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Proven Delegation Framework for Lawyers

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Growing a law firm has several stages. In the beginning, you are hungry for clients and looking to make a name for yourself. You work on promotion, your track record, and never miss a networking event. But there comes a time when your problem is actually having too much work. If you are in that stage, this article is for you.

People who move to the third stage (where your law firm is running without you and you can focus on your most energizing work and growing the business) have learned how to delegate effectively. Mastering the skill of delegation will allow you to free up your time and uncap the ceiling of your income and impact potential.

The problem is that most law schools do not teach fundamental business schools, so many lawyers who end up running a law firm lack a proven framework for delegating — Which is what we will explain in this article.

The 10-80-10 Principle

Entrepreneur and coach John Maxwell developed a simple principle for delegation after working with thousands of leaders for over 40 years: The 10-80-10 Principle.

It works like this:

  1. You get involved in the first 10% of a project. This is the ideation and planning phase, where your team will require your involvement to really know what is the expected outcome, the standards and the deliverables.
  2. You delegate the 80%, which is the implementation phase. You have steered the wheel towards the direction you want, it’s now time for your team to take over. You remain available for them and keep them accountable while they bring the vision laid out during the first 10% to life.
  3. You jump back into the last 10% of the project. This is the completion phase where you do “quality control,” fill any loopholes, and make sure everything is up to your standards. You also ask deep questions so your team can grow from this experience.

“I call those two parts the bookends of success. I could also compare the process to piloting a plane. The crucial parts of the flight are the takeoff and landing. They’re the most dangerous, and the most complicated. By involving myself in the team’s project during those crucial times, I’m able to help them make a successful trip.” John Maxwell

 

The 10-80-10 Principles has many benefits for lawyers:

  1. You delegate implementation but maintain control of outcomes. The legal world requires precise execution, confidentiality, and maintaining strict deadlines. Client matters may be too sensitive to delegate them completely, which is why you are getting involved in the first and last 10%, and making sure everything gets done promptly through the middle 80%.
  2. You delegate the most time-consuming part of the process. Your genius becomes creating the strategy and maintaining client relationships, while your team takes over the most time-consuming activities. In this way, you are still contributing with your years of experience to win cases, while being more efficient with your time.
  3. You can grow new leaders from every project. One of the things that Maxwell recommends is to use the last 10% of any project to identify people who took the lead in the project. When you are constantly on the outlook for rising leaders and invest in your people, you can develop new leaders to take over your role so you can ascend to an even higher position in your law firm.

If you are looking to get more done while making sure quality is maintained in your client delivery, the 10-80-10 principle is the place to get started.

More Than 21 Years Helping Lawyers Delegate More Easily

We know that delegating is not an easy task. You worry about not having enough funds, about the quality of the delivery, and about the time it will take to find, train, and retain people. That is why here at Amata we have made delegation a breeze with our on-demand support services.

-If you need a virtual assistant to manage your calendar, new client form intake, and inbound calls

-If you require diligent paralegals who will research on your behalf and write document drafts

-If you require staff to do errands and daily runs to courthouses for you, while also managing your mailing and greeting any clients who come to your office

Then Amata’s support services are for you. We help you save time and money with pre-vetted professionals who act as an extension of your law firm, and who are paid on a per-hour basis. You only pay for the work you are receiving, and do not need to devote days to train every new hire because they are all experienced in the legal industry.

“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

By blending Amata’s support professionals with the 10-80-10 principle, you can expand your clientele while maintaining profitability, delegate time-consuming tasks, and create a thriving law that can run and grow without you.

Contact our team today to inquire about our on-demand support services.

Discover our legal support staff for lawyers in Chicago.

Law Firm Billing: How to Collect Payments in a Timely Manner

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Billing can be a huge pain point for lawyers. In the 2023 Trends Report by Clio, it was found that 14% of billable hours never get invoiced and, from those that get invoiced, 11% never get paid by clients. This means a significant portion of most law firms’ profits never reach their bank account.

How can you, as a solo practitioner or law firm owner change this? Read on to discover one actionable tip to get paid in full, on time.

Timing Is Essential

In his book How to Start & Build a Law Practice, author Jay G. Foonberg talks about an essential concept that impacts billing: The Gratitude Curve.

Essentially, in most people approach lawyers when they are in a desperate situation. If there is a fit and they become clients, their immediate sentiment is relief. They’re glad to have a lawyer by their side.

As time passes, the client’s perception of the value reaches its peak. They couldn’t be more grateful for having their lawyer. And then, depending on the nature of the case and the duration of the trial, the “gratitude curve” starts to fall down.

Image credits: Clio Legal Trends Report

The longer the case moves away from a significant milestone, the more a client will feel like they no longer need their lawyer. It is the same with doctors, accountants, advertising agencies, and most professional service providers. If there is not a frequent demonstration of value, clients start to feel like ‘this is just another bill to pay’ and that they can solve the problem on their own (or with cheaper assistance).

So is there a solution? Here 3 strategic moves to make the most out of Foonberg’s Gratitude Curve.

Strategy #1: Bill up front and at the points of maximum perceived value

Needless to say, a client is more likely to pay their bill and see it as an investment when their perception of value is high. This means that bills should be sent up front, as soon as an important milestone is reached, or just before the clients need their lawyer to make the next strategic move.

While this may be common sense, Clio’s study found that 15% of clients never received a bill from their lawyer, and 28% of bills are sent weeks or even months after the work is done, reducing their chances of getting paid.

The solution is to bill clients right when their perceived value is at its highest, and always invoice all billable hours.

Strategy #2: Constantly Overdeliver

There is a concept in customer experience called the “wow” moment. This is when you enter a hotel and see that they left free water or a welcome letter in your room. By integrating these “micro experiences” into your engagements, the perception of value not only increases but can be preserved much longer.

Strategy #3: Simple Payments

Most clients want to pay their lawyer. However, a large portion of law firms are still sending bills by mail, only accepting checks, and not setting clear deadlines.

A bill should be easy to pay. And it pays to do so. In Clio’s 2023 Trends Report, it was found that firms using online payments on average collect 50% of their bills within 7 days of issuing them, while those not using online payments get paid in 15 days or more. This is twice the time it takes for a law firm to receive new funds and be able to reinvest for growth or pay the owner.

At the end of the day, work doesn’t finish until the invoice is fully paid and received. By billing up in a timely manner, keeping the perception of value high, and making it easy for clients to pay their bills, law firms can avoid cash flow problems and get compensated for all their hard work.

If you are having trouble keeping up with invoices and billing clients in a timely manner, a virtual assistant can help. Amata’s administrative assistants are trained in the legal industry and can support in any of these areas:

  • Email Management
  • Payroll, Billing, and Accounting
  • Database Management
  • Document Conversion and Management
  • Appointment Reminders and Scheduling
  • Legal Correspondence and Transcription
  • Legal Research
  • Live Virtual Receptionist

Our flexible plans allow you to pay for only the hours that you need, so that keeping your firm’s operations running smoothly doesn’t come with unnecessary overhead costs.

Click here to discover how our Virtual Assistants can assist with billing (and a whole lot more!)

Discover our legal support staff for lawyers in Chicago.

The Real Cost of Not Having a Virtual Receptionist

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We recently heard from an attorney:

“I’m just looking for a job where I can maintain a relationship with my kid and have a bit of time each weekend to go fishing or something. I don’t need the level of grief from a 60-hour work week, just want to balance good pay with quality of life.”

We have seen this trend become more and more prevalent among new lawyers, who demand not only career advancement opportunities but a healthier work/life balance. But what about small law firm owners?

Most lawyers who went solo came from a corporate background, so they know what it’s like to put in 60 hours of work each week. The difference is that, when they start their own firm, they have to keep doing all the legal work PLUS the countless tasks of managing a business.

With time, having time to explore nature on the weekends or even go to your kid’s dance recital becomes a pipedream. Your days run fast, calling client after client, handling paperwork, going to court, and looking for new associates.

Despite wanting to offload some work and free your schedule for higher leverage activities (like serving top-tier clients and growing your firm), it’s normal to hesitate when making a full-time hire for your firm. After all, you started this business from scratch and do not want to dip profits to hire someone who may or may not work. What if you don’t have enough work to keep them occupied?

It is for all these reasons that Amata’s Virtual Receptionist service can have such a great impact on both your firm’s growth and quality of life.

Why Busy Lawyers Need Virtual Receptionists

There are many tasks beyond serving clients that are added to your schedule once you decide to run your own law firm:

– Managing new client intake
– Scheduling appointments
– Answering the phone during off hours (for emergencies)

And while big firms have assistants doing these tasks for lawyers, so they can focus on billable hours, most solo practitioners and small firm owners don’t have this luxury.

With so many tasks to do, how do you know what is the best and most productive use of your time?

You calculate your target hourly rate.

Here’s how that works:

  1. Determine the revenue you desire to generate from your law firm each month.
  2. Define the number of hours you plan to dedicate to your business each month.
  3. Calculate your target hourly rate by dividing your desired revenue by your allotted hours.

So if you aim to earn $10,000 per month and plan to work 30 hours per week (equivalent to 120 hours per month), your target hourly rate should be $83.33.

Now, assuming that HALF your time is devoted to billable hours, that number should be $166 minimum. And if you want that $10,000 per month to be profit (not just revenue), it would have to be even higher.

This is why having a virtual receptionist is crucial. It allows you to delegate as many non-$166/hour tasks as possible, so you can focus on billable hours and growing your bottom line working the hours that you desire.

What is a virtual assistant and what do they do?

Let’s face it—no one became a lawyer to spend their time answering phones and filing stacks of paper.

Virtual assistants are remote professionals who specialize in all those essential but routine tasks like scheduling, document management, and phone answering. At Amata, our Virtual Assistants are trained in the legal industry, so they know how to manage urgent inquiries on your behalf and recognize when to filter a call.

Some of the tasks a virtual assistant can do on your behalf include:

  • Email Management
  • Payroll, Billing, and Accounting
  • Database Management
  • Document Conversion and Management
  • Phone Answering and New Client Intake
  • Appointment Reminders and Scheduling
  • Legal Correspondence and Transcription

Anything that must be done in the office that would otherwise take you or your attorneys off casework is best left to a virtual administrative assistant.

But if virtual assistants are so important, why do so many law firms wait to hire them? There are 4 reasons:

  1. They don’t know they can delegate these things
  2. They feel like nobody can be trusted
  3. They are afraid hiring will cost them too much money
  4. They genuinely enjoy doing administrative tasks

That is why we created a Virtual Assistant solution that fits your budget and consistent quality needs:

With Amata, you don’t have to hire an in-house legal assistant. Our vetted assistants work only for the hours that you require and act as an extension of your team. We train them to serve the specific needs of law firms, so you can confidently delegate to them.

Investing In Your First (Or Next) Virtual Assistant

As we have seen through this article, the real cost of not having a virtual receptionist is:

  1. Losing precious time and focus from serving your clients.
  2. Getting stuck in the weeds of daily management, phone answering, and office tasks
  3. Not making the money that you want nor having the freedom that you started your law firm for.

But despite the high costs, we understand that investing in your first (or next) virtual assistant can be difficult. That is why all our virtual office clients receive a 30% discount when they use our attorney support services, which in many cases more than offsets the costs of the virtual office program.

So if you want a professional to enter billing, update social media posts, and return client calls for you, we can help. Contact us today to explore how Amata’s virtual assistants trained in the legal industry can save you time and focus.

Discover our legal support staff for lawyers in Chicago.

Practicing Law Without The Errands

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It’s 3:30 pm and you are in the middle of a client meeting. You know City Hall closes at 4:30 p.m., yet you still need to obtain certified copies for an important hearing tomorrow at 8 a.m. What are you going to do?

Running a solo or small law firm can be stressful. There are so many tasks that need to be done, and they need to be done well. The American Bar Association called missing any filing deadline ‘a lawyer’s worst nightmare’. So the question arises:

Should you delegate those small but important errands? And who can you trust to handle things like obtaining Apostille, filing police reports, and paying court fees?

That is one of the questions that prompted us to create our attorney support services packages. We recognized solo practitioners and small law firms needed administrative tasks to be done correctly and efficiently, because mistakes or delays could have serious legal consequences. So we built a team of professionals specialized in ensuring documents, filings, and other legal tasks.

Can You Afford To Delegate Your Daily Legal Errands?

While attorneys need their daily legal errands to be executed on time and with precision, they also face cash flow constraints. This means most of them are not in a position yet to hire a full-time paralegal who can offload their work and allow them to focus on their billable hours.

Will a new hire be worth the money lost to the firm? Will there be enough work to keep them occupied eight hours a day?

This is where Amata’s on-demand, specialized legal support can be your solution. Our paralegals bill hourly, so you can use them only during periods of intense workloads or on a more consistent basis. They provide you the flexibility and savings you’ve been looking for, so you can get more done and focus on your firm’s growth plus providing an exceptional service to clients.

By using paralegals on an as-needed basis, you can reduce your fixed payroll costs and only pay for services that can generally be billed back to your clients.

4 Benefits of Delegating for Lawyers

Most of our clients come to us for our office space-as-a-service plans. This flexible and scalable model allows you to add or drop office space in the middle of a lease, without penalties.

But once they start to also use on-demand legal support, they never look back.

The reason is simple: even if there is an investment, there is nothing like knowing your tedious tasks are being done for you, while you can focus on more fulfilling and productive activities.

You probably have mixed feelings about delegating daily runs to courts, clerk’s offices, and sheriff’s offices, so here are 4 benefits that will help you make a decision:

        1. Enhanced Focus on Core Legal Work: Delegating daily errands allows you to dedicate more time and attention to your core legal work, such as client consultations, legal research, document preparation, case strategy, and court appearances.
        2. Opportunity Cost: Time spent on administrative tasks could be better used for tasks that directly generate revenue or serve their client’s legal needs. By delegating your daily runs, you can focus on higher ROI activities and in turn grow your law firm.
        3. Reduced Stress and Burnout: The legal profession can be demanding and stressful, and many lawyers face burnout due to the constant pressure and long hours. Delegating daily errands can alleviate some of this stress, reduce the risk of burnout, and contribute to a healthier work-life balance by allowing you and your team to reclaim personal time.
        4. Increased Client Satisfaction: By delegating daily errands and administrative tasks, you will have more time and energy to provide better service to your clients. Happy clients refer and are more likely to return for future legal needs.

To sum up, delegating your daily runs to a trusted provider allows you to focus on your core billable work, provide better service to clients, and free up space to grow your practice — all while reducing stress and administrative headaches.

What Kind of Errands Can You Delegate?

Amata’s paralegal team makes daily runs to the Daley Center, Recorder’s Office, Secretary of State Office, and the Dirksen Federal Building. With an extended line of credit provided to all Amata clients, we can pay associated costs for your documents and filings, pick up certificates, search the court docket, and much more.

Here is a list of what you can delegate using our Daily Runs to Courts, Clerk’s and Sheriff’s Offices services:

  • Service of Process
  • Research of local court rules/procedures; pro hac vice admissions, foreign judgments, out-of-state subpoenas
  • Court docket searches and retrieval of documents – state, federal and administrative
  • Obtain certified copies
  • Obtain state corporate records on companies
  • File applications, amendments, annual reports, deeds, obtain Apostille, etc.
  • Police reports
  • FOIA requests
  • Pay fees
  • Birth and death certificates
  • Delivery courtesy copies
  • Record deeds
  • Water certificates
  • Estimates of Redemption
  • Obtain duplicate tax bill
  • Pay code violation orders

So the next time that you are pressed for time and wonder if there’s a team you can confidently delegate your legal errands to, give us a call. We will pick up certificates, search the court docket, deliver courtesy copies, and do any other tedious but important task for you.

Discover our legal support staff for lawyers in Chicago.

3 Steps to Growing Your Law Firm

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Growing a remarkable company is not an easy task. Building something that lasts requires time, work, resilience, and the ability to constantly pivot.

After working with over 600 law firms in Chicago of all sizes, we have seen a few things that separate those who build a thriving firm from those who stay stuck. In this article, we’ll explore what those key characteristics are, and how you can start implementing them today.

Step #1. Set a SMART Goal

We cannot define progress without first having something to strive towards. That is why the first step is setting a Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound goal. This is known as a SMART goal, and without it we have no way of measuring progress and will be more prone to stay reactive to whatever life throws our way. We want to be proactive.

Where would you like your law firm to be within 3 years? Define your target revenue, profit margins, team composition, client profile, and hours that you work. Only by being clear and specific about what we want, can we start aligning all our daily actions with our goals.

Try to also go deeper into the reasons WHY you desire those things. The only way to stick with your goals when things get busy and difficult (which they will), is by setting up goals that you genuinely care about and see the importance of. In other words, your goals should be musts and not only wants for you to truly commit to them.

Step #2. Protect Your Schedule

Now that we have a goal, the next step is to invest resources to achieve it. Those resources come in the form of work, money, attention, focus, and time.

Let’s say you want to double your firm’s revenue within the next 18 months. You would need to reverse engineer that target by asking yourself, “What would need to happen for me to double my firm’s revenue?”

This will give you a strategic set of actions that need to get done — either one time or recurrently — in order to achieve that goal.

Where most business owners get stuck is by thinking they will achieve their goals without some sacrifices. As Jim Rohn said, “What got you here won’t get you there”. There need to be real changes in your schedule, your activities, and your relationships for this new goal to materialize.

Dan Sullivan advises business owners to set an inspiring 10X goal. He says “Seemingly impossible goals spotlight a few pathways and enable you to clearly identify the 20 percent of things and people in your life that are producing most of your results, and the 80 percent of things and people in your life that are holding you back.”

“Going for smaller goals (2X growth) means you can keep 80 percent of your existing clients, roles, behaviors, and mindsets. Only minor tweaks are needed.”

“Going for inspiring goals (10X growth) requires a different kind of effort, often less in quantity but higher in quality. You’ve elevated your vision and focus and must eliminate 80 percent of your current reality. 10X requires a full-scale transformation of yourself as well as everyone and everything around you.”

This reinforces the point that, in order to achieve a higher level, many things that are keeping you stuck need to be eliminated or delegated. That is when the next step comes in.

 

Step #3. Focus On What Matters

Now you have a goal and know that strategic plan to reach it. The next step is to open up space in your calendar. This will give you the time and the mental bandwidth to take your law firm to the next level.

A tool like the Eisenhower Matrix can be highly useful in this case.

The thing is to filter any task you need to do with this set of criteria. If it’s not important and not urgent, you delete it. If it’s not important but urgent, you delegate it. If it’s important but not urgent, you schedule it. If it’s important and urgent, you do it.

In that way, you are only left with tasks that move the needle, while your team takes care of tasks that maintain your current level but don’t contribute strategically to your goals.

 

What If You Cannot Afford a Big Team Yet?

The reality for solo practitioners and small law firm owners is that, even by having goals, a strategic plan, and protecting their calendar, they do not have the team in place to delegate their work. That means that they need to keep serving clients, growing their firms, and trying to enjoy life all at the same time.

That is why at Amata we created a suite of support services, that allow lawyers to delegate admin work without the overhead costs of full-time hires. With these services, small law firms can focus on growing their firms while protecting their profitability.

Just imagine how much further you would go if you could reduce your workload by 10-30 hours a week with a part-time assistant. At Amata we find and train these assistants for you, and bill hourly for only the work that you require.

Our support services for attorneys include paralegals, law clerks, live receptionists, and virtual assistants who act as an extension of your law firm. Here is a list of some of the on-demand services we provide:

  • Appointments and Calendar Management
  • Mail opening/scanning
  • Court Runs (Including the assembly, print, and preparation of courtesy copies.)
  • Notary/Witness Service
  • Scan/Fax/Deliver documents
  • Review court fillings
  • Editing appellate briefs per your notes
  • Draft simple complaints and motions
  • Handle the back-and-forth aspects of discovery
  • Video conferencing set-up
  • New client intake
  • Hand Deliveries/Pick-Ups
  • E-Filing
  • Preparation of Notice of Filing, Notice of Motion, Certificate of Service, and forms.
  • Review of local rules, court’s standing orders, & any temporary procedural orders in place.
  • Spindle or piggyback motion hearing dates, and any communications with the court clerk.
  • Confirm acceptance of filing by the court clerk.
  • Document Translation and Proofreading
  • Formatting appellate briefs
  • Skip Tracing
  • Social media posting
  • Asset Search (bank accounts)
  • E-Recording
  • And much, much more!

By having these support services without the need to hire, train, and retain employees, solo and small firms can practice law on their terms. You can focus on billable hours, defining your vision, and being a strategic leader, all while enjoying the work/life balance you started your business for.

Contact us today and see how our on-demand, flexible legal support services can help you grow your law firm and free up your time while protecting your profitability.

Discover our legal support staff for lawyers in Chicago.

Formatting Legal Documents

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Formatting Documents

The words in a document are the only things that matter when it comes to formatting.  If the document is visually appealing you will capture the reader, and this affects the way the reader digests the information.  It is crucial when working on Legal documents that they are well formatted.

A key component to editing and formatting your document is to know your audience. Whether it be for your professor, boss, colleague, or an Attorney, having a correctly formatted document will capture your thoughts as well as stand out.

How do you format a document in Word?

  • Select the text you want to format. To select a single word, double-click it. To select a line of text, click to the left of it.
  • Select an option to change the font, font size, font color, or make the text bold, italic, or underline.

As a rule, the top margin should be two inches and the bottom margin should be one inch. Most legal documents use 1.5 or double-spacing.

The standard font size for Legal documents is 12-point font. This font is large enough for the reader to be able to read and small enough to include all of the information to fit on a single page.

When working on Legal documents for any professional, it is important that the information be displayed neatly and comprehensible. The recipient should be able to review the document that the Administrative Assistant or Paralegal completed and understand the information presented without any confusion.  If the Admin or Paralegal is using the same format, this also makes it easy for the recipient to compare current and previous documents by reference as well as help the Firm/Company save time and energy from explaining the format method.

Microsoft Word is a very popular, highly competent pro text editor and many professionals fail to use all of the components that it offers.  As you can imagine, this can lead to more mistakes being made as it isn’t being used to its full potential.

A style in Microsoft Word is a set of formatting rules that apply to texts, tables and lists.  When using styles this can manipulate the document.  There are multiple styles to choose from and you will want to select and use the same style for an entire document without exception.

To select the specific style, you will need to locate the “home” tab and right click any style in the styles gallery and select “modify”.   This will allow you to make any formatting changes that you might want, such as font size, color, alignment, spacing or indentation.  Choose a style whether the style change pertains to the current document and or all future documents.

The Legal Support team at Amata Law Office Suites can assist with formatting Legal documents for Attorneys as well as for any professional.  To have a document prepared and formatted, please send an email to [email protected].  Everything we write is tailored in a proficient, comprehensive, and informative way.

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Dep Prep

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Dep Prep

Depositions are a useful discovery tool to glean valuable information from witnesses and  parties, but can be likened to pulling teeth at times. They are often hours long, sometimes spanning the entire day, but preparation is key to streamlining the process and avoiding unforeseen roadblocks.

Everyone is pretty sick and tired at this point of hearing about these “unprecedented times”, but it is worth mentioning that virtual options are here to stay for the near future. In regards to ethics, it is best practice to have Zoom deposition options and capabilities.

According to the New York Bar Association, a recent court case, Rodriguez v Montefiore Med. Ctr. 2020 NY Slip Op 20349, upheld that:   “Ultimately, a party’s apprehension concerning innovative discovery techniques must, subject to the various protections afforded by the law, yield to the realities of coronavirus-era litigation, lest resolution of litigants’ rights and obligations be unnecessarily and unjustly delayed.” In sum, this holding is aligned with the duty to not obstruct the discovery process in unduly burdensome ways.

Depositions are stressful enough, lawyers shouldn’t have to think about microstressors like setting up a Zoom meeting and password in order to depose virtually. This is often tasked to paralegals, who can take care of generating the meeting code and pin, as well as instructing attorneys on how to “share the screen” if need be and work the controls on Zoom.

Paralegals can also coordinate with court reporters and expert witnesses via Zoom or in person so that all the attorney has to do is focus on preparing to depose. Of course, the paralegal can help with preparation in other, more involved ways as well. Printing and organizing key documents to use as reference in depositions is a common practice. Paralegals can help by taking care of this, once the attorney decides what needs to be included after e-discovery is completed and responses to interoggatories are returned. Produced documents can be sorted and tabbed in a way that is the easiest to turn to and reference for the lawyer and the person being deposed, as well as opposing counsel. Tables of contents can be generated to ensure that the documents are organized in a way that flows with the deposition outline utilized by the attorney because nothing can throw someone off like having to rummage through papers in order to find their place!

Administrative assistants and paralegals often work together the day of the deposition in order to make sure everything is running smoothly. This often involves some last minute touches like ordering lunches for a long deposition and making sure coffee is on hand. If any items need to be printed or technological difficulties arise they are there to assist.

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How to Stay Relevant in a Rapidly Changing Market

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According to CB Insights, 35% of businesses fail because there is no market need. All the growth potential of your business lies in its ability to pivot and meet the dynamic needs of a rapidly changing world.

How can you do this in practical terms? It all comes down to a commitment to innovation and service, which is exactly what this article will showcase through Amata’s case study.

The Genesis of a Disruptive Business

Plato said that the mother of invention is a necessity, and this couldn’t be truer in Amata’s case. Amata began when our founder, Ron Bockstahler, was working 10 to 12 hours each day while managing the backend operations of law firms.

For decades he didn’t take two days off in a row and was a self-declared workaholic. One day, he decided to go on an RV adventure with his wife across all 50 states in America and 9 Canadian provinces. This quest for a better work/life balance expanded across 8 years, hundreds of memories, Ironman races, and eventually having 6 children.

What Ron realized is that he could continue growing his business while living life to the fullest. And that’s how our innovative “office-as-a-service” model was born.

Listening to Clients: The Key to Continuous Innovation

Our innovative ‘office-as-a-service’ model started as a response to the ever-changing landscape of technology, economic cycles, and team dynamics that affect law firms and professional service firms.

When the pandemic hit and lawyers had to stay home, Amata quickly rallied clerks to make daily visits to the Recorder’s Office, City Hall, Sheriff’s Office, Clerk’s Office and Assessor’s Office for our clients.

Despite starting as a traditional co-working space, we quickly expanded to include crucial services our clients needed to grow. This includes paralegals to assist you with court cases, either on a part-time, full-time, or hourly basis. It also includes administrative assistants, law clerks, and receptionists.

When a client is coming to the office to sign documents and you need Notary and witness services, Amata has you covered. When you are too busy to pick up your phone, our receptionists got you.

It takes a village to build a thriving business. It is normal to get so caught up in serving clients that you stop focusing on the operations of running a business. We make this easier for you.

It has now been more than 21 years since we committed to staying at the forefront of innovation and creating a turnkey solution that allows you to keep expanding your firm while protecting your profitability, client experience, and work/life balance.

Our secret? Putting our clients first, listening to their needs, and doing whatever it takes to create an environment where they can thrive both professionally and personally.

 

Maximum Value With Greater Flexibility

Understanding our client’s needs has become the backbone of our innovation. We regularly ask clients for feedback and survey them, so we can meet their needs as they evolve.

Our comprehensive support combines four separate industries into one, offering flexible options for greater total value:

1 – Office space

 We offer agreements that allow you to drop or add offices during the term of the contract, without penalty, resulting in true office flexibility.

Whether you just started your law firm, have a team of 10-20, or are ready to expand your big law firm with the flexibility to scale up or down, we have prestigious locations to suit your needs. No more letting long-term leases keep you from attracting top-tier clientele, enhancing your team’s productivity, and having a professional office that reflects your professionalism.

2 – Reception

 Virtual assistants are remote professionals who specialize in all those essential but routine tasks like scheduling, document management, and phone answering. Amata’s Live Virtual Assistants are trained in the legal industry, so they know how to manage urgent inquiries on your behalf and recognize when to filter a call.

With Amata’s live virtual receptionist, law firms receive customized phone answering services with receptionists that act as an extension of their law firm. This means you do not need to hire a full-time receptionist to enjoy the benefits of enhanced productivity, such as never missing a caller.

3 – Administrative assistants

 A virtual assistant can be an invaluable gatekeeper for your law firm, saving you time and reducing the anxiety and stress of running a law practice. Our pre-vetted professionals can help manage all office operations, so you don’t have to and can focus on billable hours.

Some of the tasks administrative assistants can take off your plate are phone and email management, scheduling meetings, confirming appointments, making travel arrangements, managing contact lists, updating CRM software, preparing reports as needed, filing and organizing important documents and files, creating presentations, and more!

4 – Legal support

Amata has created the back-office operations of an AM100 law firm, for solo and small law firms. Paralegals, paralegal assistants, law clerks, and virtual assistants all act as an extension of your law firm, without needing to become full-time hires.

Leveraging Amata’s experienced resources allows you to manage your law firm around your bottom line. When you aren’t paying for under-utilized staff on your payroll, your profits increase, along with your capacity to produce more work and gain new clients, without creating constraints on your time.

With the combination of scalable office plans and flexible support & staffing services, we create a new environment for law firms and professionals. One in which they can do their very best work, increase their profitability, and have the resources to enjoy life on their own terms.

Contact us today if you’d like to experience the Amata difference. And remember, in order to create a thriving business yourself, the key is placing your client’s success at the forefront of everything you do.

Discover our legal support staff for lawyers in Chicago.

Litigation Support — What Solo and Small Law Firms Need to Know

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The economy might be slowing down, but the demand for litigation is definitely not. A 2023 study by Thomson Reuters Corporation showed that the demand for counter-cyclical practices is accelerating — particularly litigation. BTI Consulting Group found that there is ‘more litigation than ever’, and Crowell & Moring stated in their Litigation Forecast 2023 that class actions will ‘continue to be a significant part of the litigation landscape.’

With no shortage of work to be done, but with potentially fewer funds due to the economic climate, how can solo and small law firms effectively manage their caseloads while protecting their budgets?

 

Litigation Support Services You Can Afford

Litigation support services assist lawyers and legal teams during high-volume, complicated trials. Anything that doesn’t require the expertise of a lawyer can be delegated to experienced paralegals, taking admin work off the attorney’s plate so they can focus on billable hours.

Amata’s senior paralegals have more than 20 years of experience and have reached a high level of competence and understanding in several areas of law. Many of them joined Amata after spending several years accumulating experience at law firms. And they can be such a cost-effective solution for solo and small business owners because they bill hourly.

Our pre-vetted paralegals work only on the tasks that you require, for the hours that you need. Most small and midsize law firms are not handling case assessments, depositions and discovery on a daily basis, which can lead to over-paying for full-time employees. With Amata, you can rely on our team of professional paralegals and legal administrators only during periods of high workload, so you can take on more cases while protecting your profitability.

 

Case Assessment Support Services

Case assessment requires a cautious analysis of all available facts, potential legal strategies, and a deep understanding of the client’s needs. This usually happens under time constraints and with high stakes, as even a small oversight can have significant consequences in the case.

That is why we provide professional Case Assessment services covering a wide spectrum, including:

  • Fact investigation – Assisting with discovery by conducting basic research into the details of the case.
  • Client interviews – Conducting initial interviews with potential clients and filling out intake forms.
  • Case files organization and maintenance – Sorting and filing key physical documents and using a case management system to store electronic documents.
  • Act as liaison with local counsel – Communicating regularly with counsel and staying informed and updated on case progression.
  • Discovery requests and responses drafting. Obtaining documents for you
    • Under attorney supervision, preparing discovery requests and responses using Microsoft Word and mailing/emailing.
    • Helping clients to gather pertinent documents that they have saved either electronically or physically.
  • Prepare document productions – Reviewing and following ESI order regarding production format, ensuring documents are unitized, redacting confidential, PII, privileged information, Bates number, adding Confidential designations, and creating/maintaining document indices (i.e. pleadings index, production log with documents received or produced).
  • Prepare documents/exhibits for mediations, arbitrations, depositions, trials, and motions for summary judgment – Organize and display evidence/exhibits per attorney request and instruction.

Managing a court case can be a full-time job, which is why more than 600 attorneys rely on Amata. Our case assessment support services allow them to focus on billable hours, client relationships, and a healthier work/life balance.

 

Depositions & Discovery Support Services

Depositions are a pivotal point leading to the outcome of civil and criminal charges. They usually advance to an out-of-court settlement but, for cases that do end up in court, Amata’s discovery and deposition management teams are here to ensure a smooth deposition process.

Our deposition experts manage all phases of the deposition, including:

  • Conference room set-up
  • Helping deponents prepare
  • Reviewing document productions and discovery disclosures
  • Developing comprehensive witness handbooks
  • Processing supporting written questions
  • Implementing any special considerations required for a deponent.

Depositions may be represented as a written transcript, videotape, or both. After the session ends, Amata’s team manages all follow-up requirements, including distributing the transcript and supporting documentation to attorneys for review. 

We also provide virtual remote deposition technology. It is estimated more than fifty percent of all proceedings will be online this year with the trend continuing to increase. In addition to saving time, deponents are more relaxed when testifying from a preferred location, increasing their willingness to share information. Amata offers state-of-the-art virtual deposition software for deponents unable to attend in person. This technology automates the discovery process and teams benefit from powerful data analytics tools and a proven interface to collaborate from anywhere. It also includes artificial intelligence capabilities for increasing accuracy and capturing details such as emotion and movement. 

Our team has more than 21 years of experience, and we understand that every deposition is unique. We are committed to managing and following up through each step of the process, so you can focus on the intimate details of the case.

Here is a list of services we provide for case discovery:

  • Advanced document productions – Delivering or making available for review documents in response to a request for production and a subpoena. This may include producing hard copies of documents or locating electronically stored information.
  • Document review projects, coding, case management.
  • Assisting in the analyzing and sorting of produced documents to determine which items are within the scope of the case.
  • Collecting email in the proper format.
  • Creating Bates stamps for documents.
  • Utilizing docketing software to track deadlines pertinent to a case.
  • Drafting privilege logs.
  • E-Discovery consultation (tools for litigation hold/preservation, document review platforms, document production planning, etc.) – Aid in facilitating the manner in which documents will be shared with parties in the discovery process. This includes various document-sharing platforms.
  • Collection of basic ESI (custodian interviews, emails, text messages, video, documents) – The extraction and organization of electronically stored information into separate files for the legal team to use.
  • Coordination of expert collection of ESI (forensic, social networking sites, video, audio, email, text messages, etc.) – Communication with third-party data forensics providers to collect electronically stored information.

Learn more about how Amata can assist with Depositions & Discovery Here

Litigation Support to Win More Cases While Protecting Your Profitability

Whether you need to draft simple motions, coordinate with the Sheriff, appear for clerk’s hearings, or schedule court hearings, we can assist you. Our hourly paralegals work as if they were on your staff, with senior paralegals drafting subpoenas under your supervision, and paralegal assistants going to City Hall, the Recorder’s Office, and delivering courtesy copies to judges for you.

This support, on-demand services allow small and mid-size law firms to clean their schedule with errands and get back to growing their business. You aren’t paying for under-utilized staff, and suddenly your profits increase along with your capacity to serve and attract more clients — without creating new constraints on your time.

Contact our team and see how we can assist your cases. We will match you with the perfect fit paralegals and legal assistants, getting you the best quality work at the lowest possible cost. They can support your firm during case assessment, depositions, and discovery year-round, without creating the financial burden of full-time employees.

Discover our paralegal services in Chicago.

Litigation Services: Win More Cases With Less Stress

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Office, meeting and documents of business people, clients or team for taxes, audit or revenue report in accounting. Paperwork, review and advice of woman, financial advisor or accountant support

Litigation can be inherently stressful. There are counterparties, financial and reputational risks, and time-consuming processes. But could it be less stressful?

At Amata, we provide attorneys with litigation services, so they can take the administrative side of litigation off their plate and focus on strategy and client management. We allow attorneys to do their best work while we do everything else that is important to win cases: from scheduling court hearings to drafting motions and answers.

Two Reasons Why Attorneys Don’t Delegate

Most solo practitioners and small law firm owners have a corporate background. They experienced the comfort of having a paralegal attending administrative hearings on their behalf, researching cases in a fully-equipped library, and delegating calls to an assistant.

So when they took the leap to start their own firm, they gained more freedom and higher profits from their book of clients, but also gave up something important: a support team.

That is why the first reason why attorneys don’t delegate is that they simply cannot afford an army of paralegals, virtual assistants, and receptionists to support their work.

But there is another reason. Many times, attorneys assume hiring support staff is not only expensive but stressful. They are busy enough to add hiring, training, and managing a team to their plate.

Hiring more legal support staff then becomes a catch-22 situation for most attorneys. On the one hand, they are overworked and struggle to keep up with never-ending tasks and casework. But on the other hand, they have a tight budget.

Will a new employee be worth the investment? Will you have enough work to keep them occupied eight hours a day? Will revenue increase with this new hire?

That is why at Amata we created a solution that is cost-effective, flexible, and doesn’t add more stress to your plate.

Get Legal Support, Without the High Costs or Stress

Our team of paralegals, virtual assistants, and live receptionists act as an extension of your team. You can hire them hourly and not incur the costs, risks, and stress of hiring full-time employees. Only pay for the work that you actually need!

On-demand legal support is the affordable solution you’ve been looking for. During periods of intense workloads, our pre-vetted paralegals can help relieve you from the added stress. You can get more work done, focus on your clients, and grow your firm while protecting your profitability.

Here are the litigation support services that we provide on demand:

  • Electronic filing – state, federal, and administrative (IWCC, IDHR, EEOC).
  • Coordinate/schedule court hearings, depositions, mediations, expert witnesses.
  • Draft simple motions and answers.
  • Coordinate service of process with the sheriff or private process server.
  • E-discovery consultation (tools for litigation hold/preservation, document review platforms, document production planning, etc.).
  • Draft routine motions, orders, and affidavits (i.e. motion for leave to file sealed exhibits, motions for extension of time, motion to appoint special process server, motion for alternative service).
  • Appear for clerk’s status call; administrative hearings; enter agreed orders.

Prior to any work being performed, our team members will review the scope of work with you and establish cost expectations. Our professional paralegals, printing and mailing services, live receptionists, and virtual assistants have different experience levels that adjust to your budget. Alternative fee and project-based fee arrangements are also available for certain projects.

The reality is that Amata started as a bootstrapped startup handling litigation copy work for attorneys. Giving you a healthier work/life balance and supporting your profitability is what moves us, and litigation services are an example of that.

So if you want to win more cases without stressing about court runs, assembling copies, coordinating depositions, preparing witnesses, and drafting subpoenas, contact us today and get a quote of our litigation support services.

Discover our paralegal services in Chicago.