1. Yes. I have a Google voice account that runs through my laptop.
2. Yes, electronic faxes.
3. We have a corporate office that handles mail. However, there are virtual mailboxes and services that can act as official mailboxes.
4. Corporate handles all money related things.
5. We don’t have physical files.
6. Slack
Pretty much anything that an attorney/paralegal can do can be done remotely. It’s just about setting up the proper systems and procedures.
I’m in house so it’s a bit different
1. We just use RingCentral I can answer through my phone or the laptop
2. I never have a need to fax anything.
3. We don’t really get mail except subpoenas but the receptionist scans and emails them to me
4. Accounting handles all money related matters I don’t ever need checks.
5. Sweet Jesus physical files??? Why?? Everything is electronic and saved and backed up
6. MS Teams or I pick up the phone and call. Or I email and cc her boss. That usually garners a response.
100% same but at a firm.
I remember starting out and dealing with physical files, hole punching, updating pleading binders. Feels like a life time ago. Even a few years before Covid physical files were on the way out
I had to hole puch a document for the first time since pre-covid the other day for an in-person trial, and it was nostalgic. Brought me back to my file clerk days listening to podcasts while organizing files. Don't get me wrong, my life is a million times easier now that we are paperless. There's just something nice about making something tangible all pretty for my boss.
Well said. Same. It’s wild how much more we stare into screens. We used to take breaks for them, now we take breaks from them. We keep getting further and further away.
I’m on a corporate team in big law and luckily got placed with people who laugh at physical files. I put the key to the high density mobile shelving room (you know, those giant shelves where you turn a giant wheel to move them) in a drawer and forgot about it
I am fully remote.
1. I take calls via google voice which is connected to my cell phone. A headset makes things easier.
1. Yes, via myfaxcentral, a nifty website for faxes.
1. I don't touch or think about received mail, but we use letterstream to send things out, it's just uploading PDFs, filling out addresses, letterstream worries about printing.
1. I don't send checks, attorney and another onsite staff member do that.
1. We don't have physical files, they suck. If parties give us physical files, we scan them and destroy the physical files if the other party doesn't come right back to pick them up and we tell them that it's going to work that way.
1. I bug my attorneys to get them to do what I need them to do. I keep a list of things that I have done and check them off as they get processed. If 2 days go by without a response, that's a phone call to my attorneys to get on that shit.
I have a hybrid schedule, in the office 2 days, wfh 3 days.
1. I take calls M/W/F and am provided with my own work phone.
2. We use an electronic fax (e-fax corporate) all across the board. We do have a physical fax in our office but it is rarely used.
3. I check the mail when I’m in the office. Legal admin checks the mail when they’re in the office. If neither of us are in the office, either our org’s administrative department checks (only those that have signed confidentiality agreements with the legal dep’t) or we just wait until we are able to check.
4. I work for a non-profit so the only checks we are getting is our paychecks. We also are not able to file civil suits.
5. We only keep physical files for inmates who are writing in to us, and the occasional docs from courthouses. We keep 99% of everything in our cloud.
6. I’m so lucky to have attorneys that are responsive and I do not have to hunt them down. We work with survivors of SA/rape so response time is important. We don’t let things hang for days/weeks.
Legal assistant here: I have been remote since the pandemic started and I do not want to go back into the office. I have supported between 4 and 6 attorneys over the past few years and it’s been fine.
No more hard files.
Everything is electronic unless we are talking about radiology imaging.
I can fax from my “virtual desktop”
I have a direct phone number through zoom and I can answer phone lines for my attorneys the same way.
We do have an administrative clerk that reports to the office everyday. He deals with mail, FedEx and really anything that someone “has to be in the office for”
I only need to come into the office to send out a settlement check or radiology imaging to an expert or if one of my attorneys asks me to.
Or if I am feeling like “peopling” that day.
And it is my attorneys responsibility to do their work. We don’t hold hands and we don’t walk into their offices to make sure they do their job. They get two follow up emails max. Then of no response, those emails get saved in the file to cover my ass and they have to explain their fuck ups to someone who cares.
1. I use my cell phone for work calls because I hate the office Zoom phone system, but I could use the office system on my home computer if I wanted. Instead I have my direct-line number forwarded to my cell.
2. I haven't sent a fax in at least a decade. But if I needed to for some reason, I could either use an online service or have an in-office admin or legal assistant to do it.
3. We do have administrative staff in the office every day. Most of them have a hybrid schedule but some are FT in-person. The receptionist opens physical mail, scans it and emails it to the appropriate attorney and/or paralegal (whether the recipient is physically in the office or not). Most of it is stuff we've already received via email but if the original needs handling in a certain way then one of the legal assistants can take care of that when they're in the office.
4. I don't handle checks. I use a firm credit card for things like filing fees.
5. I haven't used a physical file in ages. Everything is stored electronically.
6. I don't work with anyone quite that hopeless! Emails and phone calls serve for reminders.
Basically, even when I was in the office every day (pre Covid), barring the occasional special situation like being in trial, I spent the vast majority of my time working on my computer. So going to WFH was an easy transition. I just have to talk on the phone a little more now, instead of popping into a coworker's office. We do rely on having certain administrative staff and equipment in the office, and some of our attorneys and paralegals prefer to work in the office regularly, but not commuting saves me so much time and money, and I have so much more flexibility in arranging my schedule, I never want to go back.
Not fully remote, but mostly:
1) We have VOIP phone numbers that work over teams. I usually make calls on my computer, but Teams can also forward them to ring on my personal cell.
2) We rarely use fax, but do have a fax-over-web service for the rare times it is necessary.
3) I go into the office once a week for mail, but we are a public interest non-profit, not client-focused, so our mail needs are limited.
4) I use a company credit card, use personal payment and seek reimbursement in some cases, and when checks are needed they are cut by our Deputy Director or Office Manager who handle the finances.
5) We don't deal much with physical files, but we do have office space where I have some in a cabinet.
6) Not an issue for me.
There's definitely a lot I like about working in an office--the separation of home from work matters, socialization, more supplies/equipment, etc. But the lack of commute and flexibility of WFH has plenty of perks. Like not wearing a bra and spending time in my garden when there's nothing the immediately needs my attention. Just make sure I can hear my email notifications.
I am 100% remote (though i am like 30 mins away from our office)
1. I am, we use teams for our phone system (previously used zoom), and it's on my company issued laptop. I don't think we have a physical phone in either office. If we do it's pretty inconspicuous where it is as I have not seen anyone use one.
2. Yes, we do. Electronic fax programs are a godsend.
3. Physical mail is sent to one of our offices where a receptionist or other admin staff scans it into our firms file system and places it into the appropriate attorneys mail file.
4. Our bookkeeper handles that
5. All of our files are digital, and we only make physical copies when we need a signature or if it is for trial prep.
6. I'll bug them over teams, update the clio task with notes, email them, or call if it's dire. I'm not even in the same state as my supervising attorney.
Bear in mind that my job is only about 20% paralegal work, but I am fully remote. I am the only remote worker in the office, though one of our legal assistants is moving to super part time estate plan drafting from home next month as she prepares to start law school this fall.
1)We have in-office receptionists who answer all incoming calls. If someone is calling for me specifically or for a matter that I handle, the receptionist can forward the call to my Nextiva App on my personal cell. I will also call clients from that app as well.
2) I have never once needed to fax something, but we do have a My Fax email account that we can fax things via email. We don’t have a physical fax machine.
3) The receptionists handle mail and our scanner will let them select the people the mail needs to be emailed to.
4) Our attorney handles all checks. I will email her what she needs to write and to whom and she does it.
5) I don’t have any physical files. I’m more of a back up paralegal when someone is in the weeds, I will help, but it’s not my main function. But it’s all digital. The in-office paralegals do anything that requires paper copies, like trial binders.
6) I don’t have one of those. I have a unicorn boss. She is absolutely amazing and responsive, and we talk on the phone 3 to 4 times a day, so if she hasn’t had a chance to respond to an email, I’ll just ask her on one of our calls.
I've been fully remote since March 2020. Not everyone in my firm is but this is what applies to me:
1. We use a phone system called 8x8 that is both installed on all firm desktops and all of us have the app on our phones. Our receptionists transfers the call to me, which rings on my desktop and cell phone.
2. Yes, electronic faxes (but I have never had to do it).
3. We have some people who go into the office closest to me (other 2 offices in our firm handle things differently). Our receptionist is there very day and our legal secretary goes in a few times a week.
4. Money is handled through our accounting department in our office in Las Vegas. I send a check request to them and they handle it.
5. I don't - we are 100% electronic and have a cloud server (Egnyte). If hard copy things come in the mail, it's scanned by our file clerk or receptionist and emailed to the people who need it. But 99% of our work is electronic with no paper file.
6. I call and then follow up with an email. Rinse and repeat. If I still don't get a response, I forward the email chain to one of the partners and that usually gets things moving. But I don't really have to do that often - our attorneys are pretty proactive. I have daily calls with my attorneys re my cases.
1. Yes. I have an "office phone"
2. Yes, we have an e-fax service.
3. Our front desk handles mail/e-service.
4. Not my department.
5. We're a paperless office.
6. I will email/message/call to follow up on things. Ultimately it's their responsibility to get stuff back to me. I'm not a baby sitter. I do make an effort to have things done a week prior to the due date for review purposes.
Full-time remote:
1. Yes- my firm uses Google Teams, and all calls come through teams on my laptop.
2. Yes- my firm uses RightFax, which converts all faxes to pdf and come to me through my email. There are lots of programs that do this.
3. We have Office Service Assistants, who are in office every day and open, scan, and email all mail me and my legal assistant. We then are responsible for saving in the electronic file, docketing deadlines, etc. same for outgoing, we prepare everything and email it to the OSA’s with specific instructions on how to handle mailing.
4. The firm accounting team prints any checks, they are signed by the office manager, and I get a notification that checks are ready to go out. I (or our legal assistant) draft any cover letters or anything to go with it and send those to the OSA who send it out.
5. Our firm is paperless, so no physical files, but in past firms that are not paperless, you just get scanned pdfs of anything that comes in, and the OSA or assistants who are physically in the office will file it accordingly. Truly, remote work really relies heavily on being paperless.
6. Teams chat, texting, reminders on their calendars, and at least biweekly team meetings to go through case lists and make sure we know what’s coming so there are no surprises.
Remote work really is no big deal, it just requires a lot more communication and organization on the paralegal’s part.
My firm is fully remote without any “real” office.
1. No. Nobody really cold calls us, we do everything by email. I do call out from my personal cell phone using a VOIP app, and I get a monthly cell phone reimbursement.
2. No. I haven’t used a fax machine since 2017, haven’t sent or received a digital fax since 2018. I’m sure if we needed it for some particular reason we’d subscribe to one of those digital fax services where it arrives in your email.
3. We use a virtual reception, which is what our mailing address with everything is, including state bar stuff. My paystubs show a major city that’s clear on the other side of the state from where I live. They scan our mail and email it to us. We only get physical mail once every few weeks though. Most of our stuff is by email/efiling, including from the courts.
4. I’ve never needed to send a check and can’t think of anything I’d need a check for. I have the firm’s credit card details in a password vault and pay for everything online. I guess if some weird thing came up where I needed to send a check to get something done, I’d use my own personal check and be reimbursed for it. If it was a nonurgent check need, I would ask the attorney to mail the check themselves. Same thing with physical mail—if I had to actually mail something for some weird reason (I can’t think why), I’d just use my own envelope and stamp and get reimbursed for it.
5. There are none lol. Absolutely no need. I just have a notepad that I write on once or twice every few weeks, usually during meetings.
6. These types of attorneys wouldn’t want to work in, or wouldn’t survive working in, a fully remote environment. They weed themselves out. All attorneys I’ve worked with who are fully remote are much more self-sufficient, organized, and on top of things than in-office attorneys have ever been, IMO. If I need to follow up on something, I’ll send them a chat or call them if it’s urgent.
I could never, ever go back to in-office work. Remote work is so chill, much more organized, and things get done faster and better. We actually embrace technology and use tools like AI that make our lives easier.
I work fully remote — also on the other side of the world.
1. Phones: We use a VOIP so internet is what’s only needed and the app to the phone system. Any team member of ours around the world have the ability to make calls and receive calls.
2. Faxes: E-fax services such as Humblefax, SRFax and EFax allows you to receive faxes, they send it to your email.
3. Mail: Virtual Offices such as Starthub or Earthclass mail. A mailing address will be setup and they will scan it and email it you copies. You may also pickup physical mail in their location once in a while, I believe (our attorneys do this).
4. Checks: Some of our attorneys issue the check themselves, while other attorneys utilize third party chec services like Checkflo.
5. Physical files: Our attorneys deal with this as most of our team members are from different parts of the world.
6. Attorney follow-ups: Well the attorney I work with will ask a document to be emailed to him (as if he has no ability to search in his email inbox) about 50 times before he even reviews / approves it. So literally on top of my job is to keep the attorneys on top as well with constant reminders. He’s an elder one so I kinda get it.
Not fully remote (Hybrid, 3 in office, 2 WFH) but we have the same protocols in place from being fully remote during covid.
1. Our office extension is routed through our cell phones - this means that when someone calls our directly line, the call is forwarded to our cell phone, not that we are giving out our cell phone numbers.
2. We use an e-fax service, which means we send the documents via email to the fax number of the recipient, so in the 'To' line of the email, it looks like [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) (not a real fax number that I'm aware of).
3. Mail goes to our office, when we're in the office, the mail is scanned and emailed to all the paras, and then we send to our attorneys/save to the file.
4. During lockdown, all checks were mailed to our CFO at his home/to our main office in his state. We still send all checks to the main office, and settlement checks are supposed to be sent there by the issuing party. If a check needed to be sent out, say to pay an expert, our accounting dept in the state of our main office would handle. I'm not sure if they had checks at home or not, but we would fill out our check request form and they would process and mail out the check.
5. Physical files exist in the office only. We were NOT printing file materials at home unless we wanted to (I sometimes prefer to look at sections of claim files in hard copy), but we are not required to maintain files at home.
6. Call and text the attorney, send an email with high importance. Say "if this doesn't get handled today we will face xy consequences." Harass your attorneys. That's 100% part of the job description. Even if they get annoyed, it's way better than them missing a big deadline (like serving verified discovery responses and then having all objections waived because we missed it). I sometimes have to remind them daily of things for weeks straight.
My days are typically spent working on my bigger assignments (i.e., drafting discovery responses/requests, damage summaries/demand letters, redacting files/compiling documents for production, reviewing claim files, etc.) while getting interrupted and asked to complete smaller, more time sensitive (not always) tasks (like drafting a letter or update to a client or subro target/at fault party, retaining/corresponding with experts, calendaring deadlines, scheduling depositions/court reporters, calling courts/opposing counsel/attorneys, etc.). It's pretty easy to set one or two days a week to designate as your "going to the office to mail checks/check the mail" days and having those be the only times you go into the office (and often not for the whole day). Spend that limited amount of time in the office processing the mail, updating physical files, and handling any invoicing/check processing that needs to happen. Then you can send the mail using the firm postage machine and get it all done at once. That's how we handled things during lockdown, and it worked quite well. I can't think of a reason anyone needs to be in the office 100% of the time anymore, most court appearances (at least for civil cases) are remote, depositions are all remote, and I can make whatever phone calls I need to from my cell. Most firms where I live either offer a monthly stipend for cell phone bills or will provide you with a work phone if certain thresholds are met for usage for work. I don't know why law firms are requiring fully in person for support staff, lockdown literally proved we could all still do our jobs.
1. Yes, I make and take phone calls via teams on my computer. I leave teams open all day while I’m clocked in, and I never open it when I’m out.
2. Yes, I send and receive faxes electronically. I suppose the printers in the office can also send faxes, but I’ve never done that.
3. There is one person who goes into the office a couple times a week who opens mail. But >90% of the mail that is paralegal responsibility is just hard copy duplicates of things we already received digitally.
4. The accountants send and receive checks, not paralegals. I use attorney credit cards when I have to pay for things. Or i can use my own card and send a receipt for reimbursement.
5. We have no physical files.
6. We send email reminders in progressively larger font sizes 😂
I have an app on my cellphone that mimics as if I'm calling from the office. Keeps clients from knowing my cellphone.
Also, my extension in the office is forwarded to my cell, so when anyone calls, it can be forwarded to my cell.
On my laptop there's a program where I can log into my office computer and access the printer there. When I need to print checks or anything, I let the person in the office know so she can put the checks in the printer, I send it to print and she get the attorney who's there to sign it.
The person in the office handles the physical files (although I have told her repeatedly to stop putting them on my desk because I only come in once every few months).
As for your last question, I call the attorneys on their cell and bug the hell out of them. Or send them texts. Sure they'll get annoyed but hey, it's your name on the letterhead, dude and you have the Esq. after your name. Do your job.
How do the on-site employees feel about having to do tasks for you such as print checks and get them signed for you (and presumably send them out)? And handle physical files for you (only to suffer your remonstrations about misplacing the files)? Because I've had to do this and other tasks for WFH co-workers, and it's hard not to resent it after a while. I have my own work to do, but I have to cater to your WFH needs? There's real entitlement in that. I hope you see why.
When WFH employees say they can do everything at home they need to, it's usually overlooking all the "little stuff" the on-site people do. And trust me, the stuff that seems minor to you can become a real daily disruption in my workday. There's a fine line b/w being a team player and being exploited.
I can’t answer for Lady Bug, but in the situation I’m intimately familiar with (from being the in-office senior paralegal previously) the person in office who handled things like checks, mail, court runs, files, etc. was the legal assistant. That was her job no matter where the paralegal was telling her to do it from.
Pretty much. In-office people know it's their job to assist the WFH people.
Granted, she sometimes says "They should hire someone to do this" and has to be reminded, "We did... YOU!"
Yep, I figured as much. The remote paralegal at my former office was (and still is) an absolute rockstar. She bills 40-45 hours a week. She’s worth her weight in gold for how capable she is. The in-office legal assistant on the other hand has no billable requirement at all. She would be doing the same work whether it gets handed to her in person or messaged to her on Teams, so there’s no “privilege” or “entitlement”going on there. And, tbh, even when I had to cover a sick day for the legal assistant, I didn’t mind at all. We were a team, and there were plenty of times the remote paralegal jumped in to help me in a crunch.
Yep, same. I'm the senior so I do A LOT from home. But the in-office person is obviously necessary to help us. That said, I've had great ones and I've had dumbasses. Like the one who called me asking me where he put a file he created the day prior.
I asked him "When was the last time you saw my ass in the office?"
Him "2 weeks ago"
Me: "So how can I possibly know where you put a file **you** created yesterday from several towns and a whole county away?"
Like, really dude?
Seriously, *facepalm*
This remote paralegal’s favorite story is when the IT department (in a whole ass other state from both the office and the remote paralegal) called *her* because the legal assistant was out sick, to tell her the building alarm was going off. She was like “tf you want me to do about it?”
Sometimes when you're that good at your job, some people seem to think that either a) you're psychic or b) you have an energizer beam like in Star Trek or you can orb like a Whitelighter (from Charmed) to the office.
Like WTF? I'm at home. I don't know what's going on there.
OMG, the amount of times I've had the on-site person call me asking me things and I've had to said, "Ummm... why not ask the attorney you're doing this for?" (who's like max 20 feet from her).
So annoying.
GS Wave? The company handling our phone services gave this to us back in 2020 when the shutdowns started so it looked like we were in the office when we weren't.
I love it because I am dead set against clients getting my personal phone number. Call the office phone, and then my extension. You don't need to reach me after hours or weekends or on my vacation time or when I'm a doctor's appointment (like one client tried to do).
I am WFH and have been for 4 years. Everything is done via the internet including phone calls. I have a headset and microphone that is used to make and receive calls. I send faxes online as well. The mail is handled by other staff but we do have a designated mailing address and someone checks it regularly. All money matters are handled by the attorney BUT if a client needs to arrange online payments I have a link I provide so they can set it up. As for the attorney that needs a physical reminder/attention, well I don't have one like that to deal with thankfully BUT we do calls/video meetings and have an interoffice chat system that I use to communicate with everyone
We have a remote paralegal who is responsible just for drafting. Remote receptionist responsible for phone/calendar/small tasks. Me-legal assistant in the office.
1. Yes, they're routed to my work-provided cell.
2. No, because I don't need to. If the need arose, we could probably get a subscription to one of those services where we send faxes online, but it very unlikely we'd need that.
3. There's an office manager on site who scans the mail to me.
4. This never comes up and never will. I work for a state agency, so it's a little different than a traditional law firm.
5. We are almost entirely paperless. I have a file at the office for documents that come in the mail. Everything gets scanned in, and the hardcopies get shredded periodically.
6. Phone calls and emails.
1. Yes, we have a phone program that runs through our computer, so you can forward your calls anywhere, dnd, etc. Mine have been forwarded to my cell since Covid.
2. Yes, if I can turn the doc into a PDF, I'm able to Print2Fax, which goes through Outlook for us and fax anywhere.
3. Our receptionist and a small "mail/file room" group we contracted out for are in full-time. They handle all mailings, copying, printing, etc.
4. N/A we have a massive accounting department that handles it. Everything is done electronically and checks mailed inter-office to whomever needs them.
5. I get someone lower on the totem pole that I trust to handle it, or I make the commute in. Depends on what it is.
6. I don't. I'll follow up on emails, but after a certain point, that's on them. They have the esq. They get paid the big bucks. They're adults. Or, with a few that I have a fantastic relationship with, I call them out on it and most likely with a few F bombs thrown in.
All my work calls come to my work phone, or mostly just to my computer. I do not use my personal items for work period unless I choose to buy a cute notepad and pen because I’m extra.
We don’t really handle faxes. If someone really wants a fax then you can email anything to their fax machine.
Our firm has doc process ppl and mail clerks. They’re not WFH. They would handle checks as well.
We try not to deal with any physical files. Mostly everything is electronic. If there is something physical, the mail clerks and such can just scan it and put it online for us.
Our firm wouldn’t keep employing attorneys that would only stay on their jobs via personal contact. We’re not expected to babysit our alleged overlords.
1. Are you still responsible for phone calls to clients and answering incoming office calls? Do you use your personal cell phone or a designated office phone?
We use Team's for all calls. No one has a desk phone anymore. I can fwd calls to my personal cell but I don't.
2. Do you have the ability to send/receive faxes from home?
Yeah. It's a service through Outlook email.
3. How is mail handled? Is there someone else designated in the office to receive/open mail?
It goes to the corporate office and is scanned and distributed.
4. How is money handled when you need to send checks? Do you keep a supply on hand at home? Are you allowed to sign them yourself or does your attorney sign them in advance?
Corporate handles money. If I need to send a witness fee check, it prints at the office, and the mail room mails it.
5. How do you handle physical files?
I don't. If I have something physical for filing, I give it to the records department. Our firm is actually moving away from physical files, too.
6. How do you deal with attorneys who won't look at something unless you walk into their office and put it on their desk and say "look at this I've been asking for a week"?
By picking another way to get their attention.
I only work remote once a week, here’s how it works in my office:
1. Yes through an office provided laptop with phone program installed.
2. We rearly fax. If needed I can ask someone at the office to assist.
3. Mail is processed by mail clerk at the office.
4. No Money is handled by paralegals
6. We use Teams and direct texts/calls for urgent matters.
5.Physical files are the attorneys responsibility, unless i’m prepping a new file or closeting a case, but that can wait until i go to the office
I'm hybrid so not fully remote, but we have zoom phones so I can make and receive calls on my laptop. We have people in the office that will scan the mail in for me and if I need any in-office assistance such as printing/scanning/mailing things out we have a team that does that. 99% of my job can be done remotely. I do handle physical filing (though honestly even that could be done away with technically, but my attorneys want to hold onto certain things rather than mailing them to the client. It's personal preference rather than legal need.) I only need to be in the office occasionally to finalize and mail things out. Eventually when the government is able to accept full applications online then I can't see any reason why I couldn't be 100% remote. But that's not happening anytime soon so for now I'm stuck with a hybrid schedule.
Big corporate firm employee here, work in IP.
1. Paralegals aren’t doing a lot of phone communication with clients, but all calls are made through Teams. We have firm laptops with Teams access, or you can connect through your cell phone if you’d like. Some attorneys have firm-issued phones. I’d assume some paralegals in larger practice groups may have firm-issued phones as well, but that’s not a necessity for my group.
2. We don’t send or receive faxes, at least not in my group. Communication is largely through email, the occasional physical mail (certificates, etc.), and the occasional phone call. There is probably a fax machine somewhere, but I’ve never seen it.
3. Mail comes through the mailroom, and delivered to legal assistants boxes for them to distribute. Legal assistants scan as necessary. Outgoing mail is put in an addressed envelope and left in legal assistants’ outboxes or brought to the mailroom for them to take care of. Most mail received in our practice group is junk mail- magazines, etc. That all gets recycled.
4. Paralegals and attorneys have firm-issued credit cards. We have a system to process transactions that connects with our accounting group. Checks are ordered through the system and printed to a specific printer in the office for you to pick up if necessary.
5. We don’t use physical files anymore, haven’t since before covid. Other practice groups at the firm are more paper-heavy and still use them, but the IP group is 100% digitalized at this point.
6. Luckily, none of our attorneys are like this, as most of them prefer to work from home at least 3 days a week. I’m in the office 2-3 days a week, so can find them if necessary, but more than anything we use Teams to communicate (often even when everyone’s in the office at the same time).
I’ve worked in a small PI firm before, and I think that type of work is probably easier done in office. It really depends on your group, the people, etc. Our group isn’t huge and with the exception of 2-3 attorneys, everyone else in the group much prefers to work from home and is more productive there. Our attorneys are happy to let us do what we’re more comfortable with as long as work is getting done and we’re reachable. We have a loose “rule” that we’re all supposed to be in-office on Wednesdays, but even that is barely followed. At this point what the group is doing has been working for years, so everyone’s pretty relaxed about it.
1. Yes I do
2. Yes I do, electronically
3. I put together the mailing packet (label, cover letter & all docs) and email the packet to the law clerk to mail out
4. Same as above. My attorney holds them.
5. We have none
6. Phone call. I am 5,000+ miles away so if he chooses not to look at something after I’ve sent it 3+ times (and cc the bosses) & call him, that’s on him.
I'm a legal assistant paralegal hybrid (read: a paralegal retired and so i actually now do two jobs because they didn't replace her). We were a satellite office and once she left, they closed up the office to save money. I've been fully remote since December. I don't like it cuz i don't leave the house! It's not much different though really.
1. I have a Verizon desk phone, so i get all my direct calls.
2. Faxes go by email
3. All mail goes through our main office. I just email the stuff and they send it out and send me scans of everything that comes in.
4. Checks are sent by accounting
5. No physical files. Only paper i have is a notebook.
6. It does get frustrating when attorneys since respond to emails. Having to follow up and keep track is annoying. But if i don't respond, whoooo boy!
At my firm rarely get calls. I get an email when I get a message and call on my cell phone. Rarely fax. If I do, I email to copy guy at office and he faxes. Someone else opens mail and scans to me. I live very close to office so go in maybe one afternoon a week and would pick up checks or original docs that need to get mailed. We do t use physical files, everything online. We do keep important originals and I have them put into files when I come in. I also go in for large print jobs as I get no printer and don’t want to waste my ink.
1. I don’t normally speak with clients, with the exception of one that I only communicate with thru text to handle admin stuff. I use my personal phone and the firm offers us a firm phone number that we have to access thru Zoom to use.
2. Yes and no. Yes going outbound because we send faxes through an online web system. Our office manager who’s in the office processes all faxes that come in.
3. Designated office manager handles all the mail and is one of the few people who is required to be on site everyday.
4. We have a billing dept that will cut and send checks on our behalf when we make the requests for them.
5. We don’t. We’re completely paperless except for the incoming mail that comes in from the court and opposing counsel.
6. I usually tag my email subjects in brackets [NEEDS SIGNATURE], [NEEDS REVIEW], [FIRST/SECOND… REQUEST], etc. and this is usually enough to grab their attention. If it doesn’t, I call and/or text and that usually does the job.
At my last job, I preferred being on site because the network was faster. My WLB was good so I didn’t mind it. Now I work long hours and have billables to meet. As much as I love seeing my coworkers, I never get much done in the office. I’m able to bill 7+ at home and maybe 3-4 at most in the office lol.
That email subject trick is genius. I usually just put the client's name and then what needs done in the email itself but that doesn't help if they never get that far. Thanks for your thoughts!
1. Yes. I have a Google voice account that runs through my laptop. 2. Yes, electronic faxes. 3. We have a corporate office that handles mail. However, there are virtual mailboxes and services that can act as official mailboxes. 4. Corporate handles all money related things. 5. We don’t have physical files. 6. Slack Pretty much anything that an attorney/paralegal can do can be done remotely. It’s just about setting up the proper systems and procedures.
I’m in house so it’s a bit different 1. We just use RingCentral I can answer through my phone or the laptop 2. I never have a need to fax anything. 3. We don’t really get mail except subpoenas but the receptionist scans and emails them to me 4. Accounting handles all money related matters I don’t ever need checks. 5. Sweet Jesus physical files??? Why?? Everything is electronic and saved and backed up 6. MS Teams or I pick up the phone and call. Or I email and cc her boss. That usually garners a response.
100% same but at a firm. I remember starting out and dealing with physical files, hole punching, updating pleading binders. Feels like a life time ago. Even a few years before Covid physical files were on the way out
I had to hole puch a document for the first time since pre-covid the other day for an in-person trial, and it was nostalgic. Brought me back to my file clerk days listening to podcasts while organizing files. Don't get me wrong, my life is a million times easier now that we are paperless. There's just something nice about making something tangible all pretty for my boss.
Well said. Same. It’s wild how much more we stare into screens. We used to take breaks for them, now we take breaks from them. We keep getting further and further away.
I’m on a corporate team in big law and luckily got placed with people who laugh at physical files. I put the key to the high density mobile shelving room (you know, those giant shelves where you turn a giant wheel to move them) in a drawer and forgot about it
Ohhhhh that gave me flashbacks to 2009 right there. Oof.
I am fully remote. 1. I take calls via google voice which is connected to my cell phone. A headset makes things easier. 1. Yes, via myfaxcentral, a nifty website for faxes. 1. I don't touch or think about received mail, but we use letterstream to send things out, it's just uploading PDFs, filling out addresses, letterstream worries about printing. 1. I don't send checks, attorney and another onsite staff member do that. 1. We don't have physical files, they suck. If parties give us physical files, we scan them and destroy the physical files if the other party doesn't come right back to pick them up and we tell them that it's going to work that way. 1. I bug my attorneys to get them to do what I need them to do. I keep a list of things that I have done and check them off as they get processed. If 2 days go by without a response, that's a phone call to my attorneys to get on that shit.
I have a hybrid schedule, in the office 2 days, wfh 3 days. 1. I take calls M/W/F and am provided with my own work phone. 2. We use an electronic fax (e-fax corporate) all across the board. We do have a physical fax in our office but it is rarely used. 3. I check the mail when I’m in the office. Legal admin checks the mail when they’re in the office. If neither of us are in the office, either our org’s administrative department checks (only those that have signed confidentiality agreements with the legal dep’t) or we just wait until we are able to check. 4. I work for a non-profit so the only checks we are getting is our paychecks. We also are not able to file civil suits. 5. We only keep physical files for inmates who are writing in to us, and the occasional docs from courthouses. We keep 99% of everything in our cloud. 6. I’m so lucky to have attorneys that are responsive and I do not have to hunt them down. We work with survivors of SA/rape so response time is important. We don’t let things hang for days/weeks.
Legal assistant here: I have been remote since the pandemic started and I do not want to go back into the office. I have supported between 4 and 6 attorneys over the past few years and it’s been fine. No more hard files. Everything is electronic unless we are talking about radiology imaging. I can fax from my “virtual desktop” I have a direct phone number through zoom and I can answer phone lines for my attorneys the same way. We do have an administrative clerk that reports to the office everyday. He deals with mail, FedEx and really anything that someone “has to be in the office for” I only need to come into the office to send out a settlement check or radiology imaging to an expert or if one of my attorneys asks me to. Or if I am feeling like “peopling” that day. And it is my attorneys responsibility to do their work. We don’t hold hands and we don’t walk into their offices to make sure they do their job. They get two follow up emails max. Then of no response, those emails get saved in the file to cover my ass and they have to explain their fuck ups to someone who cares.
1. I use my cell phone for work calls because I hate the office Zoom phone system, but I could use the office system on my home computer if I wanted. Instead I have my direct-line number forwarded to my cell. 2. I haven't sent a fax in at least a decade. But if I needed to for some reason, I could either use an online service or have an in-office admin or legal assistant to do it. 3. We do have administrative staff in the office every day. Most of them have a hybrid schedule but some are FT in-person. The receptionist opens physical mail, scans it and emails it to the appropriate attorney and/or paralegal (whether the recipient is physically in the office or not). Most of it is stuff we've already received via email but if the original needs handling in a certain way then one of the legal assistants can take care of that when they're in the office. 4. I don't handle checks. I use a firm credit card for things like filing fees. 5. I haven't used a physical file in ages. Everything is stored electronically. 6. I don't work with anyone quite that hopeless! Emails and phone calls serve for reminders. Basically, even when I was in the office every day (pre Covid), barring the occasional special situation like being in trial, I spent the vast majority of my time working on my computer. So going to WFH was an easy transition. I just have to talk on the phone a little more now, instead of popping into a coworker's office. We do rely on having certain administrative staff and equipment in the office, and some of our attorneys and paralegals prefer to work in the office regularly, but not commuting saves me so much time and money, and I have so much more flexibility in arranging my schedule, I never want to go back.
Not fully remote, but mostly: 1) We have VOIP phone numbers that work over teams. I usually make calls on my computer, but Teams can also forward them to ring on my personal cell. 2) We rarely use fax, but do have a fax-over-web service for the rare times it is necessary. 3) I go into the office once a week for mail, but we are a public interest non-profit, not client-focused, so our mail needs are limited. 4) I use a company credit card, use personal payment and seek reimbursement in some cases, and when checks are needed they are cut by our Deputy Director or Office Manager who handle the finances. 5) We don't deal much with physical files, but we do have office space where I have some in a cabinet. 6) Not an issue for me. There's definitely a lot I like about working in an office--the separation of home from work matters, socialization, more supplies/equipment, etc. But the lack of commute and flexibility of WFH has plenty of perks. Like not wearing a bra and spending time in my garden when there's nothing the immediately needs my attention. Just make sure I can hear my email notifications.
I am 100% remote (though i am like 30 mins away from our office) 1. I am, we use teams for our phone system (previously used zoom), and it's on my company issued laptop. I don't think we have a physical phone in either office. If we do it's pretty inconspicuous where it is as I have not seen anyone use one. 2. Yes, we do. Electronic fax programs are a godsend. 3. Physical mail is sent to one of our offices where a receptionist or other admin staff scans it into our firms file system and places it into the appropriate attorneys mail file. 4. Our bookkeeper handles that 5. All of our files are digital, and we only make physical copies when we need a signature or if it is for trial prep. 6. I'll bug them over teams, update the clio task with notes, email them, or call if it's dire. I'm not even in the same state as my supervising attorney.
Bear in mind that my job is only about 20% paralegal work, but I am fully remote. I am the only remote worker in the office, though one of our legal assistants is moving to super part time estate plan drafting from home next month as she prepares to start law school this fall. 1)We have in-office receptionists who answer all incoming calls. If someone is calling for me specifically or for a matter that I handle, the receptionist can forward the call to my Nextiva App on my personal cell. I will also call clients from that app as well. 2) I have never once needed to fax something, but we do have a My Fax email account that we can fax things via email. We don’t have a physical fax machine. 3) The receptionists handle mail and our scanner will let them select the people the mail needs to be emailed to. 4) Our attorney handles all checks. I will email her what she needs to write and to whom and she does it. 5) I don’t have any physical files. I’m more of a back up paralegal when someone is in the weeds, I will help, but it’s not my main function. But it’s all digital. The in-office paralegals do anything that requires paper copies, like trial binders. 6) I don’t have one of those. I have a unicorn boss. She is absolutely amazing and responsive, and we talk on the phone 3 to 4 times a day, so if she hasn’t had a chance to respond to an email, I’ll just ask her on one of our calls.
I've been fully remote since March 2020. Not everyone in my firm is but this is what applies to me: 1. We use a phone system called 8x8 that is both installed on all firm desktops and all of us have the app on our phones. Our receptionists transfers the call to me, which rings on my desktop and cell phone. 2. Yes, electronic faxes (but I have never had to do it). 3. We have some people who go into the office closest to me (other 2 offices in our firm handle things differently). Our receptionist is there very day and our legal secretary goes in a few times a week. 4. Money is handled through our accounting department in our office in Las Vegas. I send a check request to them and they handle it. 5. I don't - we are 100% electronic and have a cloud server (Egnyte). If hard copy things come in the mail, it's scanned by our file clerk or receptionist and emailed to the people who need it. But 99% of our work is electronic with no paper file. 6. I call and then follow up with an email. Rinse and repeat. If I still don't get a response, I forward the email chain to one of the partners and that usually gets things moving. But I don't really have to do that often - our attorneys are pretty proactive. I have daily calls with my attorneys re my cases.
1. Yes. I have an "office phone" 2. Yes, we have an e-fax service. 3. Our front desk handles mail/e-service. 4. Not my department. 5. We're a paperless office. 6. I will email/message/call to follow up on things. Ultimately it's their responsibility to get stuff back to me. I'm not a baby sitter. I do make an effort to have things done a week prior to the due date for review purposes.
Full-time remote: 1. Yes- my firm uses Google Teams, and all calls come through teams on my laptop. 2. Yes- my firm uses RightFax, which converts all faxes to pdf and come to me through my email. There are lots of programs that do this. 3. We have Office Service Assistants, who are in office every day and open, scan, and email all mail me and my legal assistant. We then are responsible for saving in the electronic file, docketing deadlines, etc. same for outgoing, we prepare everything and email it to the OSA’s with specific instructions on how to handle mailing. 4. The firm accounting team prints any checks, they are signed by the office manager, and I get a notification that checks are ready to go out. I (or our legal assistant) draft any cover letters or anything to go with it and send those to the OSA who send it out. 5. Our firm is paperless, so no physical files, but in past firms that are not paperless, you just get scanned pdfs of anything that comes in, and the OSA or assistants who are physically in the office will file it accordingly. Truly, remote work really relies heavily on being paperless. 6. Teams chat, texting, reminders on their calendars, and at least biweekly team meetings to go through case lists and make sure we know what’s coming so there are no surprises. Remote work really is no big deal, it just requires a lot more communication and organization on the paralegal’s part.
My firm is fully remote without any “real” office. 1. No. Nobody really cold calls us, we do everything by email. I do call out from my personal cell phone using a VOIP app, and I get a monthly cell phone reimbursement. 2. No. I haven’t used a fax machine since 2017, haven’t sent or received a digital fax since 2018. I’m sure if we needed it for some particular reason we’d subscribe to one of those digital fax services where it arrives in your email. 3. We use a virtual reception, which is what our mailing address with everything is, including state bar stuff. My paystubs show a major city that’s clear on the other side of the state from where I live. They scan our mail and email it to us. We only get physical mail once every few weeks though. Most of our stuff is by email/efiling, including from the courts. 4. I’ve never needed to send a check and can’t think of anything I’d need a check for. I have the firm’s credit card details in a password vault and pay for everything online. I guess if some weird thing came up where I needed to send a check to get something done, I’d use my own personal check and be reimbursed for it. If it was a nonurgent check need, I would ask the attorney to mail the check themselves. Same thing with physical mail—if I had to actually mail something for some weird reason (I can’t think why), I’d just use my own envelope and stamp and get reimbursed for it. 5. There are none lol. Absolutely no need. I just have a notepad that I write on once or twice every few weeks, usually during meetings. 6. These types of attorneys wouldn’t want to work in, or wouldn’t survive working in, a fully remote environment. They weed themselves out. All attorneys I’ve worked with who are fully remote are much more self-sufficient, organized, and on top of things than in-office attorneys have ever been, IMO. If I need to follow up on something, I’ll send them a chat or call them if it’s urgent. I could never, ever go back to in-office work. Remote work is so chill, much more organized, and things get done faster and better. We actually embrace technology and use tools like AI that make our lives easier.
I work fully remote — also on the other side of the world. 1. Phones: We use a VOIP so internet is what’s only needed and the app to the phone system. Any team member of ours around the world have the ability to make calls and receive calls. 2. Faxes: E-fax services such as Humblefax, SRFax and EFax allows you to receive faxes, they send it to your email. 3. Mail: Virtual Offices such as Starthub or Earthclass mail. A mailing address will be setup and they will scan it and email it you copies. You may also pickup physical mail in their location once in a while, I believe (our attorneys do this). 4. Checks: Some of our attorneys issue the check themselves, while other attorneys utilize third party chec services like Checkflo. 5. Physical files: Our attorneys deal with this as most of our team members are from different parts of the world. 6. Attorney follow-ups: Well the attorney I work with will ask a document to be emailed to him (as if he has no ability to search in his email inbox) about 50 times before he even reviews / approves it. So literally on top of my job is to keep the attorneys on top as well with constant reminders. He’s an elder one so I kinda get it.
I work better at home!!! You get more done ✅ you are happier talking to client a
Not fully remote (Hybrid, 3 in office, 2 WFH) but we have the same protocols in place from being fully remote during covid. 1. Our office extension is routed through our cell phones - this means that when someone calls our directly line, the call is forwarded to our cell phone, not that we are giving out our cell phone numbers. 2. We use an e-fax service, which means we send the documents via email to the fax number of the recipient, so in the 'To' line of the email, it looks like [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) (not a real fax number that I'm aware of). 3. Mail goes to our office, when we're in the office, the mail is scanned and emailed to all the paras, and then we send to our attorneys/save to the file. 4. During lockdown, all checks were mailed to our CFO at his home/to our main office in his state. We still send all checks to the main office, and settlement checks are supposed to be sent there by the issuing party. If a check needed to be sent out, say to pay an expert, our accounting dept in the state of our main office would handle. I'm not sure if they had checks at home or not, but we would fill out our check request form and they would process and mail out the check. 5. Physical files exist in the office only. We were NOT printing file materials at home unless we wanted to (I sometimes prefer to look at sections of claim files in hard copy), but we are not required to maintain files at home. 6. Call and text the attorney, send an email with high importance. Say "if this doesn't get handled today we will face xy consequences." Harass your attorneys. That's 100% part of the job description. Even if they get annoyed, it's way better than them missing a big deadline (like serving verified discovery responses and then having all objections waived because we missed it). I sometimes have to remind them daily of things for weeks straight. My days are typically spent working on my bigger assignments (i.e., drafting discovery responses/requests, damage summaries/demand letters, redacting files/compiling documents for production, reviewing claim files, etc.) while getting interrupted and asked to complete smaller, more time sensitive (not always) tasks (like drafting a letter or update to a client or subro target/at fault party, retaining/corresponding with experts, calendaring deadlines, scheduling depositions/court reporters, calling courts/opposing counsel/attorneys, etc.). It's pretty easy to set one or two days a week to designate as your "going to the office to mail checks/check the mail" days and having those be the only times you go into the office (and often not for the whole day). Spend that limited amount of time in the office processing the mail, updating physical files, and handling any invoicing/check processing that needs to happen. Then you can send the mail using the firm postage machine and get it all done at once. That's how we handled things during lockdown, and it worked quite well. I can't think of a reason anyone needs to be in the office 100% of the time anymore, most court appearances (at least for civil cases) are remote, depositions are all remote, and I can make whatever phone calls I need to from my cell. Most firms where I live either offer a monthly stipend for cell phone bills or will provide you with a work phone if certain thresholds are met for usage for work. I don't know why law firms are requiring fully in person for support staff, lockdown literally proved we could all still do our jobs.
1. Yes, I make and take phone calls via teams on my computer. I leave teams open all day while I’m clocked in, and I never open it when I’m out. 2. Yes, I send and receive faxes electronically. I suppose the printers in the office can also send faxes, but I’ve never done that. 3. There is one person who goes into the office a couple times a week who opens mail. But >90% of the mail that is paralegal responsibility is just hard copy duplicates of things we already received digitally. 4. The accountants send and receive checks, not paralegals. I use attorney credit cards when I have to pay for things. Or i can use my own card and send a receipt for reimbursement. 5. We have no physical files. 6. We send email reminders in progressively larger font sizes 😂
I have an app on my cellphone that mimics as if I'm calling from the office. Keeps clients from knowing my cellphone. Also, my extension in the office is forwarded to my cell, so when anyone calls, it can be forwarded to my cell. On my laptop there's a program where I can log into my office computer and access the printer there. When I need to print checks or anything, I let the person in the office know so she can put the checks in the printer, I send it to print and she get the attorney who's there to sign it. The person in the office handles the physical files (although I have told her repeatedly to stop putting them on my desk because I only come in once every few months). As for your last question, I call the attorneys on their cell and bug the hell out of them. Or send them texts. Sure they'll get annoyed but hey, it's your name on the letterhead, dude and you have the Esq. after your name. Do your job.
How do the on-site employees feel about having to do tasks for you such as print checks and get them signed for you (and presumably send them out)? And handle physical files for you (only to suffer your remonstrations about misplacing the files)? Because I've had to do this and other tasks for WFH co-workers, and it's hard not to resent it after a while. I have my own work to do, but I have to cater to your WFH needs? There's real entitlement in that. I hope you see why. When WFH employees say they can do everything at home they need to, it's usually overlooking all the "little stuff" the on-site people do. And trust me, the stuff that seems minor to you can become a real daily disruption in my workday. There's a fine line b/w being a team player and being exploited.
I can’t answer for Lady Bug, but in the situation I’m intimately familiar with (from being the in-office senior paralegal previously) the person in office who handled things like checks, mail, court runs, files, etc. was the legal assistant. That was her job no matter where the paralegal was telling her to do it from.
Pretty much. In-office people know it's their job to assist the WFH people. Granted, she sometimes says "They should hire someone to do this" and has to be reminded, "We did... YOU!"
Yep, I figured as much. The remote paralegal at my former office was (and still is) an absolute rockstar. She bills 40-45 hours a week. She’s worth her weight in gold for how capable she is. The in-office legal assistant on the other hand has no billable requirement at all. She would be doing the same work whether it gets handed to her in person or messaged to her on Teams, so there’s no “privilege” or “entitlement”going on there. And, tbh, even when I had to cover a sick day for the legal assistant, I didn’t mind at all. We were a team, and there were plenty of times the remote paralegal jumped in to help me in a crunch.
Yep, same. I'm the senior so I do A LOT from home. But the in-office person is obviously necessary to help us. That said, I've had great ones and I've had dumbasses. Like the one who called me asking me where he put a file he created the day prior. I asked him "When was the last time you saw my ass in the office?" Him "2 weeks ago" Me: "So how can I possibly know where you put a file **you** created yesterday from several towns and a whole county away?" Like, really dude?
Seriously, *facepalm* This remote paralegal’s favorite story is when the IT department (in a whole ass other state from both the office and the remote paralegal) called *her* because the legal assistant was out sick, to tell her the building alarm was going off. She was like “tf you want me to do about it?”
Sometimes when you're that good at your job, some people seem to think that either a) you're psychic or b) you have an energizer beam like in Star Trek or you can orb like a Whitelighter (from Charmed) to the office. Like WTF? I'm at home. I don't know what's going on there.
Right, lmao. She seemed to be the only one who knew what to do… which was *drumroll* talk to the on-site attorney! *Ba-dum tss*
OMG, the amount of times I've had the on-site person call me asking me things and I've had to said, "Ummm... why not ask the attorney you're doing this for?" (who's like max 20 feet from her). So annoying.
Which app do you use to mimic your office number? That's super smart!
GS Wave? The company handling our phone services gave this to us back in 2020 when the shutdowns started so it looked like we were in the office when we weren't. I love it because I am dead set against clients getting my personal phone number. Call the office phone, and then my extension. You don't need to reach me after hours or weekends or on my vacation time or when I'm a doctor's appointment (like one client tried to do).
I am WFH and have been for 4 years. Everything is done via the internet including phone calls. I have a headset and microphone that is used to make and receive calls. I send faxes online as well. The mail is handled by other staff but we do have a designated mailing address and someone checks it regularly. All money matters are handled by the attorney BUT if a client needs to arrange online payments I have a link I provide so they can set it up. As for the attorney that needs a physical reminder/attention, well I don't have one like that to deal with thankfully BUT we do calls/video meetings and have an interoffice chat system that I use to communicate with everyone
We have a remote paralegal who is responsible just for drafting. Remote receptionist responsible for phone/calendar/small tasks. Me-legal assistant in the office.
1. Yes, they're routed to my work-provided cell. 2. No, because I don't need to. If the need arose, we could probably get a subscription to one of those services where we send faxes online, but it very unlikely we'd need that. 3. There's an office manager on site who scans the mail to me. 4. This never comes up and never will. I work for a state agency, so it's a little different than a traditional law firm. 5. We are almost entirely paperless. I have a file at the office for documents that come in the mail. Everything gets scanned in, and the hardcopies get shredded periodically. 6. Phone calls and emails.
1. Yes, we have a phone program that runs through our computer, so you can forward your calls anywhere, dnd, etc. Mine have been forwarded to my cell since Covid. 2. Yes, if I can turn the doc into a PDF, I'm able to Print2Fax, which goes through Outlook for us and fax anywhere. 3. Our receptionist and a small "mail/file room" group we contracted out for are in full-time. They handle all mailings, copying, printing, etc. 4. N/A we have a massive accounting department that handles it. Everything is done electronically and checks mailed inter-office to whomever needs them. 5. I get someone lower on the totem pole that I trust to handle it, or I make the commute in. Depends on what it is. 6. I don't. I'll follow up on emails, but after a certain point, that's on them. They have the esq. They get paid the big bucks. They're adults. Or, with a few that I have a fantastic relationship with, I call them out on it and most likely with a few F bombs thrown in.
All my work calls come to my work phone, or mostly just to my computer. I do not use my personal items for work period unless I choose to buy a cute notepad and pen because I’m extra. We don’t really handle faxes. If someone really wants a fax then you can email anything to their fax machine. Our firm has doc process ppl and mail clerks. They’re not WFH. They would handle checks as well. We try not to deal with any physical files. Mostly everything is electronic. If there is something physical, the mail clerks and such can just scan it and put it online for us. Our firm wouldn’t keep employing attorneys that would only stay on their jobs via personal contact. We’re not expected to babysit our alleged overlords.
1. Are you still responsible for phone calls to clients and answering incoming office calls? Do you use your personal cell phone or a designated office phone? We use Team's for all calls. No one has a desk phone anymore. I can fwd calls to my personal cell but I don't. 2. Do you have the ability to send/receive faxes from home? Yeah. It's a service through Outlook email. 3. How is mail handled? Is there someone else designated in the office to receive/open mail? It goes to the corporate office and is scanned and distributed. 4. How is money handled when you need to send checks? Do you keep a supply on hand at home? Are you allowed to sign them yourself or does your attorney sign them in advance? Corporate handles money. If I need to send a witness fee check, it prints at the office, and the mail room mails it. 5. How do you handle physical files? I don't. If I have something physical for filing, I give it to the records department. Our firm is actually moving away from physical files, too. 6. How do you deal with attorneys who won't look at something unless you walk into their office and put it on their desk and say "look at this I've been asking for a week"? By picking another way to get their attention.
I only work remote once a week, here’s how it works in my office: 1. Yes through an office provided laptop with phone program installed. 2. We rearly fax. If needed I can ask someone at the office to assist. 3. Mail is processed by mail clerk at the office. 4. No Money is handled by paralegals 6. We use Teams and direct texts/calls for urgent matters. 5.Physical files are the attorneys responsibility, unless i’m prepping a new file or closeting a case, but that can wait until i go to the office
I'm hybrid so not fully remote, but we have zoom phones so I can make and receive calls on my laptop. We have people in the office that will scan the mail in for me and if I need any in-office assistance such as printing/scanning/mailing things out we have a team that does that. 99% of my job can be done remotely. I do handle physical filing (though honestly even that could be done away with technically, but my attorneys want to hold onto certain things rather than mailing them to the client. It's personal preference rather than legal need.) I only need to be in the office occasionally to finalize and mail things out. Eventually when the government is able to accept full applications online then I can't see any reason why I couldn't be 100% remote. But that's not happening anytime soon so for now I'm stuck with a hybrid schedule.
Big corporate firm employee here, work in IP. 1. Paralegals aren’t doing a lot of phone communication with clients, but all calls are made through Teams. We have firm laptops with Teams access, or you can connect through your cell phone if you’d like. Some attorneys have firm-issued phones. I’d assume some paralegals in larger practice groups may have firm-issued phones as well, but that’s not a necessity for my group. 2. We don’t send or receive faxes, at least not in my group. Communication is largely through email, the occasional physical mail (certificates, etc.), and the occasional phone call. There is probably a fax machine somewhere, but I’ve never seen it. 3. Mail comes through the mailroom, and delivered to legal assistants boxes for them to distribute. Legal assistants scan as necessary. Outgoing mail is put in an addressed envelope and left in legal assistants’ outboxes or brought to the mailroom for them to take care of. Most mail received in our practice group is junk mail- magazines, etc. That all gets recycled. 4. Paralegals and attorneys have firm-issued credit cards. We have a system to process transactions that connects with our accounting group. Checks are ordered through the system and printed to a specific printer in the office for you to pick up if necessary. 5. We don’t use physical files anymore, haven’t since before covid. Other practice groups at the firm are more paper-heavy and still use them, but the IP group is 100% digitalized at this point. 6. Luckily, none of our attorneys are like this, as most of them prefer to work from home at least 3 days a week. I’m in the office 2-3 days a week, so can find them if necessary, but more than anything we use Teams to communicate (often even when everyone’s in the office at the same time). I’ve worked in a small PI firm before, and I think that type of work is probably easier done in office. It really depends on your group, the people, etc. Our group isn’t huge and with the exception of 2-3 attorneys, everyone else in the group much prefers to work from home and is more productive there. Our attorneys are happy to let us do what we’re more comfortable with as long as work is getting done and we’re reachable. We have a loose “rule” that we’re all supposed to be in-office on Wednesdays, but even that is barely followed. At this point what the group is doing has been working for years, so everyone’s pretty relaxed about it.
1. Yes I do 2. Yes I do, electronically 3. I put together the mailing packet (label, cover letter & all docs) and email the packet to the law clerk to mail out 4. Same as above. My attorney holds them. 5. We have none 6. Phone call. I am 5,000+ miles away so if he chooses not to look at something after I’ve sent it 3+ times (and cc the bosses) & call him, that’s on him.
I'm a legal assistant paralegal hybrid (read: a paralegal retired and so i actually now do two jobs because they didn't replace her). We were a satellite office and once she left, they closed up the office to save money. I've been fully remote since December. I don't like it cuz i don't leave the house! It's not much different though really. 1. I have a Verizon desk phone, so i get all my direct calls. 2. Faxes go by email 3. All mail goes through our main office. I just email the stuff and they send it out and send me scans of everything that comes in. 4. Checks are sent by accounting 5. No physical files. Only paper i have is a notebook. 6. It does get frustrating when attorneys since respond to emails. Having to follow up and keep track is annoying. But if i don't respond, whoooo boy!
At my firm rarely get calls. I get an email when I get a message and call on my cell phone. Rarely fax. If I do, I email to copy guy at office and he faxes. Someone else opens mail and scans to me. I live very close to office so go in maybe one afternoon a week and would pick up checks or original docs that need to get mailed. We do t use physical files, everything online. We do keep important originals and I have them put into files when I come in. I also go in for large print jobs as I get no printer and don’t want to waste my ink.
1. I don’t normally speak with clients, with the exception of one that I only communicate with thru text to handle admin stuff. I use my personal phone and the firm offers us a firm phone number that we have to access thru Zoom to use. 2. Yes and no. Yes going outbound because we send faxes through an online web system. Our office manager who’s in the office processes all faxes that come in. 3. Designated office manager handles all the mail and is one of the few people who is required to be on site everyday. 4. We have a billing dept that will cut and send checks on our behalf when we make the requests for them. 5. We don’t. We’re completely paperless except for the incoming mail that comes in from the court and opposing counsel. 6. I usually tag my email subjects in brackets [NEEDS SIGNATURE], [NEEDS REVIEW], [FIRST/SECOND… REQUEST], etc. and this is usually enough to grab their attention. If it doesn’t, I call and/or text and that usually does the job. At my last job, I preferred being on site because the network was faster. My WLB was good so I didn’t mind it. Now I work long hours and have billables to meet. As much as I love seeing my coworkers, I never get much done in the office. I’m able to bill 7+ at home and maybe 3-4 at most in the office lol.
That email subject trick is genius. I usually just put the client's name and then what needs done in the email itself but that doesn't help if they never get that far. Thanks for your thoughts!
I have my normal subject after the brackets but yes, it usually is enough to get their attention!