Paralegal VAs - Questions re Clientele

[smcVirginiaVA]

:huh2: Did any of you contact law offices prior to opening your business to get a feel as to whether or not they would be interested in virtual paralegal services?

I ask because I found a business plan for my county and it suggested that I contact potential clients to survey if they think it would be a service that their office would be interested in.

Please advise. Thank you.

Stacee

[Office Goddess]

I worked in law offices for 6 years and never received such a call. Keep in mind, you are not limited to the county (or country!) you live in - a MAJOR advantage for a VA. I would not be concerned about only local attorney offices needing your services. I would, however, focus on 1-person attorney firms at first because they are (IMO) the most likely to need/want your services.

[Dana Fortier]

My three attorney clients are all large firms that are overwhelmed. I have talked with solo attorneys, but they seem to not "get" the whole VA thing yet.

[smcVirginiaVA]

Thank you Lily. I may be thinking too small at this point because I haven't started yet. The VA business is an "out-of-the-box" business and I need to start thinking beyond what my eyes can see. ;-)

I appreciate your feedback.

Stacee

[lsmapp]

I'm glad to see Dana's comment - I was planning on focusing mostly on solos, thinking they would "get" it better, but maybe not...so many thoughts in my head!!!

[Kerans VA]

Stacee,

I did some market research and found a website that listed Canadian law firms by size, picked firms that had 4 lawyers and less that practiced my specialty and send out some emails. I got a great client out of maybe 20 emails, so not a bad return!

Good luck!

[smcVirginiaVA]

Thanks everyone. All of the feedback has been very helpful.

Stacee

[CardinalPointVA]

In my experience to be truly successful with large firms you either need an "in" with someone in the firm who is working on a really big case, or you need to have some sort of relationship with several attorneys in the firm. If you know some of the in-house paralegals they can often have you brought in to assist with cases where they know they are swamped. This is a huge asset.

Knowing several attorneys in a firm keeps the work flow consistent. Over the last couple of years I have found these two points served me well.

[legaljen]

I worked in the legal field for 17 years prior to starting my VA business where I also worked as the office manager and I can honestly say that although I recall being contacted a few times (maybe 3 or 4) by persons wanting to offer their services as "independent contractors", never was I contacted by anyone pertaining to being a virtual legal assistant. I have found, at least in this area that I am getting more work from the solo practitioners than from the bigger offices. I did find a small office building where there were several solo practitioners and walked in, introduced myself and explained and offered my services - I think them meeting me and being able to ask me questions and seeing that I am competent made a HUGE difference. Of hose 7 solo practitioners I have now done work for 5 of them and do work on a regular basis for 3.

[dawndmd]

I never contacted attorneys prior to becoming a virtual paralegal. I started by researching online for virtual assistant opportunities and came across several blogs and posts from attorneys seeking virtual paralegals. I have 4 client attorneys I work for now, and a web design company (SEO and content writing), all by seeking out the work on online job post listings, RFPs, and joining online network groups that tailor to the industry. All of the attorneys I work with are solo practitioners and 3 are working from home virtually as well. Dawn