Industry Specialization
Legal Virtual Assistant Services
Legal practices run on billable hours. Every hour a partner or solo practitioner spends on scheduling, document formatting, client intake, or case management software administration is an hour that isn't generating revenue. A dedicated legal VA from The Human Capital handles the administrative infrastructure of your practice so your attorneys can focus exclusively on the work clients pay for. Every engagement begins with a signed NDA.
What Your VA Handles
8 ways a dedicated legal VA transforms your practice.
Client Intake and Onboarding Coordination
Your legal VA manages the entire new client intake process from first contact to signed engagement letter. They handle initial inquiry screening, collect and process intake questionnaires, coordinate conflict checks, schedule consultation appointments, and ensure all onboarding documentation is complete before the attorney's first meeting with a new client. Using platforms like Clio Grow or your existing intake workflow, they transform what is typically a scattered, ad-hoc process into a structured system that captures every potential client correctly and professionally. Proper intake is not just an administrative function — it is the first impression that sets the tone for the entire client relationship.
Legal Document Preparation and Formatting
Attorneys spend an enormous amount of time on document production tasks that require precision but not legal judgment. Your VA handles the formatting, preparation, and organization of routine legal documents — drafting standard contracts from attorney-approved templates, formatting court filings to jurisdiction specifications, preparing correspondence, creating exhibit lists, and organizing discovery materials. Every document follows your firm's formatting standards and is reviewed by the attorney before submission or filing. This task alone typically recovers five to ten billable hours per week for solo practitioners, and proportionally more for practices with multiple active matters.
Court Deadline Tracking and Calendar Management
Missing a court deadline is one of the most professionally and financially damaging events in legal practice — and it is also preventable with the right administrative system. Your legal VA maintains a comprehensive deadline calendar tracking all filing deadlines, hearing dates, deposition schedules, statutes of limitations, response periods, and contingency deadlines across every active matter. They integrate with court calendaring systems, cross-reference your case management platform, send advance alerts as deadlines approach, and ensure your attorney calendar reflects the most current and accurate status of every active case. The cost of one missed deadline far exceeds the entire annual cost of a dedicated VA.
Case File Organization and Document Management
Well-organized case files are the foundation of efficient legal practice — and disorganized files are one of the most consistent sources of billable time waste in small firms. Your VA creates and maintains consistent, logical file structures for every matter, organizing correspondence, pleadings, discovery documents, contracts, notes, research, and evidence in a system that allows any attorney or staff member to locate what they need within seconds. Using Clio, MyCase, or your existing document management platform, they ensure every document is properly named, dated, version-controlled, and cross-referenced. When a hearing is two hours away, your files are always ready.
Client Communication Management
Law practices depend on client relationships, and nothing damages those relationships faster than slow or inconsistent communication. Clients in ongoing legal matters are often anxious, and silence amplifies that anxiety. Your VA manages the non-legal portion of client communication — answering routine status questions, sending case progress updates at agreed intervals, managing document requests, coordinating appointments, and handling the administrative portion of client correspondence. All communications follow your firm's templates, protocols, and tone. Every interaction is documented in your practice management system, creating a complete communication record for every client file.
Legal Research Support
For straightforward research tasks — verifying case citations, summarizing statutory provisions, pulling procedural rules for specific jurisdictions, identifying relevant precedents from a shortlist provided by the attorney, or reviewing court rules — your legal VA provides an efficient first-pass research function that saves attorney time on preliminary work. They compile organized research summaries with citations, pull relevant documents from Westlaw or LexisNexis using your credentials, and present findings in a format that allows the attorney to quickly review and build upon. The attorney still performs the substantive legal analysis, but the foundational gathering and organization is handled.
Invoice Preparation and Billing Support
Billing is the financial lifeblood of legal practice — and it is also one of the most consistently delayed administrative tasks in small and solo firms. Your VA manages the complete billing workflow: tracking time entries in your billing platform, preparing monthly invoices, reviewing entries for completeness and accuracy before attorney approval, sending invoices to clients through your billing system, tracking payment status, sending professional reminder communications to overdue accounts, and maintaining accounts receivable records. Consistent, timely billing is one of the highest-ROI administrative investments a legal practice can make — it directly reduces the period between work performed and payment received.
Practice Management Software Administration
Legal practice management platforms like Clio, MyCase, and Smokeball are powerful tools — but they require consistent, skilled administration to deliver their full value. When matter records are outdated, task lists are incomplete, and client information is inconsistently entered, the platform creates noise rather than clarity. Your VA becomes the dedicated expert on your platform: maintaining matter databases, keeping client records current, managing workflow templates, configuring recurring task sequences, cleaning up outdated records, and keeping the system in a state that actually helps you practice rather than adding another administrative burden to your day.
Industry-Specific Tools
Your VA is already trained on your legal platform.
Clio
The leading legal practice management platform. VAs manage matters, contacts, documents, billing, deadlines, and client communications through Clio's full feature set.
MyCase
Case management, billing, and client portal platform. VAs handle case tracking, document organization, invoice preparation, and client portal communications.
Smokeball
Legal practice management software with automatic time capture. VAs manage matters, documents, billing, and deadline calendaring within the Smokeball platform.
Clio Grow (Intake)
Client intake and lead management tool for law firms. VAs manage the intake pipeline, follow up with prospects, and coordinate the onboarding workflow from inquiry to engagement.
DocuSign / Adobe Sign
E-signature platforms for legal document execution. VAs create signature envelopes, route documents to the appropriate signatories, and track completion status.
Westlaw / LexisNexis
Legal research platforms. VAs pull cited cases, identify procedural rules, and compile research summaries under attorney direction and supervision.
Compliance & Confidentiality Standards
Your VA operates within the professional and ethical obligations of legal practice.
Attorney-client privilege and the duty of confidentiality are the foundational ethical obligations of legal practice, and they extend to anyone who works with client information under the supervision of an attorney. Every THC legal VA engagement begins with a signed NDA before any client information is shared. VAs are briefed on attorney-client privilege, work product doctrine, and the specific confidentiality obligations that govern their work before their first day. All client data is handled via encrypted systems, and access is limited to the information required for each VA's specific task scope.
THC legal VAs are trained to recognize and maintain the distinction between administrative support and the unauthorized practice of law. They prepare documents from attorney-approved templates, execute tasks explicitly authorized by supervising attorneys, and communicate on the firm's behalf within boundaries the attorney defines. They do not provide legal advice, make representations about legal outcomes, or take substantive legal actions without attorney direction. This protects the firm, the clients, and the VA — and ensures compliance with bar rules governing non-lawyer assistance across all jurisdictions where THC serves legal practices.
For legal practices serving international clients or operating in GDPR-applicable jurisdictions, THC provides GDPR-compliant data handling protocols and can include appropriate data processing documentation in the engagement agreement. UK and EU law firms receive equivalent compliance coverage under UK GDPR and relevant ICO guidance. The confidentiality and data protection standards that govern client relationships in legal practice are taken as baseline requirements, not optional features.
Client Story
Solo attorney: 37 hours of admin down to 8 — two years, same VA.
Challenge
A solo attorney in a high-cost urban market was working 65-hour weeks but billing only 28 hours to clients. The remaining 37 hours went to scheduling, client intake, document formatting, case file organization, billing preparation, and email management. He was near burnout and could not take on new clients without risking the quality of service for existing ones. The practice was at capacity with no clear path to growth.
Solution
The Human Capital matched the attorney with a dedicated legal VA trained in Clio and the attorney's specific workflow. The VA took over all client intake coordination, document preparation and formatting, court deadline tracking, billing preparation, and client communication management. The attorney provided a detailed workflow document during a two-week structured onboarding period and approved all outgoing client communications until trust was fully established. The entire engagement began with a signed NDA and a clear scope of authority document.
Result
Within 60 days, the attorney's weekly admin time dropped from 37 hours to under 8. Billable hours increased from 28 to 41 per week without working more total hours. Client intake was formalized and no longer dropped potential engagements. The attorney took on four additional clients in the following six months using the capacity freed by the VA. Two years later, the same VA remains in place — a two-year relationship built on deep institutional knowledge of the practice.
37→8
Admin hours per week
2yr
Same dedicated VA
41
Billable hours per week (was 28)
+4
New clients taken on
Cost Comparison
What legal administrative support really costs.
| Option | Monthly Cost | What You Get |
|---|---|---|
| Local Legal Secretary | $4,200–$6,000 | Salary + benefits + office space + HR overhead + no backup when absent |
| Contract Paralegal | $3,500–$6,500 | Hourly billing + limited availability + no account management + no backup |
| The Human Capital | $700–$1,300 | Dedicated legal VA + NDA + Clio training + 5-step vetting + Client Manager + backup coverage + month-to-month |
All invoicing is in USD. Month-to-month — no long-term contract required.
Frequently Asked Questions
Legal VA — common questions.
Can a VA perform legal tasks in my jurisdiction?
A legal VA handles administrative and organizational tasks that do not constitute the practice of law — document preparation from attorney templates, scheduling, intake, filing, billing, and communication. They do not provide legal advice, make legal strategy decisions, or sign any legal documents. The attorney supervises all substantive work.
How does a legal VA handle confidentiality?
Every THC engagement starts with a signed NDA. Legal VAs are briefed on attorney-client privilege and work product doctrine before their first day. They operate under the same confidentiality obligations as in-house staff, with all client data handled via encrypted systems and logged access.
What practice management systems are your legal VAs trained in?
THC legal VAs are trained in Clio, MyCase, and Smokeball as primary platforms. We also have VAs experienced in Filevine, PracticePanther, and jurisdictions using court-specific case management systems. Tell us your system during the strategy call.
Can my VA handle billing and accounts receivable?
Yes. Legal VAs trained in practice billing systems can prepare invoices, track time entries, send statements to clients, and manage accounts receivable follow-up. This is one of the highest-value tasks for legal practices — consistent billing administration directly improves cash flow.
Get Your Legal VA in 48 Hours
Tell us about your practice, your case management platform, and the administrative tasks consuming the most billable time. We'll match you with a dedicated legal VA within 48 hours. NDA included. Month-to-month.
Available In These Regions
Legal VA services by city.
United States
United Kingdom