What Is A Legal Document Assistant? What They Do and The Benefits?
What is a Legal Document Assistant (LDA)?
Businesses today are part of a demanding environment that’s rife with various regulations, ethical conducts, and business and profession codes to follow. It can be hard to keep up, especially if you’re a business owner that simply doesn’t know the way around legal matters.
Of course, you can hire paralegals and expert lawyers to help you out, but you shouldn’t forget the value of a legal document assistant from an administrative point of view!
What exactly is a legal document assistant?
A legal document assistant (LDA) is an authorized individual who is a non-lawyer, but still has the capacity to prepare legal documents for those representing themselves. They aren’t required to have a professional legal background or be certified through the American Bar Association. For example, just having a high school diploma will suffice for most LDA registrants.
However, there are limits to an LDA’s functions. For example, they are forbidden from providing actual legal advice or legal services. Their activities are mainly limited to and surround legal document preparation. LDAs were authorized in 2000 when the state of California passed a California law that legalized their profession. There is even a California Association of Legal Document Assistants (CALDA) that oversees their governance and activities. It also provides support to the LDAs in various counties. (For more information, check out the Sacramento County Public Law Library’s article on LDA’s here.)
You can also outsource your operations and have an LDA work for you remotely. Depending on your business models and specific needs, the solution you go for can change. But to start with, you should consider how your business can make the best use of an outsourced LDA.
In this article, we uncover what an LDA does, what you can stand to gain by hiring one, and how STAFFVIRTUAL can help you meet your goals.
How Can a Legal Document Assistant Help?
Despite being a non-lawyer, LDAs are experienced in their niche and can provide legal documentation and administrative support. They are there as a “self-help service” option for clients who wish to avoid the cost of an attorney.
LDAs can assist in the preparation of various legal documents, including documents related to:
- Adoption, annulments, alimony
- Uncontested divorces
- Bankruptcy
- Deeds and wills
- Name changes
- Guardianship
- Civil actions
- Family law related issues
- Evictions
- Prenuptial agreements
- Living trusts
- Notaries
- & more!
LDAs are also authorized to:
- Provide to their clients any legal materials that are pre-approved and/or published by a lawyer
- File the clients’ legal documents in the relevant courts
What Are the Benefits of Hiring an LDA?
LDAs can provide a lot of benefits for you in the long run. Outsourcing one may be just what you need. Here’s how you stand to gain from working with an LDA.
Lower costs than an attorney for routine paperwork
Attorneys are notorious for charging high fees for their services. This includes not just the consultations but also the other aspects that fall under legal support, including routine paperwork and other legal forms.
Often, lawyers have independent paralegals working under them to whom they may contract such paperwork-related duties. This gets added to billable hours, too. A licensed attorney has the right to charge a premium rate due to their legal education and overall brand status.
With LDAs, you can avoid these costs and pay a much more reasonable fee for these basic legal activities. LDAs also cater to members of the public, not just corporations, so their prices are reasonably adjusted for their relative accessibility. They are perfect if you’re looking for a low-cost alternative.
Provides you with high-quality legal typing assistance and documentation
LDAs are experts at what they do. While lawyers specialize in the practice of law and a specialized field within it (e.g., criminal, civil, property, etc.), LDAs would know how to craft and file legal documents for several purposes. For example, from registering the principal place of business to child support claims and more!
Their expertise is not just limited to one field, and their services can go beyond just business or commercial-related purposes.
One visit is usually sufficient enough to handle most matters
LDAs are generally quite thorough with their work and gather all the information they need to carry out their duties in just one visit from their clients. This saves a lot of time for clients who may otherwise have to spend transportation costs or even valuable man-hours on administrative tasks with an LDA.
Alternatively, this benefit can also be extended to those who plan to outsource or hire an LDA remotely. By minimizing the number of video conferences or meetings required to get the job started, you can make better use of the time on your hands and redirect it to value-add activities.
Do You Need an LDA?
You can’t go wrong with having an LDA on board, but how can you decide whether or not your business should budget and keep aside funds for hiring one?
Here are a few FAQs to consider before deciding whether or not to hire an LDA:
- How well versed am I with mine and my business’s legal rights? Chances are, if you have limited or minimal knowledge, hiring an LDA or consulting an attorney is the right path for you.
- Do I know how to fill out the legal forms and paperwork should the need arise? If not, it will save you time to hire an LDA to do the research and paperwork requirements for you.
- How sensitive are the legal issues that may arise? If you/your business operates in a high-risk environment (such as finance, healthcare, real estate, and/or government industries), having backup through an experienced LDA is always preferable to operating alone.
Outsource Legal Assistants with STAFFVIRTUAL
By now, you can see how much difference hiring a legal assistant can drive for your business operations. Be it reducing the amount of paperwork you handle on your own or even just to avoid the costs of hiring out an expensive attorney, an LDA could be the solution you need.
But are you confused about where to start? Don’t worry. We’ve got you covered.
Work with a Filipino-based outsourcing company like ours to get you the solutions you need. There are a number of benefits you can take advantage of by outsourcing to us, including cost, efficiency, and overall quality delivery of the functions you’re looking to outsource.
If you don’t know how to go about hiring a quality legal assistant, you can partner with STAFFVIRTUAL and have our talent team provide you with the top talent in the LDA niche. This will help you make an informed decision.
No matter the job roles you’re looking to fill, we’ve got them.
Get started with STAFFVIRTUAL today!
*Disclaimer: This blog content is not and shall not be misconstrued as any legal or financial advice.
