What to Look for When Hiring a Legal Assistant

Are your team members overworked and not able to focus on the most important tasks? Well, it might be a good idea to hire a legal assistant and delegate some of your law firm’s non-billable work and time-consuming tasks. 

Below are some of the essential skills that every legal assistant should have.

Communication Skills: On a daily basis, legal assistants interact with attorneys, clients, members of the opposing counsel, witnesses, judges, and more. They answer phone calls, respond to emails, greet clients, schedule meetings, appointments, and interviews. In other words, one of the key duties of a legal assistant includes talking and communicating with others. Therefore, the ability to communicate clearly and effectively is an essential skill for legal assistants.

Research Skills: Obviously, your litigation assistant should be able to conduct research on laws and regulations. He or she must know how to search for information, identify trustworthy sources and distinguish relevant facts. 

Technical Skills: Legal assistants usually take care of a variety of tasks ranging from creating presentations to running video conferencing sessions. Thus it’s crucially important to find someone with knowledge of Microsoft Office, legal software, and document management systems. Simply put, your paralegal assistant should be tech-savvy. 

Writing Skills: Legal assistants are usually responsible for drafting important documents, writing briefs, and taking minutes during meetings. That’s why you need to hire a law assistant who knows how to write and create documents according to accepted formats.

Organizational Skills: Find a legal administrative assistant with exceptional organizational skills who is able to complete tasks such as keeping track of deadlines, managing projects, scheduling meetings, handling paperwork, etc.

 

Directory by AppearMe: Easier Access to a Nationwide Network of Legal Assistants

If you are looking for a legal assistant to help you organize legal documents, gather information about cases and assist during trials and hearings, join the Directory by AppearMe (signing up is FREE)!

AppearMe is a well-designed and feature-packed web and mobile application that makes it easy for lawyers and law firms to gain access to a nationwide network of professional expert witnesses and litigation support specialists (interpreters, legal writers, court reporters, legal assistants, videographers, etc.). 

Using the app is super easy. All you need is:

  • Download the app from the App Store or Google Play or visit our website to create an account
  • Select the service type
  • Choose your legal assistant

Aside from hiring expert witnesses and litigation support specialists, you can find appearance, deposition, and freelance attorneys in a few seconds, as well as refer cases without processing fees.

If you have any questions, give us a call at (888) 900 – 3080 or email us at [email protected].

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