Paralegal Firm Business Plan, Marketing Plan, How To Guide, and Funding Directory
The Paralegal Firm Business Plan and Business Development toolkit features 18 different documents that you can use for capital raising or general business planning purposes. Our product line also features comprehensive information regarding to how to start a Paralegal Firm business. All business planning packages come with easy-to-use instructions so that you can reduce the time needed to create a professional business plan and presentation.
Your Business Planning Package will be immediately emailed to you after you make your purchase.
- Bank/Investor Ready!
- Complete Industry Research
- 3 Year Excel Financial Model
- Business Plan (26 to 30 pages)
- Loan Amortization and ROI Tools
- Three SWOT Analysis Templates
- Easy to Use Instructions
- All Documents Delivered in Word, Excel, and PDF Format
- Meets SBA Requirements
Paralegal firms play a very important part of the greater legal community. As most attorneys spend a substantial amount of their time representing their individual clients, paralegals are able to provide the appropriate documentation for all legal matters. The demand for the services remains immune from negative changes in the economy given that all people are going to have legal issues from time to time and they are going to need the proper documentation in order to serve subpoenas, complete business filings, and engage in other activities that require the assistance of an attorney. As such, almost all paralegal firms are able to remain profitable and cash flow positive. It should be noted that in some states, a paralegal must work directly under a attorney in order to render services. In other states, a paralegal can work independently under the guidance of several attorneys in which they do business.
Many paralegal firms are also able to generate revenues by directly assisting people with filling out standardized legal forms. Of course, this is not considered to be the practice of law but rather in assistance with as it relates to legal filings. The individual that requests the services of a paralegal is still responsible for all documentation that they submit to authorities or that are used in conjunction with business operations. The barriers to entry for new paralegal firm are moderately low given that the practitioner must simply be licensed as a paralegal and able to render competent services to the general public. The start of cost associated with the new paralegal firm are also relatively low and range anywhere from $10,000 to $75,000 depending on the number of paralegals that will work with the business at the onset of operations.
A paralegal firm SWOT analysis is frequently produced in conjunction with a business plan, marketing plan, and other documentation that is used during the startup process. As it relates to strengths, again – paralegal firms are relatively immune from negative changes in the economy while concurrently being able to generate very high gross margin revenues from their services. The startup costs are low and the demand for competent paralegal services is extremely high.
For weaknesses, many paralegal firms are going through a number of changes given that automation has allowed attorneys to produce documentation very quickly. Although some industry experts expect that the paralegal industry may see a substantial decline over the next 20 years – paralegals are still going to be needed to do a human review of any documents that are produced by artificial intelligence. As such, while this is a risk it is somewhat muted.
As it relates to opportunities, many paralegal firms expand by being able to offer specialized services the general public including notary services. These firms can also readily expand by hiring additional paralegals that will boost the billable hour revenues of the business. Finally, some paralegal firms will seek to establish offices in areas outside of the initial target market.
For threats, outside of automation there’s really no major threat that is going to impact the way the paralegal firm conducts business. These businesses are always going to remain in demand and although automation will have some impact on the industry – it is still going to be a very important function of the legal practice.
Given the very high gross margins and economically secure nature of the revenue generated by a paralegal firm, most financial institutions are willing to extend a small working capital line of credit in order to get business operations off the ground. Of course, a paralegal firm business plan is going to be required. This business plan should feature a three year profit and loss statement, cash flow analysis, balance sheet, breakeven analysis, and business ratios page. As it relates to industry research, there are about 25,000 firms that operate in a legal support capacity which includes paralegals. Each year these businesses generate about $15 billion in revenue and provide jobs for about 150,000 people. Additionally within the business plan, a full demographic analysis of the law firms that will be targeted to provide outsourced paralegal firms should be included as well. This includes examining the number of attorneys for each firm, whether the business will work with solo practitioners, their average annual billable revenues, and their average annual profits. This information can be readily sourced from the US Economic Census or related private sources. If the paralegal firm is going to be providing a substantial amount of service to the general public than a demographic analysis showcasing population size, population density, and average annual Indian income should be included as well. Most people that engage a paralegal firm to provide services are typically willing to spend $100 to $700 depending on the type of services rendered.
A paralegal firm marketing plan also needs to be developed. Foremost, these businesses need to develop ongoing relationships with attorneys and law firms within their target market in order to receive ongoing contracts for services. Once these relationships are established, the ongoing marketing that is required by a paralegal firm is somewhat low. People that enter this field with their own firm typically have extensive contacts and experience as a paralegal within their specific market. As such, by operating in this outsourced capacity a client base among attorneys can be developed very quickly.
As with all businesses these days, a paralegal firm website should also be developed that showcases the biographies of staff paralegals, hours of operation, services rendered, and preliminary pricing information. Maintaining a presence on the web is extremely important if the individual paralegal firm is going to market their services to the general public in regards to completing standard legal filings. In this case, many paralegal firms will use search engine optimization, pay per click marketing, and social media marketing in order to generate a substantial amount of visibility.
As it relates to social media, these firms often will have profiles on FaceBook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Google+. This is especially important for firms that are going to provide services to the general public as individuals can refer their friends and family to the paralegal firm if they have a specific issue that can be handled by a paralegal rather than an attorney. In many cases, a social media page will allow a company to receive reviews regarding their previous services rendered. As such, the very low 20 cost associated with maintaining a presence on social media allows these firms to effectively reach a target audience very quickly.
Paralegal firms will continue to be one of the very important functions that are part of the greater legal community. Although there will be some impact from automation, individuals are still going to want to work with an individual person in order to assist them with specific legal issues. Additionally, a human set of eyes on legal documents is important given that a computer may not always catch every single detail regarding a legal filing. As such, these businesses are expected to remain profitable and cash flow positive at all times and the growth of the industry is expected to mirror that of the general economy.