Paralegal Salaries
Paralegal salaries, while they can be fantastic, are not the only consideration when working out what route your career as a paralegal is going to take. If you have passed your paralegal certification and have some relevant experience working in a law firm or other legal assistant role you may have decided that you don’t want to work for a boss anymore. You may prefer to be self employed. You may not know it but it is possible to be a freelance paralegal.
Becoming a freelance paralegal
Running your own business is not for everyone but for those that make it work, it can prove to be very lucrative. Studies show that experienced freelance paralegals can earn significantly more than the average paralegal salary. Why? There are a number of law firms who cannot afford to employ another legal assistant as they may only need their services while in the middle of a case.
They may be a small firm who just needs help dealing with a big litigation cases. They may not like the idea of having to find someone, train them up and pay them a salary plus benefits while hoping that they work out. They may not have the time to do this properly as they need their legal assistant to start work on the case immediately. The alternative is to engage the services of a paralegal freelancer.
The employer can see from the paralegal resume that the freelancer has the skills he is looking for. He can commit to a contract for a certain period of time at a set rate and he doesn’t need to worry about providing benefits such as life cover or sick pay. He can also dismiss the freelancer very quickly if he feels that he or she is not qualified to meet his requirements.
Don’t rush into offering freelance paralegal services
Before you go rushing off to become self employed you need to be sure you are making the right decision. Do you have sufficient cash savings to cover your outgoings for the next six months to a year? Although freelance paralegals can earn more, most have to offer their services at a reduced rate at least initially until they build up a reputation for excellent work. It will take time to build up a client base and while this is happening your bills still need to be paid.
When you start make a list of all the duties you are willing to perform and the hourly cost of each. When you begin working with each client you will need to keep meticulous records in order to justify your time sheets and bills. You will need to negotiate when you will get paid. Some freelancers will charge a retainer as soon as the client signs the contract and then produce a final bill at the end of the contract. Others will produce bills at agreed intervals which can make managing your cash flow much easier.
The downside of working as a freelance legal assistant
As a freelancer you get to set your own hours. A lot of people believe that being self employed is easier than going to work every day but often those who are running their own business will work just as hard, in fact often harder than those in an employed paralegal position. Not only will you have to keep up with your paralegal training and further education you will also have to spend time marketing your business.
If you become sick you don’t have the protection offered to most employees i.e. there is no company benefit plan to bail you out. Your business cards and stationery must state that you are a paralegal and not an attorney. This is a very important point as otherwise you could be in danger of committing an offence.
You also need to be good at bookkeeping to keep your taxes up to date. The IRS expects excellent records and you do not want to get on their wrong side as that will not help your business reputation. Your best bet is to hire a good accountant as they will pay for themselves in the money they will save you with their knowledge of what you can claim for.
Certain items such as your travel, stationery and other business costs are usually tax deductible. Your CPA will know when to pay your federal and state taxes. If you do decide to set up as a paralegal freelancer you will need to take out some liability insurance.
Don’t forget to put this policy in place as you could make a genuine mistake and end up being sued. If you don’t have the right protection you could lose everything and this is not a risk you want to take.
Where to find freelance paralegal jobs?
You will find that you most of your freelance paralegal jobs will come to you via word of mouth. The world of law is very small which is why you must always protect your business reputation. Your business can fail or flourish depending on what others say about the quality of the paralegal services you provide.