If your VA leaves or isn't performing, your Customer Success Manager coordinates a replacement at no cost. Managed plans include free replacements, forever.
A virtual legal assistant handles law-firm work that does not require a law license: client intake, calendars and deadlines, document preparation, case file upkeep, client communication, and billing. Through Stellar Staff, the role costs $1,999 a month for 160 hours, or about $12.50 an hour. Attorney supervision and review are what make the arrangement workable.
Start With What a Virtual Legal Assistant Can and Cannot Do
The first question is what a virtual legal assistant can legally do under attorney supervision.
State rules on the unauthorized practice of law prohibit non-attorneys from giving legal advice, representing clients in court, signing documents as counsel, setting fees, and accepting cases. ABA Model Rule 5.3 makes the supervising lawyer responsible for the work of non-lawyer assistants, including people outside the firm. ABA Formal Opinion 08-451 confirms that firms may outsource legal and support work as long as they supervise it properly, protect client confidentiality, and remain responsible for the final work product.
In practice, the assistant prepares and the attorney decides. If a client asks a legal virtual assistant, "What should I do about my case?" the assistant should explain that only an attorney can answer and route the question to one. The tasks below fall within that support role.
Permitted under supervision: research and background information gathering, drafts prepared for review, case administration, status and scheduling communication with clients, filing preparation, billing support, and document assembly.
Reserved to the attorney: legal advice, court appearances, signing as counsel, setting fees, accepting or declining a matter, and final approval of anything that leaves the firm.
Eight Tasks Law Firms Commonly Delegate First
Virtual legal assistant services generally cover the administrative work surrounding legal matters and are delivered remotely through the systems your firm already uses.
Client intake. Answering new inquiries, running conflict checks through your process, collecting initial facts, and sending engagement letters for signature.
Calendars and deadlines. Court dates, filing deadlines, statutes of limitation, and the reminders needed to keep each deadline on track.
Document preparation. Routine correspondence, exhibit assembly, pleadings formatted to local rules, and packages prepared for attorney review.
Case file upkeep. Keeping matter files organized and current in your practice management system.
Client communication. Status updates, appointment scheduling, document requests, and the follow-up that would otherwise generate another call or email from the client.
Billing support. Time entry, invoice preparation, and receivables follow-up.
Research support. Pulling cases, statutes, and background material for an attorney to evaluate, within parameters you define.
E-filing preparation. Assembling and checking filing packages before an attorney submits them.
Virtual Assistant, Paralegal, or Legal Secretary?
These titles overlap, so focus on the candidate's actual experience rather than the title alone.
A legal secretary handles administrative work: calendars, correspondence, filing, and client communication. A paralegal has formal training and takes on substantive support under supervision: research, discovery, document review, drafting. A virtual legal assistant is defined by location rather than by scope, which is why the term covers both a trained paralegal virtual assistant working remotely and an experienced legal administrator.
The title matters less than the candidate's actual experience, the types of firms they have worked for, and the practice areas they know firsthand. Candidates from family law and personal injury practices may look similar on paper, but the day-to-day work differs.
If the work you want to delegate is research, discovery, and drafting, ask for paralegal training specifically. If it is intake, scheduling, billing, and client follow-up, a strong legal administrative assistant can handle it.
What a Firm Pays for a Virtual Legal Assistant
There are three common ways to pay for legal administrative support: a monthly fee for a dedicated assistant, an hourly rate for freelance help, or an annual salary for an in-house hire.
A full-time assistant through Stellar Staff is $1,999 a month for 160 hours, on a month-to-month plan that includes recruiting, payroll, HR, and a free replacement. For comparison, a legal secretary or paralegal hired in-house goes on your payroll. The Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the median wage for paralegals and legal assistants at $62,890 a year as of May 2025, before benefits, payroll taxes, and office costs. A local hire also takes six to ten weeks to find, and a small firm often cannot justify a full-time salary for work that fills thirty hours a week.
Freelance and virtual paralegal services bill hourly, usually through a marketplace. That works well for overflow and short projects. It is often less practical for a growing practice because continuity matters as the assistant learns your matters and processes.
For a broader look at firm-level outsourcing, including high-volume document review and managed legal services, see our guide to legal process outsourcing companies.
Privilege, Conflicts, and Access to Case Files
Legal work involves privileged and confidential information, so access controls should be in place before the assistant starts.
Use role-based permissions in your practice management system so the assistant sees the matters they work on rather than the entire firm. Conflict checks stay inside the firm's own process. Client files stay in firm systems rather than personal drives. Enable two-factor authentication on every account.
Every Stellar Staff assistant signs an NDA covering client and matter information before starting, works exclusively for one firm, and uses only the system access you grant, which you can revoke at any time.
Clio, MyCase, and Day-to-Day Case Management
Most U.S. firms run on Clio, MyCase, PracticePanther, Filevine, or Smokeball, alongside e-filing portals and document management tools. A candidate does not need all of them. They do need hands-on experience with the platform your firm uses.
Ask them to walk you through how they would take a new matter from the first call to an open file in your system. The answer should quickly show whether they have used the system in day-to-day legal work or only read about it.
Where a Legal VA Adds the Most Value
Personal injury. High intake volume, medical record requests, and constant client updates.
Family law. Heavy scheduling, document collection, and client communication between hearings.
Immigration. Form preparation, document checklists, and deadline tracking across long timelines.
Estate planning. Intake questionnaires, document assembly, and signing appointments to coordinate.
Criminal defense. Court calendars, discovery organization, and client contact.
Real estate and transactional work. Closing checklists, title documents, and coordination between parties.
Solo attorneys and firms with fewer than ten lawyers often benefit most because administrative work otherwise falls back on the attorneys themselves, including after-hours intake and follow-up. A virtual assistant for attorneys can also take on responsibilities one function at a time: intake first, then documents, then billing.
Five Things to Check Before You Make an Offer
Relevant firm experience. Ask which firms they have worked for, which practice areas they know, and which systems they have used. Two years of hands-on experience in a personal injury practice can be more relevant than five years of general administrative work.
Written English. This person writes to your clients and sometimes to opposing counsel's staff. Read their writing during the process, not only their resume.
Deadline discipline. Ask how they tracked deadlines at their last firm, then ask for an example of a deadline that nearly slipped and what they did about it.
Discretion. Ask how they handled confidential information in prior roles, including matters they were not assigned to.
Time zone overlap. Intake calls and court deadlines happen during your business hours.
Week One to Week Four in a Small Firm
Week one. System access at the right permission level, a walkthrough of your matter types, and shadowing on intake calls.
Week two. The assistant takes on intake and scheduling, while you review every client-facing message.
Week three. The assistant begins preparing documents and tracking deadlines, with your review. Your corrections during this week help establish the standard they should follow going forward.
Week four. Billing support and receivables follow-up. By now the assistant should know your clients, your workflows, and your scheduling patterns.
When Your Firm Needs Something Else
There are three situations where a different type of support makes more sense.
If the work is substantive legal analysis, you need a lawyer or a trained paralegal with proper supervision, not an administrative assistant. If you need somebody physically present for trips to the courthouse, notarization, or in-office client meetings, that part of the job stays local. And if your call volume is low and you handle only a small number of matters, a virtual receptionist billed by the minute may cost less than a full-time assistant, though you give up the continuity of a dedicated assistant.
What Attorneys Ask Before They Delegate
What is a virtual legal assistant?
A virtual legal assistant is a remote assistant who supports a law firm with intake, scheduling, deadline tracking, document preparation, client communication, and billing. The role consists of administrative and support work performed under attorney supervision.
How much does a legal virtual assistant cost?
A full-time legal virtual assistant through Stellar Staff costs $1,999 a month for 160 hours, or about $12.50 an hour. A U.S. paralegal or legal assistant earns a median of $62,890 a year before benefits, according to the BLS.
Can a virtual legal assistant give legal advice?
No. Legal advice, court representation, signing as counsel, and setting fees are attorney work. The assistant prepares, organizes, and communicates. The attorney makes the legal decisions and remains responsible for the work.
Is a virtual legal assistant the same as a virtual paralegal?
Not always. A virtual paralegal usually holds formal paralegal training and handles substantive support such as research, discovery, and drafting. A virtual legal assistant may come from an administrative background. Ask about training and firm experience rather than the title.
How do law firms protect client confidentiality with a remote assistant?
Have the assistant sign a confidentiality agreement before day one, grant matter-level access in your practice management system, keep files in firm systems, run conflict checks in your own process, and require two-factor authentication.
Can a virtual assistant handle client intake for a law firm?
Yes, and it is the most common place to start. The assistant answers inquiries, collects facts, runs the conflict check through your process, and books the consultation. The decision to accept the case stays with the attorney.
Which practice areas benefit most from a legal VA?
Personal injury, family law, immigration, estate planning, criminal defense, and transactional practices, because each combines high administrative volume with steady client contact.
How quickly can a law firm get a virtual legal assistant?
The search takes 5 to 10 business days. You interview 2 to 3 pre-vetted finalists and choose the one who fits your practice.
Delegate the Work That Does Not Need a License
Law firms generate a large volume of work that does not require bar admission, and in small firms that work often lands on the attorney anyway. A law firm can delegate intake, deadlines, documents, and billing to a virtual assistant at $1,999 a month under attorney supervision, while keeping attorney-only decisions with the lawyer.
See what a Stellar Staff legal assistant handles for law firms, read client reviews, or book a call to start your search. The search takes 5 to 10 business days.
Wage figures are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook, May 2025. Stellar Staff pricing is current as of September 2026. We review this page every quarter.