Law firms carry a heavy administrative load. File opening, document preparation, diary management, billing, correspondence, court date tracking. Most of it does not require a practising certificate, and most of it still lands on people who hold one.
This article covers what a virtual assistant can take on for an Australian law firm, and where the line sits under the Legal Profession Uniform Law.
If you want the service rather than the detail, our virtual legal assistant page covers how it works with us.
What a virtual assistant can handle
File and matter administration. Opening and closing matters, maintaining file notes, organising documents, keeping matter records current, managing document management systems.
Document preparation from templates. Drafting correspondence and forms from firm precedents for a practitioner to review and settle, formatting, collating annexures, preparing court book indexes.
Diary and deadline management. Court dates, limitation dates, directions hearings, client appointments, and the reminder cycle around each.
Client communication administration. Acknowledging enquiries, booking appointments, sending firm-approved updates, chasing outstanding documents and signatures.
Billing and trust administration support. Preparing invoices, recording disbursements, following up outstanding accounts, assembling data for trust reconciliations under supervision.
Research and collation. Gathering documents, compiling chronologies, sourcing public records and searches.
For most small firms, that covers a substantial share of the non-billable hours in a week.
Where the line sits
This is the part that matters, and it is stricter than most other professions.
Under section 10 of the Legal Profession Uniform Law, an entity must not engage in legal practice unless it is a qualified entity, with a maximum penalty of 250 penalty units or two years imprisonment. Section 11 separately prohibits an unqualified entity from advertising or representing that it is entitled to engage in legal practice. The Law Society of NSW sets out the effect of these provisions in its guidance on unqualified practitioners.
Legal services are defined broadly as work done in the ordinary course of legal practice, which includes giving legal advice whether written or verbal, drafting correspondence of a legal nature, preparatory legal work and attending court.
So an unqualified assistant should not be advising clients on their matter, settling advice or legal correspondence in their own right, appearing or corresponding as though they were the practitioner, or holding themselves out as able to do any of it.
The practical distinction is supervision and authorship. An assistant preparing a document from a firm precedent for a solicitor to review, amend and send is administrative support. An assistant deciding what the document should say is not.
The Uniform Law applies across Australian states and territories with minor variations. Confirm your own position with your professional body or your firm’s risk adviser. This is general information rather than legal advice.
Confidentiality and client data
Law firms hold some of the most sensitive information a business can hold, and privilege is not something to be casual about.
Give the minimum system access the role requires, use your practice management system’s own user roles rather than shared logins, and have a signed confidentiality agreement in place before day one.
If the assistant is based overseas and will handle personal information, Australian Privacy Principle 8 covers cross-border disclosure, and the firm remains accountable for how that information is handled. Worth raising with your risk adviser before you start rather than after.
What to look for when hiring
Legal administration experience specifically. Legal document conventions, court forms and matter workflows are their own discipline. Ask candidates to describe a matter they administered end to end.
Attention to deadlines. Missing a limitation date is a different order of problem to missing a meeting. Ask how they track dates and what they do when something is at risk.
Discretion by instinct. Ask what they would do if a client called wanting an update on their matter. The right answer is to take a message and escalate, not to help.
Written English. Correspondence carries your firm’s name even when a practitioner settles it.
Frequently asked questions
What can a virtual assistant do for a law firm?
File and matter administration, document preparation from firm precedents for a practitioner to settle, diary and deadline management, client communication administration, billing support and document collation. The common thread is administrative work performed under supervision, where a qualified practitioner remains responsible for the legal content.
Can a virtual assistant give legal advice?
No. Under section 10 of the Legal Profession Uniform Law an entity must not engage in legal practice unless it is a qualified entity, and legal services are defined broadly enough to include giving legal advice and drafting correspondence of a legal nature. An assistant can prepare documents from firm precedents for a practitioner to review and settle, but cannot advise a client or determine the legal content.
Can a virtual assistant draft legal documents?
They can prepare drafts from your firm’s precedents and templates for a practitioner to review, amend and settle. The distinction is authorship and supervision. Preparing a document to a practitioner’s instruction is administrative support. Deciding what the document should say is legal practice and must stay with a qualified person.
Is it safe to give a virtual assistant access to client files?
It can be, provided access is scoped properly. Use your practice management system’s own user roles rather than sharing logins, grant only what the role requires, enable multi-factor authentication and have a signed confidentiality agreement in place before they start. Where the assistant is offshore and will handle personal information, Australian Privacy Principle 8 applies and the firm remains accountable.
Do virtual assistants understand Australian legal procedure?
Experienced legal assistants do, but it varies widely and should be screened for rather than assumed. Australian court forms, filing conventions and matter workflows differ from other jurisdictions. Ask candidates which jurisdictions and practice areas they have supported and to walk through a matter they administered.
Working out what to hand over
Track a week of your firm’s non-billable time. Note what your practitioners do that does not require a practising certificate, and what gets pushed to the evening.
Send us that and we will tell you what it looks like as a role, and what it would cost.
