There are many reasons that attorneys and law firms choose to outsource the task of drafting their Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy petitions to a Virtual Bankruptcy Assistant, also known as a virtual bankruptcy assistant (VBA), to handle their bankruptcy petition prep.
The primary reasons are that it saves them time and makes them more money.
The bottom line is that law firms that hire a Virtual Bankruptcy Assistant are more profitable for doing so.
Here is a more detailed list of the 7 reasons why all bankruptcy attorneys should consider hiring a well-trained Virtual Bankruptcy Assistant:
1. Do Away With “Employer” Overhead
Have you ever had employees before? If so, then you know that no matter how much you love the people working for you, not having the headaches of payroll and income tax withholding alone is enough of a reason to outsource your bankruptcy petition drafting. In addition, there’s no health insurance or other benefits to provide, and no vacation or sick days (PTO) to manage.
2. Good Help REALLY is Hard to Find
We’ve all heard that “Good help is hard to find”, but it’s particularly true for legal work that requires a high level of attention to detail. That includes drafting bankruptcy petitions.
Long gone are the days when the bankruptcy petition was just a data entry job. Now-a-days it is the heart of the bankruptcy law firm. This being the case, drafting a highly-detailed and accurate bankruptcy petitions is not a “nice to have”, no…it is now a high-level task that requires professional skills and experience.
The good news is that even though good help really is hard to find, because of the bankruptcy petition training that we provide, and the ability to hire a highly skilled Virtual Bankruptcy Assistant from anywhere on Earth, attorneys are no longer limited to only hiring from the local talent pool, and can hire the best bankruptcy assistant out there.
3. MASSIVELY Increase Law Firm Productivity and Profitability
As the tables below show, law firms that outsource to a professional Virtual Bankruptcy Assistant save a massive amount of time.
We have found that typically 90% of the calls and emails that law firms receive are to get simple, answers to routine questions that are not legal questions, that don’t require a conversation with the attorney. Your Virtual Bankruptcy Assistant can be your “first line of defense” for incoming debtor emails and phone calls, allowing you, the attorney to get more work done with fewer interruptions.
Unfortunately, many attorneys turn away bankruptcy cases on regular basis, because they don’t have sufficiently trained staff, and/or they can’t keep up with the workload.
When using a Virtual Bankruptcy Assistant, attorneys get a highly trained virtual bankruptcy assistant that can lighten the load. This means that they can stop turning away bankruptcy clients, and grow, possibly even expand their law firm or bankruptcy practice.
4. Better PetitionS…Faster
Lawyers can avoid having to teach new staff members and know that their Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy petitions prepared by a trained Virtual Bankruptcy Assistant are extremely accurate, thorough, and professional.
The fact that bankruptcy assistants work remotely instead of at the law firm, eliminates disruptions and allows for more attention to be paid to the bankruptcy petitions that are prepared for the law firm. This results in a higher level of detail, saving thousands of dollars, as well as errors that could become serious issues!
5. TIME Flexibility
Because not everything can be accomplished between 9:00am and 5:00pm, bankruptcy assistants are often available during non-standard business hours to draft bankruptcy petitions or handle other issues that need attention. Do you need to file that urgent skeletal petition on the weekend or at night? You’ve got it!
6. Availability
No matter where the attorney is located, a virtual bankruptcy assistant is always by their side, and are only a phone call, instant message or email away. In-house workers don’t typically want to work beyond 9:00am to 5:00pm. With a virtual bankruptcy assistant, this just isn't the case.
7. Increased In-Office Productivity
Bankruptcy assistants help law firms with existing staff be more productive by helping to prevent “desk overload”, allowing the existing in-house office staff to focus on other non-bankruptcy work.
We have found that most paralegals also lack the education and skills necessary to work in the area of debtor bankruptcy, and attorneys often have to either train their paralegals themselves, or turn to a bankruptcy assistant for help. Leveraging the services of an already trained bankruptcy assistant gives attorneys a leg up on their competition.
How Much Time Can Your Law Firm Save by Outsourcing Bankruptcy Petition Drafting?
Bankruptcy assistants streamline the entire petition drafting process for law firms right from the start. This often begins with implementing use of our free Client Intake Forms (CIF) into the data gathering process, so that all of the necessary information to draft the bankruptcy petition is available, and nothing gets missed or is left out of the petition. This eliminates a lot of phone and email tag that can result in long delays, resulting in poor productivity and lost profits.
713 Training can even customize the Client Intake Forms (CIF) to include the name of a law firm and contact information
In the following tables, let’s take a look at an example of the amount of time that an attorney spends per debtor WITHOUT Using a Virtual Bankruptcy Assistant, and then, the tremendous amount of time savings when USING a Virtual Bankruptcy Assistant.
WITHOUT Using a Virtual Bankruptcy Assistant Services Performed Staff Time Attorney Time Client Intake Interview 30 Minutes** 15 Minutes Gathering Documents 1 Hour** 15 Minutes Drafting Petition (Ch 7 or 13) 2-5 Hours* 0 Client Phone Calls/Emails 4 Hours** 1-2 Hours Review Drafted Petition 0 15 Minutes 341 Meeting 0 30 Minutes TOTAL 7-10 Hours, 30 minutes 2-3 Hours, 15 Minutes
*Some single attorney law firms don’t have staff and draft petitions themselves, so the 2-5 hours to draft the petition would be moved to the Attorney Time column.
**The primary reason these items take law firm office staff so long per debtor is the lack of a good process and not having a good Client Intake Forms (CIF) that gathers all information needed for the petition up front.
USING a Virtual Bankruptcy Assistant Services Performed Staff Time Attorney Time Client Intake Interview 0 15 Minutes Gathering Documents 0 0 Drafting Petition (Ch 7 or 13) 0 0 Client Phone Calls/Emails 0 15 Minutes Review Drafted Petition 0 15 Minutes 341 Meeting 0 30 Minutes TOTAL 0 Hours, 0 Minutes 1 Hour
In the second table, USING a Virtual Bankruptcy Assistant, in-office staff time is eliminated, and because the bankruptcy assistant has a process and tools designed for streamlined productivity, it takes them significantly less time than it would typically take in-office staff.
In tracking our own business, we found that we saved our attorney clients an average of 8-10 hours of in-office time per bankruptcy case, which on average, increased profits by 46%, AND reduced debtor calls to the law firm by up to 75%!
BONUS!
We promised 7 reasons to hire a Virtual Bankruptcy Assistant, but if you’re still not convinced, here are a few more…
More Working Capital To GROW YOUR BUSINESS
When employees on salary are out of the office on leave, law firms typically still pay them. With an outsourced bankruptcy assistant drafting the petitions, attorneys only pay for work that is completed, and nothing more.
Most bankruptcy assistants don’t charge for their services until the work is complete, which allows the law firm to keep its cash in the coffers as working capital for their business until the petitions are complete, and they are satisfied with the result.
Bankruptcy petitions drafted by in-office staff don’t provide this luxury, and most employees expect to be paid every 2 weeks regardless of productivity and quality of work.
Known Fixed Costs
As eluded to above, attorneys don’t pay bankruptcy assistants for non-productive time. Once a per petition fee has been determined, this is what the attorney can expect to pay, without any hidden fees or costs.
Data Backup
Because bankruptcy assistants work remotely, by definition, they are off site, which provides the law firm with off-site data backups of their debtors’ bankruptcy petitions at no additional cost.
Should the law firm fall victim to a computer crash and data loss, the bankruptcy assistant has all of the bankruptcy petition data that he or she has worked on safely stored inside his/her off-site computer (which may even be a secure cloud drive).
Eliminate deficiency notices
When using a highly trained bankruptcy assistant, attorneys typically find that deficiency notices from the court are a thing of the past, due to the attention to detail that goes into every bankruptcy petition prepared, right from the start.
75% Fewer phone calls to the law firm
When a bankruptcy assistant is added to the petition process, the number of phone calls to the law firm drops dramatically…because the bankruptcy assistant can answer all of the non-legal questions that comprise 3/4 of all calls made by clients to the law firm.
Disclaimer
713 Training representatives are not attorneys.
All information and training provided by 713 Training, regardless of the form it was provided, is for educational purposes only, is not legal advice, and is not intended to take the place of legal advice from a competent licensed attorney.
Neither the author or publisher of information provided by 713 Training assume any liability resulting from the use or misuse of information provided. The recipient of any information provided bears sole responsible for the use of any and all information provided.
Under no circumstances will any legal responsibility or liability be held against the author or publisher for any reparation, damages, or monetary loss due to the information provided, either directly or indirectly.
713 Training encourages that you seek competent legal advice from a licensed attorney before applying information, regardless of the source.
Who We Are
713 Training is your premier one-stop solution for bankruptcy petition training, for drafting the most highly-detailed, accurate and professional Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy petitions that trustees love!
We provide bankruptcy petition training to legal assistants, paralegals, virtual bankruptcy assistants (VBAs), bankruptcy petition preparers (BPPS), bankruptcy attorneys and law firms.
Contact Us today to discuss your goals, and how we can help you start or grow your legal career.
Ready to start earning income drafting bankruptcy petitions from home? See our online bankruptcy petition training courses at www.713training.com. You can also join our online community at www.navba.org.