How Roberts Markland's Case Team Handed Off Adjuster Follow-Ups to Two Virtual Assistants

At a glance: Roberts Markland LLP is a personal injury trial firm headquartered in Houston, Texas. Its case managers carry a heavy docket, and the routine follow-up work on each file was eating into their day. The firm brought on two virtual assistants through Stellar Staff, and the case team is now considering more. In the video below, case manager Julio Morales explains what the assistants do.

Julio Morales, case manager, Roberts Markland LLP. The full transcript is at the end of this page.

A personal injury firm that promises to stay reachable

Roberts Markland LLP handles personal injury cases from its main office on North MacGregor Way in Houston, with additional offices in Denver and Pasadena, California. Its practice covers transportation accidents (car, truck, motorcycle, rideshare, aviation, and railroad), maritime and Jones Act injuries, workplace injuries, wrongful death, product liability, medical malpractice, oil rig explosions, and premises liability. The firm offers a free consultation and works on a no win, no fee basis (details checked on the firm's website, October 26, 2026).

The firm makes a few promises about communication on its own site. It says it returns phone calls and emails in a timely way, that its phones are open around the clock, and that clients get secure online access to their case files. It also says it does not refer cases out and stays with clients from the start of a case to collection. Every one of those promises lands on the case team.

Where a case manager's day goes

Julio describes the pressure in one line: "We do have a higher docket, so these smaller tasks do take up your time."

In personal injury work, a large share of those smaller tasks is follow-up. Once a case is opened, someone has to stay in contact with the insurance adjusters, find out where things stand on liability, chase what is still outstanding, and log every answer in the file. None of it is complicated. All of it has to happen on time, on every open case, at the same moment the case manager is working on the files that need judgment. On a full docket, the follow-up calls are what slip first.

What the assistants took over

According to Julio, adjuster follow-up is now covered from the moment a case comes in: "When we get the case, she helps me follow up and call [the adjusters] to see where we're at with liability."

The part he stresses most is that he no longer has to manage the follow-up himself:

"I'm not even having to tell her, 'Hey, make sure you follow up again.' So whatever tasks were not completed or she wasn't able to get to, she's doing it herself."

That is the difference between handing off a task and handing off a responsibility. A case manager who has to remind an assistant to call back has saved little time. One who can trust that open items will be picked up the next day has taken a whole category of work off their own list.

Two assistants, and possibly more

"We have two assistants," Julio says at the start of the video. "We might be hiring some more people because of the stellar work that Maria and Alyssa have done."

The video covers the follow-up work in detail, so we won't guess at the rest of what each assistant does. What it does show is how firms tend to grow this kind of support: one well-defined, repetitive function first, then additional people once the first hires have proven the model on real cases.

Keeping attorney supervision and confidentiality in place

Bringing remote staff into a law firm raises the right questions. The American Bar Association's comment on Model Rule 5.3 explains that lawyers are responsible for giving nonlawyer assistants appropriate instruction and supervision, especially on confidentiality, and that this applies to assistants outside the firm as well as inside it. State rules vary, so each firm should confirm its own obligations.

In practice, firms that use virtual assistants for case support usually set a few ground rules:

• Scope the calls. Write down what the assistant may ask an adjuster, what they may confirm, and what goes straight back to the case manager or attorney.
• Limit system access. Give the assistant access to the case management system and inbox they need, and nothing more.
• Keep judgment with the lawyers. Anything involving legal advice, case strategy, or settlement positions stays with the attorneys.
• Log everything in the file. Every call and status update goes into the case record, so the attorney can see what was said and when.

What other personal injury firms can take from this

• Start with follow-up. Adjuster calls and status checks are frequent, repeatable, and easy to document, which makes them the cleanest first handoff.
• Hand off the whole loop, not single tasks. The value Julio describes comes from an assistant who tracks open items and closes them without being reminded.
• Tie the work to your client promises. If your firm promises fast callbacks and constant availability, dedicated support is what keeps that promise when the docket is full.
• Add people once the first hire is proven. Roberts Markland started with two assistants and is weighing more based on results.

For the full picture of how firms use remote support, see our guide to virtual assistants for law firms and our overview of what a legal virtual assistant can and cannot do. For a client story from a different industry, read how Mr. Handyman of South Bend grew from one virtual assistant to six.

How Stellar Staff finds assistants like these

Stellar Staff places dedicated, full-time remote assistants, primarily from the Philippines. It reviews thousands of applicants a month and accepts the top 0.1%. Each candidate completes a 6-step application and 6 individual tests, followed by English verification (written and spoken), professional interviews and skill assessments, reference checks, an equipment check, background checks, and internal QA.

A firm meets 2 to 3 finalists and chooses one. The search takes 5 to 10 business days. Stellar Staff runs recruiting, payroll, HR, tracking, and replacements, while the firm's attorneys and case managers direct the daily work. Pro is $1,999 a month for 160 hours and Executive is $2,999 a month, both month to month with 14 days' notice to cancel. Managed plans include free replacements, forever.

To compare the plans side by side, see pricing, or book a call to start a search.

Video transcript

Machine transcription of the video above, edited for punctuation. Words in brackets are our best reading of audio that is not fully clear.

"We have two assistants. We might be hiring some more people because of the stellar work that Maria and Alyssa have done. My name is Julio Morales, and I work for Roberts Markland Law Office. My role here is I'm a case manager. We do have a higher docket, so these smaller tasks do take up your time. When we get the case, she helps me follow up and call [the adjusters] to see where we're at with liability. So I'm not even having to tell her, 'Hey, make sure you follow up again.' So whatever tasks were not completed or she wasn't able to get to, she's doing it herself. I'm super happy with [Stellar] and [the] team. I can only say the most positive things about my experience so far."

This case study is based on a recorded video interview with Julio Morales. Firm details come from the Roberts Markland LLP website, checked October 26, 2026. Results are described only as the client stated them; we have not added figures that were not in the interview. This page is not legal advice. Stellar Staff pricing is current as of October 2026.