I think one of the most commonly asked questions about virtual assistance, particularly virtual legal assistance, is when is the time right for a business owner to start partnering with the VA. There is no wrong answer to this question, as ultimately the time is right when you are ready to start alleviating the administrative burden. Still, I would say the earlier you are able to start the relationship the better. You may not need a lot of help...

I received an exciting tweet from @SteveMatthews this week, sharing an article from the current issue of ABA’s Law Practice Magazine (the innovation issue), in which he mentioned Halo Secretarial as an example of the innovative possibilities of virtual legal assistants for law practices. What an honour!! There were several fascinating articles in the issue actually. Innovation is an interesting topic in law, as so often innovation simply...

This is part four of my series on partnering with a virtual legal assistant. Check out parts 1 (where to find), 2 (the interview process) and 3 (getting started) if you haven’t already! Ok this is it – hopefully your relationship with your new virtual legal assistant is working out wonderfully! But sometimes it doesn’t. Maybe you’ve had someone misrepresent themselves, maybe the VLA has had an unexpected major life change...

This is part three of my series on partnering with a virtual legal assistant. Check out parts 1 (where to find) and 2 (the interview process) if you haven’t already! Yay! You’ve selected the perfect Virtual Legal Assistant for you. She knows her stuff and you are more than ready to hand over some of the work. But how, exactly, do you get started? I can tell you from experience that for some of my clients this has been the hardest...

I love reading articles like this one from Law.Com’s Legal Technology section (hat tip to @nikiblack for pointing it out!) It reminds us all, lawyers and businesses like mine that serve lawyers, to look at how we are storing our files and protecting them. What kind of security do you have in place on your computer? What kind of backup do you use? Personally I have a couple of systems in place. I do password protect my computer files. I...

As usual I was spending a little time after dinner tonight catching up on some Twitter. I read this tweet from @SamGlover which sent me on over to the recently re-launched Lawyerist. There are tons of interesting posts to read there, but the one that really caught my eye tonight was one that talked about what applications, software etc Sam uses to run his law practice. I not only enjoyed reading what Sam uses for his legal practice, but also the...