[Question] Virtual Paralegal and research

[CustomVA]

As both an aspiring VA and a paralegal student I am very curious about this niche. One question I have is, if you offer virtual paralegal services how do you handle research? As a virtual paralegal should one invest in the Westlaw or Lexis online subscriptions or do you head out to the nearest law library or is it a matter of preference/convenience/affordability? I have many other questions regarding this niche, but this one seems to be in the forefront for now.

Thanks,
Anita

[Kerans VA]

Hi Anita,

As most law firms are well aware of the prohibitive cost of research services, I doubt if any lawyer or attorney would expect you to fund research done on their behalf. Subscriptions to LexisNexis or Carswell can easily run into the hundreds of dollars per month and extend well into the thousands of dollars depending on the depth of research needed. Law firms need to maintain these subscriptions as a cost of doing business and if I were to offer such a service as a paralegal I would stipulate that the cost be directly disbursed back to the law firm.

You can read more on this thread here and the search mechanism on this forum is a great tool. Good luck!

[HoustonVirtualParalegals]

Or perhaps the law firm can provide you access to their account? I know you can do that via Westlaw.

Otherwise, I've gone to my local county law library and used Westlaw from there.

[CustomVA]

Thank you everyone for the feedback, I have a clearer picture now of how this would work. In my paralegal studies program we are provided a student account to access LexisNexis, so it might be the same when providing virtual paralegal services, makes sense. Thank you again.

Anita