The concept of a virtual back office has been around for years. And with the latest global events, it has become more common for organizations to work remotely – including industries and organizations that may have been resistant to this structure in the past. Law firms, corporate legal departments, and other highly-regulated industries have particular needs for privacy and confidentiality that have traditionally hampered their move to virtual support. And further, they have specific back office support requirements that demand legal expertise, as well as general business support, in order to run effectively.
The back office is critical to streamlining necessary business activities and keeping day-to-day operations moving forward. So it is imperative to have efficient processes in place when working virtually. This includes communications, workflows, people management, status reports, and any other tools/functions that would be used in an office setting and must be securely accessed in the cloud or a shared environment for the virtual back office to operate effectively.
Having those functions in place and easily accessible allows the team to work on the usual daily tasks seamlessly. The legal back office is then able to:
- Manage calendar events, schedule, track, and re-schedule as needed
- Prepare case related correspondence and docase/practice management support, including transcription and deposition summaries
- Prepare standard documents using an example document or case guidelines
- Manage the law library and execute searches within databases to gather and report information
- Analyze case documents, capture key information, and format documents for expedited analysis
- Maintain legal billing processes, QA timesheets and invoices, markup invoices, and ensure compliance with outside counsel guidelines
- Organize client workflow and input new client information (for law firms, service organizations)
- Prepare daily, weekly, or monthly reports detailing billable hours (for law firms, service organizations)
Utilizing virtual back office and paralegal support will help maintain day-to-day business functions and can reduce the cost of these important support activities. If your organization is in need of outside and efficient support for your team to continue it’s productivity, contact Baer Reed’s legal back office support team today.
Mr. Reyes graduated with honors from the Ateneo de Manila University, where he received the Procter and Gamble Student Excellence Award. He obtained his Juris Doctor degree from the Ateneo de Manila School of Law. During law school, Mr. Reyes was part of the Philippine delegation to the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot held in Vienna, Austria. He was also a member of the Ateneo Society of International Law and the St. Thomas More Debate Society. He completed his internship at the Public Attorney’s Office. He wrote a thesis entitled: “To Kill A White Elephant: An Analysis of the Fiduciary Exception to the Corporate Attorney-Client Privilege”. Mr. Reyes is admitted to practice law in the Philippines and the State of New York.
Ms. Lardizabal-Manzano is a graduate of San Sebastian College-Recoletos, where she earned her B.A. in Political Science. In 2003, she received her law degree from Lyceum of the Philippines and was admitted to practice law in 2004.
Matthew Hersh earned a B.A. in Political Science from Columbia University in 1990 and graduated cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center in 1999. He also holds a master’s degree in international relations from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service.
Cap. Avi Levak (Res. IDF) graduated from from Israel’s prestigious Ben-Gurion University of the Negev with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Mathematics. He is also a Leadership and Communication coach trained in TuT coaching by Alon gal in Israel. Avi specializes in high-level, in-depth analysis of business and client needs, within systems and software strategy and architecture.
Ms. Tyler graduated cum laude from Georgetown University and received her law degree, cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center. During law school, she interned at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. She also worked on The Tax Lawyer journal and was a member of the award-winning Barristers’ Council Mock Trial Team. Ms. Tyler is admitted to practice law in the State of California and the District of Columbia.
Ms. Cruz-Anonuevo graduated cum laude and top nine in her batch from Miriam College with a degree of Bachelor of Arts in InternationalStudies. She obtained her Juris Doctor degree from Ateneo de Manila University School of Law in Rockwell. During law school, she interned in Rivera, Santos, Maranan & Associates. She was also part of Ateneo’s Labor Law Bar Operations. She wrote her thesis on, “Stealing Privacy: Limitations on Media’s Photographic Invasion.,” Ms. Cruz-Anonuevo is admitted to practice law in the Philippines.
Ms. Aquino-Batallones obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Development Studies (with Minors in Global Politics and Hispanic Studies) from the Ateneo de Manila University. In 2011, she received her Juris Doctor degree from Ateneo de Manila University School of Law. During law school, she interned at Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura Sayoc & de los Angeles then became an intern of Ateneo Legal Services Center’s Clinical Legal Education Program.
Mr. De Guzman graduated from San Beda College with a degree of Bachelor of Arts Major in Economics and received his law degree from San Beda College of Law. He is multilingual and is fluent in three languages: Chinese, Filipino, and English. He was admitted to the Philippine Bar in 2003.