How A Legal VA Kept Passions Burning Bright! by Megan Murphy
The reason you’re a lawyer isn’t that you love working long hours or staying at the office all night, hoping to see your family on weekends.
You didn’t go to law school; pass the bar, and build your practice to be what it is because you wanted to spend less time being with your family and friends. You didn’t study, sacrifice and struggle just to be overwhelmed!
I’ll bet that you studied law because you were passionate about helping others and passionate about upholding the law in a way that positively affects the world around you. The world needed your discipline and light, and you followed through by putting in the hard work of building your practice.
That being said, getting caught up in the day-to-day administrative tasks of owning your own firm or practice is too easy, and this takes away from your time with the essential part of your work: your clients!
I had the distinct pleasure of speaking with two lawyers, and I quickly heard how much of their passion for the law came, rightfully so, from interacting with their clients.
I’m sure you feel the same. Your greatest strength and deepest weakness are in the clients that you choose to represent. The heartbreak you feel when losing a case that affected your client’s life deeply hurts you nearly as much as it hurts them. Just as vital are the emotions in the cases won, the justices served, and your client’s life affected for the better. In fact, when you took on their case, they became an extension of your professional family. Spending those hours researching, strategizing, and comforting them in their hour of need is what you’d rather spend your whole day doing as opposed to the vast amount of administrative tasks that come with the cases. What if you could spend your days focusing on those deeply inspiring moments?
“I try to answer emails as my first and last task of the day,” said a family friend who’s practiced immigration law for 20 years. “I don’t want to miss someone’s question,” he added.
He explained that those “quick” questions are usually what keep clients up all night, wondering. In between the usual aspects of his day, he makes sure there’s ample time to give advice that will be most helpful. He works closely with an assistant who takes care of a lot of the billing and scheduling aspects of his practice but even with that help, he’s left working on many tasks that prevent him from devoting his time strictly to his clients.
“By the time I finish case management work, consultations, and other mundane tasks, it’s nearly time for me to go home.” He explained when I asked what his least favorite part of the day was.
I spoke to another lawyer, who expressed similar concerns. Too much casework and not enough time doing what mattered. “Of course, it’s part of the job. I knew that coming into it. The good parts are what get you through, and the rest is just part of a well-oiled machine. Having a remote assistant has helped me a lot to wade through the less exciting parts!”
And she’s right. You can’t eliminate the non-client work, but you can change the amount that you’re in charge of and free up time for yourself. The point of working with a Legal VA, like the second lawyer, is that they help free up your time to focus on the real reasons you do the work you do.
She explained that she joined a new fitness class in the morning with some newfound free time. Her LVA allowed her to come in an hour later, thus giving her time to focus on her health in the mornings without rushing in to get casework situated.
“I’d never go back to having an in-person administrator,” She expressed. The days of hoping her in-person secretary would show up on time – thus leaving her to pick up the slack – were behind her, and she was free to work out, sleep in, leave early, or focus more on clients. “Whatever the day brings,” she says.
Outside of having a burning passion for helping others, the most significant comparison these two lawyers had for me was that they could never do it alone. That having an assistant, especially a lower-cost, remote, flexible assistant like an LVA, was the key to their success.
According to a trusted source, delegating your work is the number one thing that will help grow your practice. The ABA supports the same idea. Their advice for growth is to “hire support” and “outsource what you can’t hire for.” Each of these ideas leads you in one consistent direction. A Legal Virtual Assistant is a must if you’re looking to improve and grow your practice into one of great success. (Who isn’t!?)
Thankfully, here at EVA, we specialize in Legal Virtual Assistants, and I also had the opportunity to interview a few of them. The idea was universal. Our LVAs are just as passionate and committed to the firms they work for as the lawyers who built them. It was truly inspiring to see how much their passion for virtual assistance overlapped with the same passion the lawyers I spoke to had for the law.
The easiest way to get your passion burning like the leaves this fall is to work with a Legal Virtual Assistant and take your ability to love what you do back. Click below and schedule a call to see how we can help set your heart ablaze!
