A virtual legal assistant handles client intake, calendar and deadline tracking, document prep and routine client updates for a solo attorney or small firm. Legal advice, filings and anything requiring a law license stay with the attorney. It costs far less than hiring a local paralegal.
A virtual legal assistant takes the repeat admin work off a solo attorney or small firm's desk. Intake forms get processed. Deadlines get tracked. Clients get a status update. The attorney spends billable hours on casework instead of paperwork.
What a virtual legal assistant can do
- Client intake. Processing new client forms and basic conflict checks before a case is opened.
- Calendar and deadline tracking. Court dates, filing deadlines and reminders, kept in one shared calendar.
- Document prep. Formatting, proofreading and assembling documents from a template or an attorney's draft.
- Billing support. Time entry formatting and invoice preparation for the attorney to review.
- Client updates. Routine status emails that keep clients informed between case milestones.
What stays with the attorney
Legal advice, strategy, filings and anything that requires a law license stay with the attorney. A virtual assistant for lawyers handles the admin work around a case. It is not a substitute for a paralegal's substantive legal work or a lawyer's judgment. The line is simple: if it needs a bar license, it stays with you.
Keeping client information confidential
Give access through your practice management software's own user permissions. Avoid a shared login. Share only what a task needs. Review access regularly, and remove it the moment the arrangement ends.
Who this fits best
Solo attorneys and small firms feel this gap first. There's no office manager to absorb the admin load, and a full-time paralegal hire is a big step for a one or two-person practice. A virtual legal assistant fills that gap at an hourly rate, scaling up during a busy filing season and back down after.
What it costs
A local paralegal adds salary, benefits and office costs. A virtual legal assistant is billed for hours worked. Plans start from $5.62 an hour on a dedicated plan, or $12 an hour pay-as-you-go, and hours never expire.
At MyRemoteVA, a team lead reviews every task. AI speeds up formatting and first drafts. A person checks the result before anything reaches a client or the court.
Ready to hand off the admin work? See pricing or start for $1.
Frequently asked questions
What can a virtual legal assistant do?
Client intake forms, calendar and deadline tracking, document formatting, billing support and routine client status updates.
Can a virtual legal assistant give legal advice?
No. Anything that involves legal judgment, advice or representation has to come from a licensed attorney. A VA handles the admin work around a case, not the legal work itself.
Is client information kept confidential?
Share only what each task needs, through your practice management software's own permission settings rather than a shared login, and remove access when the work ends.
What is doing this yourself costing you?
Doing it yourself: $2,165 a month of your time.
The same hours at our $12/hr pay-as-you-go rate: $520. Dedicated plans start at $5.62/hr.
Simple maths from the numbers you enter. It assumes a VA can take on those hours.
Start for $1Written by the MyRemoteVA team. Search-trend figures come from Google Trends. Prices shown are our current plans. Last updated October 2, 2026. Questions or corrections? Contact us.