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Why Freelancing In The Role Of A Legal Assistant Could Be The Solution To Raise Paralegal Salaries
If you ever wondered how to increase the paralegal pay you take home, have you considered becoming an independent contractor? While not suitable for everyone, becoming a freelance paralegal could only be the way to considerably increase your take home pay.
Why? There is a demand for well qualified legal assistants who are interested to work on a contract basis. Law firms can suddenly become very busy for example, during the middle of a trial. They require help but don't have the time to go through the recruitment and training process used to find a long lasting staff member.
What they want is someone who can start working straight away. As a freelance paralegal you are able to fulfill their demands. You can charge an hourly rate depending on the area of law, your location and your skill. If you are just starting out and trying to build up a client bank you may have to offer your services at a lowered rate. However if you work hard and are good at what you do, you will be able to increase your rates very fast.
Is there any downside to becoming an independent contractor?
There are plenty of downsides. The main one is the aspect that as a self employed individual you are solely responsible for your business taxes. You must pay your federal and if applicable state taxes on time and in compliance with their schedule. You must keep proper accounting records detailing all your incoming payments and outgoing overheads. Plenty of of normal business expenses are tax deductible so you may need to read up on this further. Alternatively it may be good idea to hire a CPA.
You need to be organized. When you are working for yourself by providing paralegal services and charging the hourly rate it is not possible to afford to waste time at the water cooler. As we all know certain things can happen to delay us that are outside of our control. You cannot bear for this to happen too often and your pricing must reflect an element of allowed time for unforeseen emergencies. Every firm you work for will become more satisfied if you finish a job ahead of schedule as opposed to you finishing it late. When you work in litigation and it isn't possible to give them an estimate of when the work will be completed you might want to work on the hourly basis instead. You may arrange with the firm to pay you a retainer and then on timely intervals until you leave. This can make your cash flow easier to manage than having one bill at the end.
You need to have money to tide you over and cover your living costs mainly when beginning out. Some firms are better than others for paying outstanding invoices. You should aim to have funds equivalent to at least six months worth of expenses before you start freelancing.
In addition to increased paralegal salaries are there any benefits to freelancing?
One big but often unnoticed benefit of freelancing as a paralegal is the fact that it opens doors. Many an independent contractor became a full time employee when the firm those were contracting for made them an offer they couldn't refuse.
So if you are wondering how to increase your income why not give freelancing one more look?
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