Now that you’ve realized you are both overworked and overwhelmed as an attorney, where do you turn for help? We see the wheels turning in your head and are here to help. Even if you have your own assistant, it is only a matter of time before they either leave your practice for other opportunities or your practice grows and you need to hire additional help.

Who can you trust with handling the chaos and overflow of your busy practice? More importantly, how can you delegate this work to others without disrupting your workflow? These are all questions that puzzle lawyers who are looking for help but are not sure where to turn. If you find yourself asking these questions, maybe it’s time to consider outsourcing your work to an experienced virtual assistant. Virtual assistants, virtual paralegals and virtual bookkeepers can assist you in everyday tasks while allowing you to get back to practicing law. But how do you manage the workflow and figure out what tasks to break off?

These tips will ensure success in delegating work and projects:

1. When handling any size project, make sure to give as much direction as possible. The more information you provide the better. Not having enough direction on a project will lead to additional questions and possible confusion.

2. When handling large projects, start off with breaking down the project into milestones.

3. Once you have a project divided into milestones, determine the how much time it will take to accomplish and assign work one milestone at a time.

4. If possible, include previous work that is similar to the project. Some of our clients develop a statement of work which will include detailed information for each portion of the project.

In the end, having a solid plan for delegating work can pay dividends for your firm. Even though you will spend time organizing your workflow, you will save countless hours of non­-billable administrative time by becoming more productive and efficient. The only issue you will need to tackle is how you are going to spend your newly found free time. Go enjoy networking events and increase your clientele ­- you’ve earned it!