to Increase Profits - mybankruptcyassistant.commybankruptcyassistant.com/downloads/How_to... · How to Increase Profits for Your Law Firm A law firm is like any other business. It

Howto

IncreaseProfits

forYourLawFirm

Howto

IncreaseProfits

forYourLawFirm

How to Increase Profits for Your Law Firm. © 2006 by AngieBoyd. Printed and bound in the United States of America. All rightsreserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmittedin any form or by any means; electronic or mechanical, includingphotocopying, recording or by an information storage and retrievalsystem — except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages ina review to be printed in a magazine, newspaper, or on theinternet - without permission in writing from the publisher. Forinformation, please contact Graphico Publishing, 1601 West FifthAvenue, Suite 123, Columbus, Ohio 43212-2303 orwww.graphicopublishing.com.

Although the author and publisher have made every effort toensure the accuracy and completeness of information containedin this book, we assume no responsibility for errors, inaccuracies,omissions, or any inconsistency herein. Any slights of people,places or organizations are unintentional.

First printing, October 2006ISBN: 0-9761591-9-8LCCN: 2006934349

ATTENTION CORPORATIONS, UNIVERSITIES, COLLEGES,AND PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS. Quantity discounts areavailable on bulk purchases of this book for educational, giftpurposes or as premiums for increasing magazine subscriptionsor renewals. Special books or book excerpts can also be pro-duced to fit specific needs.

For information, please contact Graphico Publishing,1601 West Fifth Avenue, Suite 123, Columbus, Ohio 43212-2303or http://www.graphicopublishing.com.

Graphico Publishinga subsidiary of 713Training.Com, LLC1601 West Fifth Avenue, Suite 123Columbus, Ohio 43212-2303Website: http://www.graphicopublishing.com

How to Increase Profitsfor Your Law Firm

by Angie BoydExecutive Director,

Training Instructor andBankruptcy Paralegalhttp://www.713training.com

The author, Angie Boyd is NOT an attorney.

The information contained in How to IncreaseProfits for Your Law Firm is for training purposes onlyand should not be considered legal advice.

All the material in this book is written from theperspective of Angie Boyd, an experienced bankruptcyparalegal who has never attended law school and isnot authorized to practice law in any state.

The author and publisher do not warrant orguarantee any of the website references or productsdescribed herein. By following the instructions con-tained herein, the reader willingly assumes all risks inconnection with any transactions.

The author and publisher make no representa-tions or warranties of any kind; nor are any suchrepresentations implied with respect to the material setforth herein, and the author and publisher takes noresponsibility with respect to such material Theauthor and publisher shall not be liable for any special,consequential, or exemplary damages resulting inwhole or in part from the reader’s use of, or relianceupon this material.

Legal Disclaimer

Stop playing the balancing act and learn how toincrease the profits for your law firm.

How to Increase Profitsfor Your Law Firm

A law firm is like any other business. It must make

a profit or it will cease to exist. And as you know, time

is also money - but most law firms are already working

on maximum overload so it is easy to lose track of the

overall picture. However, before you know it - your law

firm could be losing thousands of dollars and you won’t

know about it until it is too late.

This book will provide you with alternative methods

and procedures that will help to:

Increase your hourly income up to 1,000%.

Ease or eliminate your staff’s current heavy

workload.

Cut your law firm’s prep time by 75% or more

per case.

Lessen the filing of Amendments due to

mistakes and errors caused in the original

document;

Stop searching in the dark for good paralegal services.The world of virtual assistants are available to you

24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Page3

How to Increase Profits for Your Law Firmwritten by http://www.713training.com

Our story begins with Matt Anderson. Matt Ander-

son has been a bankruptcy attorney for 22 years. His

dad started the law firm back in the 1960s and passed

it on to his son. Matt loved working on the debtor side

of bankruptcy law. He had a compassion for the

average blue-collar worker — and it showed; his

clients loved him and referred their family and friends

to his law firm all the time. Additionally, since Matt's

client base consisted mainly of no-asset cases, they

moved quickly through the court system. He rarely had

to go to court (except for a 5-10 minute 341 Meeting)

and this helped to create a fast turnaround rate for his

Chapter 7 cases and increased profits for his law firm.

Matt was happy with his bankruptcy law practice

and it had grown into a financially successful law firm.

Because he received many of his clients from referrals

by former clients (and other attorneys) his marketing

costs were low. Matt knew this was a result of provid-

ing good service and building a client base of loyal,

dedicated clients. However, Matt also noticed that his

law practice was experiencing a noticeable "growth

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a day you can relax and unwind?Hiring virtual assistants can help you accomplish that goal!

Page5


spurt" and he needed to change some of his internal

office procedures to accommodate the growth.

However, Matt would soon learn that things were

much worse than he thought. Sometimes, what looks

good on the outside is not always good on the inside.

One day Matt sat down to put together some

statistical information about the demographics of his

client base. He wanted to get a handle on where his

law firm was presently at so he could make decisions

for future growth. He discovered that seventy-five

percent (75%) of his client base were Chapter 7's and

twenty-five percent (25%) were Chapter 13s. Matt

liked this mix and it was working well for him. The

Chapter 7s went through the court system relatively

fast so Matt's law firm earned the bulk of its income

from "volume."

Matt also found that the Chapter 13s helped to

keep the income balanced. From November to March,

he discovered that fewer people file no-asset Chapter

7 bankruptcy. The steady monthly income generated

Most virtual assistants have many years of experience,and love what they do. The only difference is that virtual

assistants work from home instead of in your office.

Page7


by the Chapter 13s helped Matt to keep enough

income coming into the law firm to pay the fixed

expenses during the slower months when the income

from the Chapter 7s was reduced.

But even though the mix that made up the

structure of Matt's client base was good, he still had a

major problem. His office was overloaded with so

much paperwork that files were stacked on the floor

due to the lack of space in the office. The three full-

time paralegals were also overworked and over-

stressed. In fact, the stress on the paralegals was so

great they were beginning to lose their patience with

the clients, even going so far as to raise their voice to

several clients — which resulted in them going to

another law firm.

Additionally, when potential clients called into the

office to check on their case, they normally received a

voice mail instead of a live voice. Unfortunately, most

of the calls were never returned. Why? Because the

paralegals didn't have the time or the patience to

Virtual assistants take care of the everyday taskswhich allows you more time to grow and expand your law firm.

Page9


answer (what they considered to be) unnecessary

phone calls. Needless to say, these internal problems

were beginning to create several angry clients. In fact,

one day, a client walked into the law firm and started

yelling at the top of his lungs: "I am NOT leaving until

someone talks to me about my case." This outburst

caused the other clients in the waiting room to leave in

fear, resulting in a great deal of chaos as well as a

financial loss for the law firm.

At this point, Matt finally realized he had a major

problem on his hands that needed to be fixed immedi-

ately. What had looked good on the surface was falling

apart internally. The first "quick fix" that Matt could

think of was to hire three temporary full-time employ-

ees to answer the phones so they would not go to

voicemail. He knew the financial burden of hiring these

temporary workers would cut into his profits. However,

he only intended to keep them employed for a short

period of time. He had hoped hiring them would

provide him with the extra time he needed to

contemplate his next move.

12 out of 12 law firms surveyed who currently utilizethe services of virtual assistants report increases in their

law firm profits of 46% or more.

Page11


Each temporary employee cost Matt $12.00 per

hour; a total of $288.00 per day or $1,440.00 per

week. This was an expensive decision because Matt

found the temporary employees did not relieve his staff

of the heavy workload. Although this was a good idea

in "theory," however, when Matt put it into practice he

had forgot one thing: the temporary employees had no

knowledge of his clients. In order to get the answers to

the client's questions, the temporary employee had to

call the paralegal. The paralegal had to stop what he

or she was doing, give the temporary employee the

information, which was then passed on to the client.

Matt found this procedure was not freeing up any time

for his paralegals so he found himself back to Square

One.

Matt then decided to contact an office coordinator

who specialized in analyzing small businesses and

offering suggestions in order to maximize their profits.

The office coordinator was very expensive but Matt felt

if she could save him time and money it would be

worth the investment. However, even though the office

If you have an internet connection, it doesn’t matter where yourvirtual assistant is located. All communication is electronic.

You now have the freedom to choose from thousands of virtualassistants and not be limited to your area alone.

Page13


coordinator held a Master's Degree and was extremely

intelligent, she had never started her own business

from the ground up. Her knowledge only came from

courses she had studied at college, books she had

read and working with other business owners and

gaining knowledge from the experience of others.

Although the suggestions the office coordinator made

were excellent for law firms who had money to invest –

Matt needed suggestions that would NOT cost him any

more money. He needed ideas that would cut his

costs immediately and increase the efficiency in his

office. The office coordinator did not clearly under-

stand Matt's needs which again cost him time and

money; plus put him back to Square One for the

second time.

Although discouraged and slightly irritated, Matt

didn't give up. He began meeting with other attorneys

in the area (and through online bulletin boards) asking

them for their input and advice on how to handle such

a heavy workload and increase the profits for his law

firm. Unfortunately, most of the debtor bankruptcy

Expand your bankruptcy services for the elderly andhandicapped who have difficulty traveling to your office.

Send a virtual assistant to conduct the client intake interviewin the client’s home at the client’s convenience.

Page15


attorneys he spoke with were in the same boat he was

in. They told Matt: "When you find a solution, let me

know."

Again, Matt was not discouraged in his quest to

find a solution. In fact, talking with the attorneys who

had no suggestions actually encouraged Matt to

continue seeking for an answer. He found the attor-

neys he talked to were complacent about the topic.

They simply had "given up" in finding a solution and

continued putting in 12-14 hour work days, overwork-

ing their staff and putting up with high office staff

turnover rates. Matt didn't want this to happen to his

law firm and he was determined NOT to let it happen.

One day, Matt was sitting at a local restaurant

eating lunch, Dennis Farmer (a local bankruptcy

attorney) recognized him from court. He asked Matt if

he could sit down and eat lunch with him. Matt eagerly

agreed. During the course of the conversation, Matt

told Dennis about the problems he was experiencing at

his law firm. He also revealed all the different ideas he

Virtual assistants are normally available 24/7 and easy to contactby cell phone. In fact, most virtual assistants stay available fortheir attorneys after hours and on weekends since they knoweverything cannot be accomplished between 9:00 and 5:00.

Page17


had implemented and how each one of them had

failed.

Dennis understood Matt's problem because he too

had suffered through the same experience less than

two years ago. But through internet research, Dennis

had found an excellent solution that enabled him to

have more free time to work on other areas of law.

Additionally, he enjoyed the benefits of having a dedi-

cated staff of employees that had been with him for

two years or more. His office was also very well-

organized, relatively calm, peaceful and had an

enjoyable work environment. Instead of "fighting fires"

he invested more time into pro bono work and other

civic activities he enjoyed.

Dennis looked at his watch and asked Matt:

"How much time do you have?"

Matt replied: "All the time in the world for a

solution. I have waited a long time to talk with

someone like you."

When I passed the bar exam and started my law practice, I was$100,000+ in debt with student loans. Utilizing virtual assistants

has saved me thousands of dollars in office equipmentand the costs of hiring and training new employees.

Page19


So Dennis began to explain his experience and the

solution he found to the problem:

The Cons of Hiring Full-Time, Part-Timeand Temporary Employees

When Dennis saw that his law firm was growing

rapidly he first panicked and immediately thought

about hiring more full-time, part-time and temporary

employees. But during his internet research he

discovered the following problems with all three of

these types of employees:

Full-Time Employees

1. Full-time employees receive a paycheck

regardless of the quality of their work or when they get

the work completed.

2. Full-time employees sometimes take advan-

tage of longer breaks and lunches which means

someone at the law firm has to monitor them or risk

losing even more money.

“Boy! It feels great to be organized and ready for the341 Meeting. I couldn’t have done it without

my virtual bankruptcy assistant.”

Page21


3. Full-time employees are normally paid vacation

pay, sick time and for other emergencies when they

are not working or producing a profit for the law firm.

4. Full-time employees normally receive medical

benefits and other incentives which increases over-

head costs for the law firm.

5. Too many full-time employees can create an

atmosphere of "gossip" and other personnel issues

that law firms must devote time to resolving.

6. There is always the possibility a full-time

employee can get upset and leave at a moment's

notice, leaving the law firm in the middle of a crisis.

Today, it is rare to find employees who put the interest

of their employer first and foremost.

Part-Time Employees

1. Like full-time employees, part-time employees

receive a paycheck regardless of the quality of their

work or when they get the work completed.

“I rejected the thought of hiring a virtual assistantbecause I considered them to be violating UPL.Perhaps I better rethink this idea over again.”

Page23


2. Part-time employees are normally less experi-

enced because people who have superior skills

normally want to be employed full-time.

3. Often, part-time employees have a second job

or are attending college. This normally leads to the

law firm adjusting their schedule from time to time to

accommodate the demands of the part-time

employee's second job or college attendance.

Temporary Employees

1. Temporary employees are extremely expensive

and often command salaries higher than the full-time

staff. This is due to the heavy agency fees that are

charged over and above the temporary employee's

hourly pay. In other words, the temporary employee

could be getting paid only $10.00 per hour but the law

firm pays $18.00 per hour ($8.00 per hour is for the

agency fees.) This means that a law firm gets a $10.00

per hour employee — not an $18.00 per hour

employee. Employees with superior skills normally do

not work at a law firm for $10.00 per hour.

After hiring two virtual assistants I now have timeto plan the direction I want my law practice to grow into

and implement my ideas with better care.

Page25


2. Although they don't like to talk about it, several

managers at temporary agencies admitted that

approximately 47% of temporary employees do not

arrive at an assignment on time and ready to work.

One of the most common problems is that temporary

employees will accept a temporary assignment on

Friday but change their mind before Monday. When

the temporary employee does not show up for work on

Monday the agency must quickly find a replacement.

Unfortunately, this causes downtime (waiting on a new

replacement) and the law firm gets another day behind

in its heavy workload.

3. Approximately 15% of temporary employees

have been known to commit fraudulent acts when

working temporary jobs. Some unscrupulous people

have the mindset that they can "get away with it"

because they will not be working at the law firm when

their crime is eventually discovered. Unfortunately,

even when temporary employees have been caught in

these acts, the normal recourse is to fire them. Rarely

are they prosecuted. This leaves the temporary

Keep your money in your hand. You don’t pay a virtualassistant until after the work has been completed to your

satisfaction. Hiring employees does not provide this luxury.

Page27


employee with the freedom to move on to become a

problem for another law firm.

The Solution

After weighing all the information about the prob-

lems with hiring employees, Dennis said to himself:

"There must be a way to run my bankruptcy law

practice without hiring employees, relatives or friends

of relatives." This is when he started researching on

the internet and discovered the world of virtual

assistants.

Dennis soon learned that many businesses (other

than law firms) utilize virtual assistants for a variety of

services. On the internet he found virtual assistants

being used for:

1. Answering Phones and Taking Messages.

The business owner forwarded his or her phone to the

virtual assistant. The virtual assistant forwarded the

messages to the business owner's email address

immediately upon receipt for handling.

Even if your virtual assistant goes on vacation,your workflow is not interrupted. Most virtual assistants

have a network of other professionals who canassist you during their absence.

Page29


2. Transcribing Dictation. The business

owner recorded his or her dictation in MP3 format,

emailed the file as an attachment to the virtual assis-

tant. The virtual assistant returned the draft to the

business owner in MS Word format which the business

owner edited and mailed to his or her customers.

3. Bookkeeping. The business owner for-

warded all sales and expense reports on a monthly

basis to the virtual assistant. The virtual assistant

compiled monthly reports and put together all the year-

end accounting information for the tax accountant.

4. Website Design. Virtual assistants work

closely with the business owner to develop a company

website including marketing the website to search

engines and directories to increase web traffic.

5. Marketing Materials. Business owners use

virtual assistants to design brochures, letterheads,

business cards, postcard mailings to previous custom-

ers and other marketing materials. The cost is less

expensive compared to hiring a graphic artist.

Virtual assistants normally have several attorney clientsthey serve. They often earn a higher income compared to working

as an employee. The virtual assistant and attorney both benefitfinancially. It’s a WIN/WIN situation.

Page31


6. Translation. Business owners with a strong

client base of non-English speaking persons used a

virtual assistant to translate their documents into other

languages.

7. Secretarial Tasks. Business owners use

virtual assistants for setting appointments and remind-

ers, even on personal issues such as anniversaries

and birthdays. Using a virtual assistant for these duties

immediately reduced the amount of phone calls the

business owner received and he or she never had to

worry about missing a deadline or important date

again.

8. PowerPoint Presentations. The business

owner used the virtual assistant to prepare PowerPoint

slides which were used in meetings, training seminars

and online presentations that were displayed on the

company website.

9. Voice Mail Retrieval. The virtual assistant

retrieved the voice mail of the business owner several

times per day. He or she sorted and organized the

Because virtual assistants work from their home officewith fewer interruptions — they usually have more time

to provide attorneys with a higher level of detailthat saves law firms thousands of dollars!

Page33


messages and forwarded them back to the business

owner by email. This helped to reduce interruptions

and allowed the calls to be handled at a more appro-

priate time by the business owner.

10. Event Planning. The business owner

provided the details of the event to the virtual assistant

by email. The virtual assistant contacted all the par-

ties, located the proper size meeting room, scheduled

the air flights and other transportation, then followed

up with the attendees to confirm the date, time and

location. This saved the business owner a great deal

of time, plus it helped to make the entire meeting a

smoother operation because it was so well organized.

11. Email Screening and Processing. The

business owner set up a separate email address of

something like: "[email protected]." For all general

questions and inquiries, he or she used this email

address. The email was then automatically sent to the

virtual assistant who answered the questions from the

business owner's prepared script. For all other general

Unlike employees, attorneys do not pay their virtual assistant fortime they spend daydreaming or being non-productive.

Virtual assistants charge their attorney clients either a flat fee for aparticular job or an hourly fee based upon accurate reporting from

time-tracker software installed on their computer.

Page35


questions and inquiries, the virtual assistant forwarded

them to the business owner for handling.

12. Logo Creation. The business owner saved

over 50% by hiring a virtual assistant to design his

company logo compared to the price of a hiring a

graphic designer.

13. Audio Production. The business owner

sent a WAV or MP3 file to the virtual assistant. The

virtual assistant edited the audio for clarity, converted

to the proper format for streaming and placed it on the

business owner's website in a secure area where

visitors could login and listen to the information.

14. Data Processing from Hard Copy to

Electronic Format. The business owner supplied his

or her customer list to the virtual assistant (via enve-

lopes and/or accounting records.) The virtual assistant

input the data and used it to prepare mailing labels for

a customer mailing. This kept the business owner in

touch with his customers and generated more sales as

well as enhanced customer loyalty.

One attorney filmed a 5-minute commercial about his law firm withhis digital camera. He then sent the video on DVD to his virtualassistant who edited it, added a professional introduction and

placed it on his law firm website, The video has been one of themajor keys in increasing the client base for the attorney.

Page37


15. Mailing Preparation and Processing. The

business owner had 1,000 postcards printed for a

customer mailing. He had the printer drop ship them to

the virtual assistant. The virtual assistant prepared the

mailing labels, placed them on the postcards, applied

postage and provided the business owner with proof of

mailing and postage costs for reimbursement.

Other Added Benefits

Dennis also discovered that virtual assistants

normally have superior software, more up-to-date

computers and office equipment compared to his own

law firm. Virtual assistants are also known to have

more expertise and knowledge of the latest technolo-

gies because their business income depends on it.

Dennis also found the following steps had been put

into place to provide verification of the actual duties the

virtual assistant performed:

1. The virtual assistant used time tracker software

like Joomial or TimePilot.Com that automatically

If you hire a virtual assistant who is located in your area,they often provide free pick up and delivery to your office.

Some virtual assistants assist their attorney clients at court also!

Page39


tracked their time on projects so the business owner

could be invoiced correctly. This way, the business

owner only paid for the time the virtual assistant

worked on his or her projects — unlike a salaried or

hourly paid employee.

2. The virtual assistant used word-counters (that

are built into software programs like MS Word) that

automatically counted the words they typed. This

again provided precision billing during transcription.

3. There was no investment in additional office

space for the business owner when hiring a virtual

assistant. That's because the virtual assistant had

already made the investment. This allowed for the

possibility of expansion by utilizing more virtual assis-

tants in the future without any additional costs of hiring

additional employees.

4. There was no downtime to train employees.

The virtual assistant was already pre-trained and

already had superior experience. In fact, many

Do you often find yourself in a race against time?Hire several virtual assistants who specialize in various services

and they will be on-call to assist you during these peak times.

Page41


professionals today who have 20+ years of work

experience are starting virtual assistant services. With

only 2 or 3 clients to keep them busy, a virtual assis-

tant can often earn a higher income working from

home versus working for an employer.

5. There were no payroll taxes to worry about. In

some states, the services provided by virtual assistants

were recorded under "office expenses" for tax pur-

poses. Other states required the business owner to

issue a 1099 at the end of the year if the virtual assis-

tant was paid more than $600.00. But regardless of

the accounting method used, a virtual assistant was

much easier to keep expense records for compared to

onsite employees. In fact, several business owners

had stopped using their third-party payroll service

when they switched over to employing virtual assis-

tants exclusively.

6. There was no additional investment for phone

systems. Virtual assistants already have their own

phone, fax and cell phones. For business owners

Virtual assistants often have obtained a higher level ofeducation before starting their businesses. This providesattorneys with highly educated assistants at a lower cost

compared to hiring an onsite paralegal with a college degree.

Page43


wanting to have an exclusive telephone line where the

virtual assistant answered the phone with the business

owner's company name — a second cell phone or

telephone line was installed at the virtual assistant's

office. This way, the virtual assistant knew that when

this particular phone rang, they were to answer it

something like: "Brown, Jones and Campbell (or

whatever)." But for some smaller companies who

simply forwarded their company phones to the virtual

assistant, the virtual assistant answered the phone

with a greeting like: "Hello, this is Beth. May I help

you?" This generic greeting worked well for some

business owners and no additional expense of a

second cell phone or telephone line was necessary.

7. There was no additional office equipment to

buy or maintain. This is a big savings for businesses

who utilize virtual assistants. Also, virtual assistants are

responsible for the expense of their equipment failure

or software upgrades so the business owner never has

to worry about these overhead costs.

I converted the mother-in-law suite at my home into an office,hired three virtual assistants and operate my entire bankruptcyand divorce law practice from my home. I immediately saved

$3,500 per month in overhead costs.

Page45


Matt had been patiently sitting back and listening to

Dennis tell his story. But at this point he was so full of

questions he was about to burst. Matt interrupted

Dennis and said "Wow! This all sounds unbelievable.

So tell me Dennis, 'what's the catch?'" What follows is

the rest of their conversation:

Matt: Why haven't I heard about the virtual

assistant field before?

Dennis: The virtual assistant field has been

around for a long time. We just didn't use the word

"virtual." The "virtual" field was first developed when

the internet exploded and became more widely

accepted. Since the internet has not been the main-

stream tool utilized by businesses (except within the

past 5-10 years), many law firms have not embraced

the idea. Instead, some of them are still in the "learn-

ing stage" of how to send and receive email or need to

be trained in converting documents to PDF for elec-

tronic filings. Normally, experienced virtual assistants

have been performing these tasks for years.

The average virtual assistant prefers working from homeso they can spend more time with their family and less time

commuting to and from an office. This makes the field attractivefor thousands of professionally skilled women and men who

provide high quality services to their attorney clients every day.

Page47


Matt: But not all attorneys remained "behind the

times." Have internet-savvy bankruptcy attorneys used

virtual bankruptcy assistants in the past?

Dennis: Yes. The first internet-based company

offering virtual bankruptcy assistant service was The

Lawyer Assistant. Like I said before, the term "virtual"

was not used back then so The Lawyer Assistant

marketed its services under the more widely used term

at the time: "bankruptcy forms processor."

Matt: But isn't a "bankruptcy forms processor" a

non-attorney who prepares documents for the general

public and competes with attorneys?

Dennis: Not The Lawyer Assistant. They dedi-

cated their services solely to attorneys. In fact, many

attorneys who did not have a bankruptcy practice

formed one when they learned about the benefits The

Lawyer Assistant offered to their law firm.

Matt: Is the company still in business?

A virtual assistant never leaves your side. They are as closeas your office or laptop computer, regardless of where you

are located in the world!

Page49


Dennis: No. Only nine months after develop-

ment, Victoria Ring (the sole proprietor) had a cus-

tomer base of 56 attorneys. She was processing (on

the average) of 125-150 Chapter 7 and Chapter 13

bankruptcy petitions every week plus running the

company. Unable to find qualified people to help her,

she was unable to keep up with the workload and sold

the company so she could dedicate her time exclu-

sively to training. That is when she developed the

company, 713Training.Com, which is responsible for

many of the experienced virtual bankruptcy assistants

working today.

Matt: Who bought the company?

Dennis: It was sold to David Gonzalez, Esq. —

an attorney in Bronxville, New York. However, after

almost 2 years of operation, David's interests gradu-

ated to the corporate law arena. As you know —

corporate law is often more financially rewarding

compared to debtor bankruptcy law. In corporate law

an attorney has large businesses and corporations as

Victoria Ring, Certified ParalegalDeveloper of The Lawyer Assistant and 713Training.Com

Page51


clients. In debtor bankruptcy law an attorney normally

has "John Doe public" as clients. There is a big

difference between the two when it comes to money,

power and prestige.

Matt: Did the paralegal who started The Lawyer

Assistant actually develop the concept of the "virtual

bankruptcy assistant"? It sounds like she is another

"Erin Brockovich"?

Dennis: I was curious myself so I called her on

the telephone one day. After speaking with Victoria

Ring, I was convinced that she is definitely another

Erin Brockovich (except she doesn't use fowl

language.) In fact, I was so impressed that I offered

her a job working for me to help build my bankruptcy

practice. However, she explained that she had a strong

dedication to the goal of training others rather than

going back to the 9:00 to 5:00 world.

To find out more, I purchased her book: "How to

Start a Virtual Bankruptcy Assistant Service" (ISBN:

0976159171.) It was one of the best training manuals

How to Start a Virtual Bankruptcy Assistant Service(a training manual for attorneys, paralegals and

other legal professionals working in debtor bankruptcy)ISBN: 0-9761591-7-1

Page53


I have ever read — even better than many of the

books I used in law school. In Victoria's book, she

credits the entire concept development of the virtual

bankruptcy assistant field to a bankruptcy attorney she

worked for in Columbus, Ohio.

(Dennis pulls the book out from his briefcase, turns

to Page 221 and begins reading . . .)

"My story begins back in March 2000 (just after

the Y2K scare of 1999.) The bankruptcy attorney

I was working for on a part-time basis decided to

try an experiment. I would stop working in the

office and instead process bankruptcy petitions

from my home office. The attorney believed that

taking the petition preparation work out of the

office environment, the office would become less

chaotic and result in more detailed bankruptcy

petitions. He also believed that by paying me on

a per job basis versus an hourly wage, he would

save money."

Now you and your staff can prevent “desk overload.”Virtual assistants aide in the reduction of workload for your

paralegals and other law office personnel.

Page55


"During the experiment, I discovered that I could

easily draft 15 petitions in a weekend compared

to only 4 petitions if I worked in the office (due to

constant interruptions). I also found that most

clients were home in the evening and on week-

ends and I could quickly get answers regarding

incomplete information on the Client Intake

Forms without playing telephone tag. By making

a simple 10-minute phone call to the client, the

attorney determined that this reduced the phone

calls to his office by 85% and his clients were

more relaxed and cooperative talking to me

versus the attorney. Happy clients make for

easier and smoother bankruptcy filings and this

effect spilled over into many more benefits for the

office staff as well as the attorney."

"My attorney and I continued the experiment for

several more months and the results continued to

improve. In fact, the attorney found he had more

free time and was able to take a day off every

week. He also noticed that his profits had

Advances in technology now allows youto hold the keys to your law firm’s financial success.

Page57


increased by 50% in a short period of only 3

months. The experiment proved to be a great

success!"

Matt: I still don't understand why more attorneys

have not heard about this concept. If other attorneys

have had such a great success using virtual bank-

ruptcy assistants since the original concept in 2000,

why has no one heard about it?

Dennis: One reason is that many attorneys are

reluctant to change. If they heard about virtual assis-

tants they normally dismissed them as UPL violators.

Also, for many years, the majority of debtor bankruptcy

attorneys did not acknowledge the importance of

preparing well-detailed bankruptcy petitions. In most

law firms, the bankruptcy petition was nothing more

than a set of forms and the law office staff treated

them like data entry documents. Therefore, millions of

bankruptcy petitions were filed in court with major

errors. The law firm then had to deal with drafting

Amendments when the Trustee found these errors.

Forward your calls to a virtual assistant andget more work done with fewer interruptions.

Page59


But when the bankruptcy law was changed on

October 17, 2005 — the attorneys were forced to

prepare well-detailed bankruptcy petitions. In fact, the

new law even allows the court to impose a fine on the

attorney for not using due diligence in verification of

the information within the petition. This helped to

create a panic with some attorneys while others simply

did not want to invest the time it would take to prepare

well-detailed bankruptcy petitions.

But Victoria Ring points out in one of her many

published articles:

"I was personally trained by two attorneys who

specialized in Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bank-

ruptcy. From the beginning I was taught to draft

well-detailed bankruptcy petitions. Because the

petitions were so well-detailed the attorneys had

fewer catastrophes occur and their cases went

through the court system more efficiently.

Therefore, when the new bankruptcy law went

into effect, as a virtual bankruptcy assistant,

Some virtual assistants provide you with the option ofcalling into a telephone number, recording your dictation

and the virtual assistant retrieves the audio for transcribing.

Page61


I didn't see much difference in drafting the

petition (except for a few form changes.) This is

because I had been drafting well-detailed bank-

ruptcy petitions for many years before the new

law took effect. Only after I was involved with

my company, The Lawyer Assistant, did I learn

that drafting well-detailed bankruptcy petitions

was not the standard norm in the law firms."

"Additionally, I learned that many debtor bank-

ruptcy law firms have not kept up-to-date with

the new technology. Prior to mandatory elec-

tronic filing, most bankruptcy attorneys continued

using the old-fashioned paper method. This was

the exact same thing they had done for the past

10, 15 or 20 years. At that time, only internet

and computer-savvy bankruptcy attorneys used

PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic

Records) to file their bankruptcy petitions. This

was evidenced by the fact that all the bankruptcy

courts offered PACER training for bankruptcy

attorneys and their staff before mandatory

Time is money and since virtual assistants save you time;their service is worth money to your law firm.

Page63


electronic filing was implemented. To me, this

was unbelievable. Electronic filing was so much

less complicated compared to doing it the old

fashioned way. So I wondered: ‘what could they

be training them?’ Electronic filing was a simple

method of point and click."

"However, because of the massive number of

attorneys and law firm personnel who were not

up-to-date with new technology, the bankruptcy

court offered the PACER training for filing the

petition. But I did wonder why the bankruptcy

court didn't develop an online tutorial that pro-

vided a video filmed on the computer screen. A

person could simply click a link and watch a

step-by-step video from their computer without

leaving their desk. This would have saved the

bankruptcy court thousands of dollars and

hundreds of hours in time. Perhaps the majority

of law firms were so out-of-date with their com-

puter and software they would not have been

able to view the online video. That's my guess."

Most virtual assistants have advanced knowledge in technology.They have to. Their income depends on it.

Page65


Matt: But electronic filing is now mandatory for

bankruptcy attorneys. They have no choice but to

embrace technology now.

Dennis: You're right. And that is why you are

now hearing about the "virtual bankruptcy assistant"

world. The paralegal who developed The Lawyer

Assistant back in 2000 and sold it in 2002 has been

actively working to train virtual bankruptcy assistants to

provide specialized services to bankruptcy attorneys.

She has been the inspiration for hundreds of people

who started their own businesses and some of them

are growing very rapidly and are financially successful.

There is even a company that offers franchise

opportunities for paralegals wishing to start their own

virtual assistant business working for attorneys. It was

started by two paralegals, Dorothy Secol, CLA and

Peggy E Stalford, LA and is called Paralegal Services

USA. So you can see, the virtual assistant world is

rapidly expanding. I anticipate that within five years,

the virtual assistant field will literally boom.

Unlike a salaried employee, if you are not happy with the work avirtual assistant provides — you don’t pay the invoice.

Page67


Matt: I don't know. The whole concept of sending

my client files outside the office to a virtual bankruptcy

assistant I have never met is not something I would be

comfortable with. How did you deal with that fear?

Dennis: First of all, your files never leave the

office. The client intake forms (filled out by the client)

are faxed or scanned into a PDF document and

emailed to the virtual assistant. All the originals are

retained in the client file which never leaves the office.

Besides, law firms have been outsourcing their

work for many years. The only difference is they did

not use the term "virtual assistants." When in fact, a

virtual assistant is simply a person that performs work

offsite for a law firm and 90% to 100% of the

communication is handled via the internet or by

telephone. The law firm communicates and receives

finished work via the internet through emails and PDF

files versus paper. In the past, law firms used outside

assistance for:

Virtual assistants are notorious for keeping backups of theirclient’s work on CD-Rom. After the job is complete, you canrequest the CD-Rom be mailed to you or keep in the virtualassistant’s office as a back-up in case your computers fail.

Page69


1. Notarizations;

2. Depositions by court reporters;

3. Printing and mailing services;

4. Going to court and filing documents;

5. Copying services; and

6. Document storage services;

Law firms also allow their employees to take work

home to complete complex assignments, drafting

documents and other pleadings. In addition, many law

clerks and paralegals must travel outside the office to

work on cases or go to the law library to cite cases for

briefs and other pleadings. Take a look at your own law

firm and see for yourself how much work is actually

done outside the office.

Matt: But what about confidentiality? I know the

people employed at my law firm personally. They may

take files out of the office to work off-site but I know

they will be coming to work the next day to return

them.

Virtual assistants who are located in your local area can alsoassist you in court — just like your paralegal does now.

This frees up your paralegal to work on other tasks.

Page71


Dennis: Do you? I have had employees take the

files home to work on and the files get in the hands of

unauthorized people. I also have had employees quit

and I had to go through legal means to get the files

they took home with them returned. For me, I found it

more confidential to strictly deal with one unbiased

virtual assistant who was often more professional and

trusting than my own office staff.

Matt: Are you saying a virtual assistant does a

better job compared to your legal staff?

Dennis: For certain things — yes. I found that

drafting bankruptcy petitions is a job that needs to be

done from start to finish with no interruptions. This is

impossible to do in a busy office. In fact, that is what

the bankruptcy attorney in Columbus, Ohio noticed

when he set Victoria Ring up in her own virtual bank-

ruptcy assistant business. One day this attorney

watched one of his paralegals draft an entire bank-

ruptcy petition. She would start on the Voluntary

Petition and get interrupted with client calls and

Virtual assistants like Geoff Gratz of Monkey Productionscan install a remote connection on your computers whereby

technical computer support is provided 24 hours a dayand he doesn’t need to come to your office.

Ref: Monkey Productions - 614-668-5037

Page73


questions from other employees. When she went

back to drafting the petition, it took her several minutes

to find the place where she had left off and begin

again. Unfortunately, this method of drafting petitions

helped to create a lot of errors which caused major

problems when the petition went through the court

system.

However, by drafting the bankruptcy petition at the

paralegal's home office, she had less interruptions and

could direct her concentration solely on the client's

information. The quality of the bankruptcy petition

increased dramatically and literally transformed his

law firm.

Dennis then began to detail for Matt the step-by-

step procedure he used when working with his virtual

bankruptcy assistant:

1. The clients filled out a set of client intake forms

which were much more detailed than the previous

4-page intake forms I was using. These client intake

Virtual assistants allow attorneys to break the chainsand move forward in building a successful law practice

without the additional overhead expenses.

Page75


forms were provided by the virtual bankruptcy assis-

tant and personalized with my law firm's name and

address. I also made them available as a free PDF

download from my website. This made the process

easier for the client and they did not need to make a

special trip to the law firm to pick up the client intake

forms. Additionally, this process helped to save my

staff a lot of time and they had fewer interruptions.

2. Once the clients filled out the client intake

forms, they were instructed to call the office and set up

an appointment to pay their attorney and filing fees;

and to meet with me to sign the Retainer Agreement.

Also, they were required to bring the following docu-

mentation with them to their first appointment:

a. Completed Client Intake Forms;

Free client intake forms are provided online

at https://www.713training.com/intake_forms/

b. Attorney Fee and Filing Fee;

Some attorneys prefer to allow their clients

to pay their attorney fees in installment payments.

Stop and calculate the savings for yourself. With a littlereorganization, you too may benefit from

the services of a virtual assistant.

Page77


However, many attorneys have expressed problems

with this payment method. For example, Joe had his

clients pay 1/3 of their attorney fees at the initial

consultation, 1/3 when they reviewed their petition prior

to filing and the remaining 1/3 when they met at the

341 Meeting. Unfortunately, many clients did not pay

the remaining 1/3 of their balance at court but the

attorney had to proceed with representation anyway.

This created the high cost of collection procedures

and often the clients had relocated after the bank-

ruptcy and were unable to be found.

c. Credit counseling certificate;

If the clients had not obtained their credit

counseling certificate they were provided with the

name and contact information for a court-approved

credit counseling agency. They were asked to obtain

this certificate before scheduling their appointment and

to bring it with them. By obtaining the certificate

before the initial appointment, it saved me (as well as

the client) a lot of time. It eliminated the need to

Most paralegals cannot believe how virtual assistantsrelieve their heavy workload. In fact, virtual assistants are not

taking the place of paralegals — they are providing an excellentsupport base for the entire staff including the attorneys.

Page79


follow-up with the client and wait on them to obtain the

certificate after the petition was drafted.

Additionally, once a bankruptcy petition is

drafted it must be filed within 30 days or the Means

Test will expire. Once a Means Test expires, before

the petition can be filed, not only does the Means Test

need to be updated, but the Statement of Affairs and

other schedules must be revised to include the current

month. By requiring that clients obtain their credit

counseling certificate before they schedule an intake

appointment, the possibility of allowing a Means Test

to expire is eliminated.

d. 6 Months of Paycheck Stubs;

e. Copies of all the titles to motor vehicles

(cars, trucks, etc.);

f. Recorded mortgage and deed if

applicable;

g. A copy of the most recent appraisals on

real property;

Some attorneys turn away bankruptcy cases every daydue to the changes in the new bankruptcy law.

With a trained virtual bankruptcy assistant,the process is minimized for the attorney.

Page81


h. Copies of any lawsuits the clients had

been involved in within the past two (2)

years;

i. Copies of all life insurance policies;

j. Copies of federal income tax returns for

the past two (2) years;

k. Divorce Decree or Separation Agreement if

the clients had been involved in a divorce

within the past one (1) year;

l. Copies of the last statement from any

retirement accounts; and

m. Copies of bank statements, stock certifi-

cates, bonds, credit union and passbook

savings accounts from the past six (6)

months;

3. After these documents were gathered, the

clients called the office and set up an appointment. At

this appointment, I personally met with them to answer

Most virtual assistants often have office equipmentthat is superior to some law firms — and the knowledgeto use it to save their attorney clients the most money.

Page83


any questions, sign a Retainer Agreement and collect

the attorney and filing fees.

As the attorney, I also looked over the client's

income and expense pages from the client intake

forms to try and determine if these clients would

"probably" be a Chapter 7 or a Chapter 13 case. Of

course I am not always correct in my analysis, but

many times I am. This allowed me to better estimate

the total attorney fees. If I knew someone could

potentially become a Chapter 13 client, I would alert

them of this possibility and warn them of additional

attorney fees if this situation occurred.

For Chapter 7 cases that became Chapter 13s

(according to the Means Test) I would collect the entire

attorney and filing fee for a Chapter 7 at the initial

intake. When and if the case turned out to be a

Chapter 13, I called the clients and collected any

additional monies. This way, the clients normally did

not complain since they had been forewarned in the

initial client intake interview of this possibility.

https://www.713training.com/intake_forms713Training.Com provides client intake forms that are

well-detailed and are designed to flag potential problemsbefore the petition is filed.

Page85


Additionally, since the clients had already been

provided with the list of documents to bring with them

to the intake interview, the intake process flowed much

more smoothly compared to the old method we used

to use. Before using virtual bankruptcy assistants, I

was losing a lot of time. The paralegal would spend

from 1 to 2 hours getting the intake information and

now this time was automatically eliminated.

If the clients did all their homework correctly, the

intake process took approximately 30 minutes or less.

Total time invested by the law firm so far= 30 minutes

During the initial intake interview, the only tasks the

paralegal (or secretary) needed to perform were:

a. Making copies of the documents the clients

brought with them for the file and returning the origi-

nals to the clients. Clients should also be encouraged

to keep their own file at home which contains all the

documentation pertaining to their case. This helps to

“Unbelievable! Within 90 days after hiring a virtual assistant,my law firm profits increased from $7,000 per month

to $12,000 per month.”

Page87


prevent future problems and loss of important

documents.

b. Making copies of the client's driver's license or

other photo IDs for the file, making sure to verify the

social security number is correct on the client intake

forms. (This is an often overlooked step. It only takes

a few seconds to verify identification and to protect the

attorney from filing a fraudulent petition.)

This process took the paralegal (or secretary)

approximately 10 minutes.


4. Next, the following documents were faxed (or

scanned and emailed as a PDF document) to the

virtual bankruptcy assistant:

a. Client intake forms;

b. 6 months of paycheck stubs (so they could

be compared to the amount reported by the client on

the client intake forms and utilized for the Means Test);

“I expanded my law firm to offer bankruptcy services. The virtualbankruptcy assistant I hired does the majority of the intake work

and I usually net a profit of $901.00 per Chapter 7 case.”

Page89


c. credit counseling certificate (so the virtual

assistant could verify the date and ensure the certifi-

cate was obtained within 180 days of filing);

Faxing or emailing this information to the virtual

bankruptcy assistant took approximately 15 minutes.


5. The virtual bankruptcy assistant performed the

following tasks:

a. Drafting the bankruptcy petition;

b. Conducting an online criminal and civil

records search for additional debts;

c. Conducting an online real property search

for additional assets;

d. Compiling a list of questions that need

addressed before the petition could be finalized;

Often this problem is created because the

client intake forms were not filled out completely by the

In the past, some attorneys considered virtual assistants to beUPL violators and refused to entertain the idea of utilizing theirservices. They are now learning that professional legal virtual

assistants are an integral part of a law firm practice.

Page91


clients, or the virtual assistant finds conflicting informa-

tion that needs verified. (This is one of the benefits of

using the detailed client intake forms developed by

713Training.Com. They are designed to flag potential

problems so they can be solved during the initial

drafting stage.)

I found that some attorneys working with a

virtual assistant for the first time will have the list of

questions faxed or emailed back to the law firm. A

member of the staff contacts the client to obtain the

information and sends it back to the virtual assistant.

However, once the attorney builds a level of trust with

the virtual assistant, they normally permit them to

contact the client directly to obtain the information.

This speeds up the process and normally results in

more accurate reporting because virtual assistants are

trained how to listen and obtain any additional informa-

tion the clients did not reveal in their client forms.

e. Compiling a Case Cover Sheet that pro-

vides me with information about the case for specific

review. Sometimes, this additional information can

With the changes in the new bankruptcy law,the bankruptcy petition is no longer considered a data entry job.

Instead, drafting a well-detailed petition is a high-level skill.

Page93


change the case entirely or cause me to make adjust-

ments to the bankruptcy petition before it is finalized.

The Case Cover Sheet is a great time saver

for me. For instance, when drafting the petition the

virtual assistant may discover that the client's home

has $15,000 in unexempt equity. By making a note for

me on the Case Cover Sheet, I can quickly locate the

problem and solve it before the petition is filed. Again,

this is another important step that helps to eliminate

the majority of catastrophes.

f. Returning a complete and thorough bank-

ruptcy petition for my review. Once I receive the

bankruptcy petition for review, if the virtual assistant

has done his or her job correctly, I will have less than

30 minutes invested into reviewing the draft. At that

point, I can send an email to the virtual assistant and

approve the draft for filing or contact the clients to

review their petition and make changes. Because the

document is returned to me in PDF format, it is easy to

email a copy to a client and call them to discuss

certain issues.

Utilizing virtual bankruptcy assistants, debtor bankruptcy attorneyscan earn as much as $515.00 per hour. See the chart at right.

Page95


TASK AVG TIME

Total Law Firm Time 1 hr 25 minTotal Attorney Time in Court 20 minTotal Time Per Client 1 hr 45 min

Total Amount Paid by Clients $1,500.00Less Filing Fees -299.00Less Virtual Assistant Fees -300.00Net Profit Per Case $901.00

Net Hourly Income $515.00** This is only an example using the calculations provided.Your actual income may vary.

Total time invested by the law firm so far

= 1 hour, 25 minutes

g. After my review and approval, the virtual

bankruptcy assistant electronically files the case

through PACER using my login and password.

The following is an example that demonstrates how

the profits for my bankruptcy law firm were immedi-

ately increased when I hired my virtual bankruptcy

assistant:

Virtual bankruptcy assistants normally extend their hoursto evenings and weekends. This enables them to contact

your clients and obtain necessary information afterthey have returned home from work and are

more comfortable in their own home environment.

Page97


Dennis told Matt that he didn't know of very many

attorneys making $515.00 per hour. Compared to the

old method Dennis was using (where he averaged $90

per hour), by using virtual bankruptcy assistants he

was able to increased his hourly income by 1,000%.

Utilizing this method not only provided Dennis with

the ability to handle more bankruptcy petitions and

increase his law firm profits dramatically, but the extra

time he gained allowed him to pursue other areas of

law which also brought in even more income for the

law firm.

Matt: I am shocked. I had no idea that technology

had advanced to the level where I could hire profes-

sionals to work out of their home drafting bankruptcy

petitions. I would be fearful of the virtual assistant

committing unauthorized practice of law.

Dennis: I used to think the same thing. How-

ever, after reviewing many cases involving UPL,

I discovered there were just as many cases filed

against attorneys who had been barred for misconduct

“Since I hired two virtual assistants and moved to my own homeoffice, I now only need to put on a suit and tie when I go to court.”

Page99


compared to paralegals working from a home office.

While it is true that before the bankruptcy law changed

on October 17, 2005 there were unscrupulous people

with no experience who attempted to prepare petitions

directly for the general public – the new bankruptcy law

now makes that almost impossible.

Additionally, non-attorneys preparers who used to

draft petitions for the general public (and some of them

did a better job than some law firm employees) found

they can earn a higher income and maintain a steadier

stream of work by working under the direction of

attorneys. Therefore, non-attorney petition preparers

working for the general public are a dying breed.

Matt: But what about due diligence? The bank-

ruptcy law now imposes a fine for attorneys if they do

not exercise due diligence.

Dennis: Personally, I have never had any of

these problems occur. The virtual assistant verifies all

the information provided by the client on the intake

forms. The virtual assistant also conducts an online

Hiring virtual assistants helps to eliminate “office gossip”that is common with salaried employees and

costs your law firm money.

Page101


search of real property records including a civil and

criminal records search for all the clients to ensure all

their assets, debts, lawsuits and other issues are

included in the bankruptcy petition. Additionally, the

virtual assistant prints out a copy from the Kelly Blue

Book website to verify the value of the motor vehicles.

Utilizing this level of detail in documentation not

only improved the quality of our petitions, but also

made them easy for the court personnel to process.

In fact, court officials are always commenting on how

well-detailed my petitions are and several have asked

me to train other attorneys. I understand that many

courts are flooded with petitions that contain numerous

errors and omissions. So if a virtual assistant has

been professionally trained in drafting bankruptcy

petitions, these problems are often eliminated.

Matt: What about the issue of "sharing fees" with

a non-attorney assistant?

Dennis: You pay people to work for you at your

law firm don't you? Do you consider paying your

employees the same thing as sharing fees?

Virtual assistants are paid like any other vendor.They never share fees and work under the sole discretion

of the attorney just like your office staff.

Page103


Matt: Of course not.

Dennis: A virtual assistant is just like any

employee that works at your law firm. The only

difference is that a virtual assistant does the same job

except at a separate location and communicates via

the internet.

In fact, I spoke with several Trustees who told me

the issue of "sharing fees" normally relates to people

who find clients for the attorney and are paid a com-

mission for each new client they get. It is illegal to

attempt or force to attempt someone to make the

decision to file bankruptcy. "Head hunters" (as they

are known) will use any sales tactic they can to get

clients for the attorney since they receive a commis-

sion for each one.

Virtual assistants (just like your employees) play no

role in obtaining clients for attorneys. Therefore, the

attorney is never "sharing fees" with the virtual assis-

tant. Instead, the attorney pays the virtual assistant

Virtual assistants can be located in any state and still have accessto electronic court records to conduct criminal record searches toensure there are no additional debts the client has not revealed.

Page105


just like he or she would pay any vendor, temporary

employee or salaried employee.

Matt: I heard you say something about a virtual

assistant being professionally trained in the skill of

drafting bankruptcy petitions. Where do they get their

training — from the paralegal who sold The Lawyer

Assistant?

Dennis: Yes, her company is 713Training.Com

and you can review all the training materials Victoria

Ring developed at http://www.713training.com.

Victoria now dedicates all her time and efforts to

training this high level skill and the number of

professionally trained virtual bankruptcy assistants

is growing every day.

Matt: One more thing — do you know of any

problems people have had hiring virtual assistants?

Dennis: Yes. Like anything else — nothing is

perfect. One attorney told me he hired a virtual assis-

tant, sent her five petitions to draft and she went on

The virtual assistant field is one of the fastest growing industriesin existence today. Virtual assistants are highly trained

professionals who prefer to work from their own offices andprovide superior services for the attorneys they serve.

Page107


vacation without telling him. One of those petitions

involved a client who was in danger of foreclosure so

time was of the essence. He had expected to have the

five petitions drafted within 48-72 hours but was

unable to locate the virtual assistant after numerous

calls to her home office.

When she returned from her vacation she returned

his numerous voice mail messages and apologized;

but the attorney was so angry, he fired the virtual

assistant and hired someone else.

Although incidents like this can occur with any

salaried employee, I didn't find it alarming enough to

prevent me from hiring virtual assistants. The main

reason I enjoy working with them is that if they don't

work out (for whatever reason) I can easily find a

replacement and there is no financial loss to the law

firm. I only pay after satisfactory services are rendered.

Matt: Did you have your virtual assistant sign any

type of confidentiality agreement before they started

working on your client's cases?

Virtual assistant handle the nuts and boltswhile you build a successful law practice!

Page109


Dennis: Yes. In fact, 713Training.Com provides

a sample template of an Attorney Agreement for the

virtual assistants to use when working for bankruptcy

attorneys. It is provided in Victoria Ring's book as well

as being distributed at all her seminars.

Matt: Okay. You have convinced me to give this

new idea a try. Where should I start looking for a

virtual bankruptcy assistant?

Dennis: I will have my secretary fax you over a

list of the website links I use for locating virtual assis-

tants so you can get started.

Below is the list that Dennis provided to Matt:

The Virtual Bankruptcy Assistant Online

Directory

http://www.713training.com/directory/

Quik-Sec – Virtual Secretary

http://www.quiksek.com/

Save the high cost of investing into software programs.Virtual assistants have already made the investment and can

export files in PDF format for cross-platform review.

Page111


The International Association of Virtual

Assistants

http://www.iavoa.com/

Certified Virtual Assistants

http://www.vacertification.com/directory.htm

Paralegal Services USA

http://www.paralegalservicesusa.com/

Matt thanked Dennis for all this wonderful informa-

tion and went back to his office. He spent the evening

researching the field of virtual assistants. Not only did

he review the list of websites that Dennis provided to

him, he also did a keyword search for "virtual assis-

tants" on Google at http://www.google.com. What he

found amazed him.

Today Matt has four virtual assistants working for

his law firm. He no longer needs three temporary

employees and three paralegals. In fact, two of his

paralegals said they preferred to work from home so

Matt was able to keep them on the payroll while totally

When salaried employees are sick, the law firmnormally still pays them. But when a virtual assistant is ill, you

don’t pay anything. Virtual assistants are only paid once the workis completed to the attorney’s satisfaction.

Page113


eliminating a huge amount of office overhead

expenses.

Summary

This story is a typical example of the huge benefits

a professionally trained virtual bankruptcy assistant

can provide to a debtor bankruptcy attorney. However,

you don't have to be a debtor bankruptcy attorney to

enjoy the same type of benefits from virtual assistants.

As previously stated, virtual assistants can perform a

wide variety of tasks which will eliminate overhead

expenses, time and problems for law firms — regard-

less of the area of law they practice in.

As time moves on, many people who commute to

the office every day will be working from home and

communicating with their employers via the internet.

But don't take my word for it. Do the research your-

self. You may find that as an attorney, you can in-

crease your hourly income to $500 or more per hour,

just like Dennis and Matt did.

“When I grow up, I want to be a virtual assistantjust like my mommy and daddy.”

For more information about training products and

consulting services provided by 713Training.Com

contact http://www.713training.com.

Page115


The Virtual Bankruptcy Assistant Online

Directory

http://www.713training.com/directory/

Quik-Sec – Virtual Secretary

http://www.quiksek.com/

The International Association of Virtual

Assistants

http://www.iavoa.com/

Certified Virtual Assistants

http://www.vacertification.com/directory.htm

Paralegal Services USA

http://www.paralegalservicesusa.com/

WebSite References

Page115


About the Author

Angie Boyd is the Executive

Director of 713Training.Com.

She is the also the Training

Instructor at the 713Training

Center and assists with training

at the 713Training seminars

which are held throughout the

United States.

Angie discovered her passion for debtor bankruptcy

law when she drafted her first bankruptcy petition in April

2006 while working for 713Training.Com. Since then, she

has enrolled in a paralegal study program to obtain her

Associate’s Degree and started her own company,

BankruptcyPlus.Com. She currently works as a virtual

bankruptcy assistant for several attorneys in Ohio and

Arizona in addition to her role as Executive Director of

713Training.Com.

Angie lives in Columbus, Ohio with her three sons.

She enjoys digital photography and hanging wall murals.

Graphico Publishinga subsidiary of 713Training.Com, LLC1601 West Fifth Avenue, Suite 123Columbus, Ohio 43212-2303Website: http://www.graphicopublishing.com

Graphico Publishingwww.graphicopublishing.com

$12.99Printed in the USA

n 2001, a bankruptcy attorney and hisparalegal decided to try an experiment in aneffort to streamline the law firm operations.IThis experiment proved to be so successful thatthe attorney dramatically increased the profits forhis law firm within 60 days.

But the attorney also recognized somethingelse. The redundant and unnecessary calls fromclients diminished and the stress level from thestaff was a noticeable improvement.

After this successful experiment, the paralegaldecided to implement the same techniques andoffer them nationwide to attorneys via the internet.Within 9 months, fifty-six attorneys were utilizingthe methods in this book and 100% were overjoyedwith the results.

In this book you will learn all the details of thisexperiment so you can use the same techniques toincrease profits for your law firm.

by Angie BoydExecutive Director;Training Instructor; andBankruptcy Paralegalfor 713Training.Com LLC

Documents

to Increase Profits - mybankruptcyassistant.commybankruptcyassistant.com/downloads/How_to... · How to Increase Profits for Your Law Firm A law firm is like any other business. It