#wishup

For most attorneys the hesitation about hiring a legal virtual assistant comes down to one word.

Confidentiality.

You are handing someone access to sensitive client information, case details, and your firm's systems. That is a fair concern — and it is exactly why the security setup matters as much as the work itself.

PART 1 — The Security Setup to Look For

Signed NDA before day one Every VA must sign a non-disclosure agreement before accessing a single system or file.

Background checked professionals You should know exactly who is representing your firm.

Need to know access only Your VA should only access the systems they actually need for their specific tasks — nothing more.

Full activity visibility End of day reports and time tracking so the work is always visible and never a black box.

Enterprise grade security SOC 2 and GDPR aligned infrastructure with secure credential management — no shared passwords ever.

PART 2 — Professional Boundaries That Protect You

A legal VA supports your practice. They do not practice law.

Wishup VAs do not:

Give legal advice

Conduct full conflict checks

Represent attorneys in court

Draft documents without attorney direction

Make any fee decisions

Every piece of legal work stays under attorney supervision at all times. This is not a limitation — it is a safeguard that keeps you in full control.

PART 3 — Legal Tech a VA Works Inside

Wishup trains its VAs on 120+ tools before placement:

Case management: Clio, MyCase, PracticePanther

Legal research: Westlaw, LexisNexis, Casetext

Billing: LawPay, QuickBooks, Bill4Time

CRM and intake: Lawmatics, HubSpot, Law Ruler

Documents: NetDocuments, iManage, DocuSign

Productivity: Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Slack, Zoom

Automation: Zapier, Make.com, n8n

And the best part — they adapt to the tools you already use. No migration. No overhaul. No disruption.

Why Wishup stands apart from every other option

NDA signed before day one — no exceptions

SOC 2 and GDPR aligned security infrastructure

Background checked before placement

Only the top 0.1% of applicants selected

120+ tools training before any placement

Instant replacement within 24 hours at no cost

Rated 4.9 on Clutch and 4.7 on Trustpilot

The fear most attorneys have about hiring a legal VA is confidentiality. A well built engagement answers that fear at every single step of the process.

Every attorney thinking about hiring help asks the same first question — what is this going to cost me?

It is the right question. But the sticker price is only half the story. The real number is what you save and earn back once someone else handles the admin.

Here is the full breakdown for 2026

PART 1 — What a Legal VA Actually Costs

Two pricing models exist:

Hourly — you pay for the hours worked. Good for low or unpredictable volume.

Flat monthly subscription — a set fee for dedicated time each month. More predictable and usually better value for steady ongoing work.

Rates by region:

Asia: roughly $7–$15 per hour

Latin America: roughly $8–$25 per hour

United States: roughly $25–$75 per hour

Wishup flat pricing — transparent and simple:

Part time (4 hours a day): $1,299 per month

Full time (8 hours a day): $1,999 per month

No setup fees. No per-minute billing. No long-term lock-in.

PART 2 — Why a Legal VA Costs Far Less Than an In-House Hire

When you hire an employee you do not just pay salary. You pay payroll taxes, health benefits, paid time off, equipment, software licenses, office space, and the cost of recruiting and training from scratch.

A legal virtual assistant has none of that overhead. You pay for the work — not the infrastructure around it.

Industry estimates put the savings at 40 to 70 percent versus an in-house hire.

For comparison — a US paralegal typically costs $58,000 to $72,000 per year plus benefits. A full time Wishup VA plan runs $1,999 per month. The gap is significant.

PART 3 — The Real ROI

You get your time back for billable work. Attorneys bill only about 2.9 hours a day on average. The rest is lost to non-billable admin tasks. Hand that admin to a VA and those hours go straight back toward client work.

Wishup states many clients recoup the full cost of their VA within the very first month through recovered billable hours alone.

Your firm runs more smoothly:

Cleaner calendaring — nothing collides or slips

Organized matter files you can actually find

Steady billing cadence — invoices go out on time

Fewer missed follow-ups

Faster and more consistent client communication

Your clients are happier. Most client complaints are not about losing a case. They are about feeling ignored. A VA fixes that permanently — and happier clients stay longer.

You can grow without the overhead. Remote support lets you scale capacity as your caseload grows without adding salaries, benefits, or HR weight.

Real result: A Wishup VA helped one law firm cut client intake time by 25 percent in 11 months using Clio — with zero disruption to existing systems.

Why Wishup stands apart from every other option

Only the top 0.1% of applicants globally are selected

Flat transparent pricing — no hidden fees ever

NDA signed before day one

Dedicated Customer Success Manager included

Instant replacement within 24 hours at no extra cost

Pre-trained on 120+ tools including Clio, MyCase, Westlaw, LexisNexis and QuickBooks

7-day money-back guarantee

Rated 4.9 on Clutch and 4.7 on Trustpilot

A legal virtual assistant is one of the rare hires where the math works in every direction.

You spend less than an employee. You earn back billable hours. You keep more clients through better communication.

The only real question is how long you will keep doing all of this work yourself.

Most attorneys think a virtual assistant is one thing — someone who answers emails and books meetings.

That is a very small slice of what they can actually do.

There are many types of legal VAs and picking the wrong one for your firm wastes everyone's time and money. Here is the full breakdown

The main types of Legal Virtual Assistants:

General Administrative Legal Assistant The all-rounder. Handles scheduling, email, intake, and day-to-day admin. The perfect first hire for a firm that needs to offload everyday busywork fast.

Specialized Legal Virtual Assistant Trained for deeper legal-specific tasks beyond admin. Knows legal terms, deadlines, and firm workflows.

Virtual Paralegal Does much of the work a traditional paralegal does — but remotely. Document drafting, deposition summaries, case chronologies, motion templates, and litigation support. All under attorney supervision.

Virtual Executive Assistant Supports partners and senior attorneys directly — calendars, travel, personal admin, high-level coordination.

Legal Researcher Specializes in pulling statutes, researching case law, and summarizing findings so you never have to dig through databases yourself.

Legal Transcriptionist Turns audio and video into clean written records — depositions, hearings, and dictation.

Litigation Support Specialist Manages the moving parts of active litigation — documents, exhibits, deadlines, and case organization.

Remote Legal Receptionist Answers your phones so no call goes unanswered and no lead is ever lost to voicemail.

A VA GROW your firm — not just run it:

Updating your website and keeping content fresh

Running email marketing and social media

Tracking leads and setting up your CRM

Creating presentations and proposals

Lead generation and business development support

Why Wishup stands apart from every other option

Only the top 0.1% of applicants globally are selected

Every VA completes 200+ hours of legal-specific training

Matched to your exact practice area — not a generalist

NDA signed before day one — confidentiality built in

Pre-trained on Clio, QuickBooks, LexisNexis and more

Dedicated account manager from day one

Onboard in just 60 minutes

Instant replacement guarantee — zero disruption

Get the match right and your VA is valuable from week one. Get it wrong and you spend your time managing instead of practicing law.

The smartest move is not finding the cheapest VA. It is finding the RIGHT type — matched to your firm.

The money most law firms lose has nothing to do with what happens in the courtroom.

It is lost in the small, quiet gaps.

The new client who waited two days for a callback and hired someone else instead. The billable hour you did but forgot to log. The invoice that sat unsent for three weeks.

A trained Legal VA closes every one of those gaps. Here is what they take over

PART 1 — Client Intake and Communication

Acknowledging every new inquiry the same day

Screening clients and starting conflicts checks

Booking consultations and building intake packets

Sending routine status updates and reminders

Chasing clients for missing documents

Keeping every client feeling looked after

Most client complaints are not about losing a case. They are about feeling ignored. A VA fixes that.

PART 2 — Legal Research and Case Support

Pulling together statutes, rules, and case law summaries

Managing and organizing all case files

Tracking critical deadlines with reminders at 30, 14, 7, and 1 day before every deadline

Handling PACER, e-filing, and court document processing

FOIA requests, medical record reviews, conflict searches and background checks

A missed deadline is exactly the kind of thing that turns into a malpractice claim. A VA makes sure that never happens.

PART 3 — Billing and Money Work

Creating and sending invoices

Drafting your time entries from calls, emails, calendar

Tracking payments and sending past-due reminders

Coordinating LawPay and QuickBooks

Most lawyers under-bill because they forget to log the work they did. A VA catches every hour you would otherwise lose — and for many firms, that alone pays for the VA within the first month.

Why Wishup stands apart from every other option

Only the top 0.1% of applicants globally are selected

Onboard your legal VA in just 60 minutes

Every VA signs an NDA before day one

Instant replacement guarantee — zero disruption

Pre-trained on 150+ AI and no-code tools including Clio, MyCase, Westlaw, LexisNexis, DocuSign and QuickBooks

Dedicated account manager included from day one

Real result: Wishup helped the Devine Law Group reduce client intake time by 25% in 11 months

The only real question is how long you will keep doing all of this work yourself.

Most attorneys think a Legal VA just handles scheduling and email. That's like hiring a surgeon to put on a bandage. A trained legal VA can do SO much more than that.

Here's the full picture of what a trained Legal VA can ACTUALLY handle — split into two buckets

BUCKET 1 — Administrative Support

Calendar, diary and court deadline management

Appointment scheduling and task prioritization

Inbox management and email organization

Inbound and outbound phone call handling

Meeting agendas and minute-taking

Travel planning, booking and itineraries

Time recording and data entry

Conference registration and CPD tracking

Personal admin support for attorneys

Day-to-day office operations oversight

BUCKET 2 — Legal Document Support (This is the part most attorneys don't expect)

Legal document formatting and preparation

Drafting contracts, pleadings and agreements

Creating precedents and reusable templates

Audio typing and legal transcription

Proofreading for grammar, language and formatting

Numbering and cross-referencing legal documents

PDF merging and file format conversion

Bates labeling for legal documents

Exhibit index preparation

Deposition digests

Medical record chronologies in tabular format

Legal document review and contract tracking

Drafting discovery and settlement documents

Entries of Appearance

Writing legal articles and client alerts

Close-out administration and case archiving

Client download packets

That's 50+ tasks a trained Legal VA can take off your plate. Tasks most attorneys are still doing themselves every day.

Now here's what makes Wishup Legal VAs different from every other option out there

Only the top 0.1% of applicants globally are selected — so you're not getting a random hire, you're getting an elite pre-screened legal professional

Onboard your legal VA in just 60 minutes — no weeks of recruiting, no training from scratch

Every VA signs an NDA before day one — your client data and case details stay confidential

Instant replacement guarantee — if your VA is not the right fit, Wishup replaces them seamlessly with zero disruption to your operations

Access to a global talent pool — local expertise or international, you choose

Dedicated account manager included — a single point of contact throughout the process

Pre-trained on 150+ AI and no-code tools including Clio, MyCase, Westlaw, LexisNexis, DocuSign, QuickBooks, Notion, Google Workspace and more

Real result: A Wishup VA helped the Devine Law Group reduce client intake time by 25% in just 11 months — using Clio, working inside their existing stack with zero migration or disruption

The smartest way to start: Week 1 — Hand off admin: calendar, inbox, scheduling Week 2 to 3 — Add document processing: formatting, transcription, proofreading, file conversion Week 4 onwards — Move to case support: deposition digests, document review, drafting from your direction

The firms that benefit most bring on help while growing — not after they are already buried.

In-House vs. Outsourced vs. Virtual Bookkeeper for Your Law Firm — which one actually wins in 2026?

Most attorneys make this decision based on sticker price alone. That's exactly where it goes wrong.

Here's the REAL monthly cost breakdown

In-House Bookkeeper Salary looks like ~$50K/year Add taxes + benefits + PTO + software… Actual cost → $5,000–$7,000/month And if they quit or go on vacation? Your books freeze.

Outsourced Bookkeeping Firm Full team with built-in review Legal-trained with trust accounting expertise Actual cost → $800–$2,500/month

Specialized Virtual Bookkeeper Pre-screened for IOLTA & trust accounting Dedicated to YOUR firm (not a rotating freelancer) NDA signed before day one Onboards in 60 minutes Actual cost → $999–$1,799/month

WARNING: "Virtual bookkeeper" doesn't always mean what you think. There's a huge difference between:

A cheap general VA who "does a bit of everything" (including your trust account — dangerously)

A specialized legal virtual bookkeeper trained specifically for IOLTA, three-way reconciliation, and bar-audit-ready recordkeeping

The cheap generalist is the most expensive option once a trust account mistake surfaces.

The rule of thumb from the article: → Solo to 10 attorneys with trust activity? Specialized virtual bookkeeper wins on cost AND risk. → 10+ attorneys needing daily in-person presence? In-house becomes viable — but budget for it properly. → Want structure + built-in team review? Outsourced firm is your answer.

"How much does law firm bookkeeping actually cost?"

It's one of the most Googled questions done by solo attorneys and small firm partners and the answer is more complicated then most people expected.

Here's the honest range for 2026:

Solo attorney (no trust account) → $300–$750/month Solo with IOLTA → $500–$1,200/month Small firm (2–8 attorneys) → $750–$2,000/month Mid-size firm (9–20 attorneys) → $1,500–$3,000+/month

But here's the truth nobody tells you upfront

The cheapest bookkeeper is almost NEVER the cheapest option.

A real example from the article: A firm hired a $400/month generalist to save money. 14 months later — state bar audit. No client ledgers. No reconciliation reports. No documentation.

The cleanup cost? $4,200 in fees + months of stress. That's more than a full year of hiring a specialist would have cost.

And the in-house hire math is just as misleading: A $55K salary bookkeeper actually costs $71K–$97K/year once you add taxes, benefits, PTO, recruiting & training.

Meanwhile, a dedicated legal virtual bookkeeper with Wishup? Part-time: $999/month Full-time: $1,799/month Onboards in 60 minutes NDA signed before day one Instant replacement guarantee

The ROI for most small firms? 4x–10x annually.

This article breaks down every pricing model, every hidden cost, and the 10 questions you MUST ask before hiring any bookkeeper.