$18,000 in revenue – $10,000 in expenses = $8,000 in profits

When you consider that the number above ($8,000) is pre-tax, you realize how important it is to keep healthy margins in order to generate sufficient profits from your law firm. Here are 3 non-exclusive ways to improve profitability:

 

1. Increase Prices

Most law firms never do a price audit to see if there’s room to increase prices. And if they do, it is based on a “gut check” instead of objective data from the market.

The reality is that, with high inflation, raising prices is a reality that needs to happen every year. The key to doing it while retaining clients is to always provide value that exceeds your prices and to think about the relationship between pricing and volume.

Do you want a low-volume, high-touch law firm that only works with a handful of affluent clients? Or are you willing to lower prices, but serve more clients? Both models are viable, and each law firm needs to find the spot in between that makes the most sense to them.

2. Increase Sales Volume

Once you test higher prices and find a spot where you can be profitable while also remaining competitive, it is time to increase sales. We can do this by engaging in activities that generate new business, such as networking, strategic partnerships, advertising, and touching base with past clients.

The key is focusing on one strategy until you see significant results. For example, instead of trying to post content on every platform, you can double down on LinkedIn. Amata’s virtual assistants can save time by creating & scheduling your content, updating your CRM, and processing new client intake forms.

3. Control Expenses

This is probably the hardest part for growth-focused founders, but you need to control expenses. Actually, lowering expenses is probably the fastest way to increase profit margins and generate more “cash-in-hand” from your law firms.

Yet, we understand the struggle. Running a law firm is expensive, nevermind growing it. It takes a lot of financial, energetic, and human resources to take your law firm to the next level, and that is why we have created a unique solution for lawyers.

 

If you want to keep growing your law firm and invest in team members, assistants, premium offices, and tech, but you still want to watch your expenses and protect your profitability, our Fractional Support Services are for you.

With them, you can hire virtual and on-site assistants plus part-time paralegals all working only the hours that you require. This “pay-as-you-need-it” model allows you to invest in top-tier talent, delegate day-to-day operations, and focus on billable hours, all without breaking the bank. It is a solution that accommodates to the reality of your cash flow and growth needs, and that provides flexibility to scale on your own timeline and terms.

Interested in learning more? Set a time to speak with our team and we will explain how our Fractional Support Services plus Scalable Office plans can get you the resources that you need to grow while protecting your law firm’s profitability.

Is Your Admin Staff Leaving You? It Might Be Because You Don’t Need Them Full-time

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People quit their jobs for many reasons. And besides the obvious ones (relocation, burnout, low pay), there is one reason that most leaders haven’t considered: Feeling underutilized.

High performers want to grow in their careers, make a tangible impact, and do challenging work. Many assistants and administrative staff also have a serving heart: They want to truly contribute and feel valued. If they feel that the work they do is meaningful, they will want to move on.

This article presents a solution for this — One that works for both the employee and those law firms looking to retain good people while protecting their margins.

 

Why Admin Staff Leave Their Employees

The right administrative staff can cut your workload, handle repetitive day-to-day tasks, streamline operations, and allow your lawyers to focus on their core responsibilities.

However, a concerning trend has emerged—qualified and capable administrative professionals are leaving their positions, often due to feeling underutilized in their roles. The Gloat Survey revealed that 34% of American workers feel underutilized at work, prompting them to quit.

This begs the question: Are law firms overlooking the potential benefits of hiring administrative staff on an hourly basis?

 

The traditional model of hiring full-time administrative staff has long been the norm for law firms. However, as work structures evolve and technology enables greater flexibility, the one-size-fits-all approach may no longer be the most effective solution. Small law firms, in particular, can benefit from reevaluating their staffing strategies to better align with the needs of both the firm and its employees.

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) estimates that the cost of replacing an employee can range from 50% to 60% of their annual salary. For small law firms operating on tight budgets, the prospect of frequent turnover among administrative staff can have significant ramifications on profitability and overall firm performance.

So, what can small law firms do to address this issue? The answer lies in embracing a more flexible approach to staffing by hiring administrative professionals on an hourly basis. By doing so, firms can harness the expertise of skilled professionals without committing to the financial burden of a full-time salary.

 

Fractional Support Services

Having worked with more than 6,000 solo practitioners and small law firms, Amata has created a new program that solves this issue. It provides flexibility in hiring, so that lawyers can experience the benefits admin staff provides (reduced workload, less stress, smoother operations) without having to commit to a full-time employee.

The Fractional Support Services Programs have five different packages, plus a pay-as-you-need-it service pricing.

This offers several advantages:

  1. For the firm, it provides the flexibility to scale staffing levels based on fluctuating workloads, ensuring that resources are allocated efficiently.During periods of high demand, such as when preparing for trials or managing multiple client files simultaneously, firms can easily increase staffing levels to meet the surge in workload. Conversely, during quieter periods or lulls in activity, firms can scale back on staffing without the financial burden of maintaining full-time positions.
  2. For admin staff, fractional employment offers greater autonomy and work-life balance. Rather than being tied to a rigid 9-to-5 schedule, employees can choose to work the hours that best suit their needs, whether it be during traditional business hours or outside of them.This flexibility can lead to increased job satisfaction and employee retention, as individuals feel empowered to manage their work in a manner that aligns with their personal lives.
  3. Furthermore, hiring administrative staff on an hourly basis enables firms to leverage specialized expertise as needed, without the overhead costs associated with maintaining full-time positions. Whether it’s project-based work, temporary support during peak periods, or assistance with specific tasks, firms can tailor their staffing arrangements to suit their evolving needs.

 

By avoiding the costs associated with idle employees during slower periods, such as salaries, benefits, and overhead expenses, firms can maintain financial stability and maximize profitability.

 

A New Way Of Work

Fractional Support Services allows law firms to scale staffing levels based on fluctuating workloads. This empowers you to operate more efficiently, respond effectively to changing demands, and remain competitive in today’s competitive marketplace.

The traditional model of hiring full-time administrative staff is no longer the most effective solution for small law firms. By embracing a fractional approach to staffing and hiring administrative professionals on an hourly basis, you can significantly increase efficiency, profitability, work/life balance, and employee satisfaction.

Click here to learn more about our Fractional Support Packages and how they can help you scale profits without scaling your hours.

Streamline Your Law Firm With Virtual and On-Site Assistants

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Did you know a virtual and on-site assistant are all you need to drastically reduce your workload and unlock new growth? Over 6,000 lawyers have experienced this with our attorney support services.

And now, for the first time, you can mix virtual and on-site assistants together, adjusting the hours that they work to your exact needs, so you can effectively benefit from the best of both worlds.

Introducing Fractional Support Services

Amata is committed to innovation. For years we have seen how many solo and small law firms NEED support on a daily basis, but they cannot afford a full-time hire yet. Either their finances cannot support it, or they do not have sufficient workload to justify a full-time hire.

Our Fractional Support Services solve that.

We have five package programs, plus a pay-as-you-need-it service pricing, to match the exact support needs of your law firm. In this article we are going to focus on one of the packages, which combines virtual and on-site assistants for the first time.

What a Virtual Assistant Can Do For You

In the book “Buy Back Your Time,” productivity and growth expert Dan Martell explains:

“If you want to see your business explode, hiring an assistant is non-negotiable. It’s the first hire every entrepreneur should make. Every hour you spend on admin tasks, answering emails, managing your calendar, calling the gardener, paying bills, et cetera is an hour robbed from your business, family, and dream life.”

Why is a virtual assistant such an impactful hire for a business owner? It’s because, with proper training, they can “clone” you and take over all those essential but time-consuming tasks that are draining you.

These include:

  • Schedule meetings
  • Calendar management
  • Client follow up calls
  • Research
  • Party planning
  • Book events
  • On-line shopping
  • Social media posts
  • Online Directory management
  • Manage to-do lists
  • Email management
  • Organize events
  • Accounts Payable / Accounts Receivable entries
  • Client collection calls
  • Enter attorney time/expenses
  • Pay invoices
  • Create templates/forms/charts/timelines
  • Updating case management systems
  • Prepare/edit PowerPoint presentations
  • Data entry
  • E-filing

And more!

A virtual assistant becomes a gatekeeper of your time, helping you do more without your personal involvement.

In our new Fractional Support Services packages, you can choose the number of hours of Executive Virtual Assistant support you need and whether or not you need on-site admin assistance or not. No more feeling like you don’t have enough for them to do or that you cannot afford one. Our packages suit your budget and demand as you grow.

What an On-Site Administrative Assistant Can Do For You

While virtual assistants can do a lot, some things need to be done in person and by someone experienced. That is where administrative assistants come in. This all-encompassing position can do anything that is required to keep your law firm running smoothly, such as coordinating staff events, bookkeeping, and making runs to the Recorder’s office, Secretary of State, County and Federal buildings.

Here is a list of services and on-site administrative assistant can handle for you:

  • Daily runs to Courts, Clerk’s & Sheriff’s Offices
  • Obtain certified copies, record liens, deeds, birth and death certificates, apostilles, and more.
  • Pay fees, deliver courtesy copies, and obtain duplicate tax bills.
  • Billing & data entry
  • Greet your clients and answer your phone
  • Notary services
  • Document witness
  • Electronic filing services
  • Document delivery
  • Translation/interpreter services (documents, remote, and on-site)
  • Skip tracing
  • Social media posting, Google Analytics monitoring, posting articles, and creating reports

The reason why Amata’s administrative assistants can do so many of these things is because they are specifically trained in the legal industry. They have worked with other law firms for years and will know the ins and outs of managing your back office.

With our new Fractional Support Services packages, you choose to have an in-person administrative assistant on an 80/20 basis. This means that 80% of the time is allocated to a virtual assistant, and the remaining 20% to an in-person assistant. They will coordinate daily court runs, deliver courtesy copies to judges, keep vital records in your office, and also greet clients on your behalf.

By combining virtual assistants with on-site administrative assistants, you get the best of both worlds. You can drastically cut hours, allocate new time to grow, and increase profits without the risks of a full-time hire.

Amata’s support team allows you to get comfortable using the same staff member all the time, without carrying them on your payroll. You only pay for the hours they work for you and you never have to deal with employee benefits or payroll taxes.

If you would like to get started, contact our team today and we will give you all the information to hire your first (or next) virtual and on-site administrative powerful match.

Discover our legal support staff for lawyers in Chicago.