How Managing Paralegal Teams Built Our $18M Firm - #210

Managing paralegal teams isn't something most family law firms get right. We didn't either, at least not at first.

Rebecca Bargender joined us four years ago as a paralegal with zero leadership experience. Today she manages 11 paralegals, 5 virtual legal assistants in the Philippines, and 3 e-filing specialists. 

This conversation walks through her training process, how she manages offshore teams the same as local staff, and why trusting your people matters more than micromanaging them. 

If you're hiring your first paralegal or trying to scale past chaos, this is how you build a team that actually supports growth instead of creating bottlenecks.

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📄 CHAPTERS

0:00 - Managing Paralegal Teams: Why Integration Beats Everything Else

0:24 - How Rebecca Went From Paralegal to Leading 19 People

4:31 - The Attorney-Paralegal-VLA Team Structure That Scales

15:10 - Three-Month Onboarding: Daily Huddles and Work Product Review

16:19 - Setting Attorney-Paralegal Expectations From Day One

17:13 - Managing Remote Teams in the Philippines the Same as US Staff

19:08 - Fully Integrating Offshore Talent Into Your Culture

20:29 - Trust Your Team: The One Principle That Changes Everything

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Transcript

0:00

We have many team members in the Philippines over Rocket Clicks, as well. And if you're considering leveraging some offshore talent on your team, the greatest advantage that we've found is that fully integrating these team members into your culture, into your hours, they should be treated the exact same as everyone else, same one on one, same coaching cadence. Well, hello and welcome to the Sterling Family Law Show. My name is Jeff Hughes, and I am your co-host, along with Tyler Dolph my partner and co-host as well. And we have a special guest with us today, Rebecca bartender. She is the leader of our PL team, our paralegal team, virtual legal assistance E-filers. Total of 19 teammates. Rebecca and I just want to welcome you to the show. There are a few roles that play a critical role in our firm executing and serving clients and our paralegals, as you all know, being family lawyers know that our paralegals are essential in our firm because they not only communicate directly and probably more often than lawyers do with our clients. So there's a level of polish and sophistication and empathy that they have to have, but they're also taking care of serving our lawyers. And so two very, very important stakeholders in our law firm, our clients and our lawyers, our paralegals touch both. And they're the only role in our firm that does that. Now, Rebecca, I'm excited to like I we were talking prior to you coming on the show today was turning you upside down and dumping those gold nuggets that are bouncing around in your head on how you lead a team of paralegals to such success that you've done with us. So, Rebecca's been with us for four years. Rebecca, my getting that right are coming on here. Okay? to four years. And she came in a newbie to us. No leadership experience. In the four years she has blossomed and thrived. And I'll brag on you a little bit, Rebecca, you're doing an incredible job leading our team. So enough of the intros. How's your day going? So far, so good. It's Monday and it's not even quite feeling like a Monday, so I think that's a win. So when you joined our team, did you have any idea that you would one day be leading our paralegal team? Our support team? No, I had no idea. I came to Sterling as a paralegal and really my position has just evolved sort of naturally to this position. As legal team administrative manager. I was perfectly content with paralegal forever. But then, like I said, it just sort of evolved naturally into this role. Now. can you give a little color on Rebecca's journey as it relates to how big the firm was when she started, compared to how big it was now? Just so happened. How many people did you start report, you know, having report to you versus how many? Now, just to give, the audience some idea on the scale that you've achieved. Yeah. So, Rebecca, when you joined our firm, had you had any paralegal experience prior to that? Yes, I did, but it wasn't in family law specifically. So I went to, technical college and got a paralegal degree and then kind of moved to different areas of law for probably eight years before coming to Sterling. Okay. And so during that, once you joined us, were you working directly with a lawyer or two? Is that how you started? Yeah. I think to start, if I remember correctly, I was assigned to two attorneys in the Fox region, and then that sort of evolved to taking on attorneys in the Madison region and the Menomonee Falls area. So got some experience in different counties, different court rules and things like that. Okay. So if we go back to 221 when you joined our team, my recollection is that we were doing about 13 million in revenue at that point today we're doing 17.5. And so you've been a part major part of that growth over that period of time. And then our team itself, at what point did you move from being a paralegal without direct reports to being one that is now leading our team? I would say probably a little over a year ago, I stepped into a role of training paralegals. So new hires. And then around the same time, started supervising the e-filing specialist team. So having oversight over those things, but not quite having, like, direct reports yet. And then from there, I would say maybe the timing is a little bit off for maybe like 4 to 6 months later, stepped in to this management role, overseeing all of the team members. Yeah. So from a standpoint of the composition of your team, you have 11 paralegals that report to you and they're based either in Illinois or Wisconsin. Is that right? Okay. And then you have virtual legal assistance. And what is that role? We call that the vhlah role. But what is that? Right. So the VLA role is new, but it's almost just another sort of assistant for the attorneys. And we look at it like, an attorney, paralegal and Bla team. So the three of them are working together, to move cases forward. And yeah. And all of them are remote offshore in the Philippines. Is that right? Okay. And how many villas do we have currently? Right now. We have four in Wisconsin and one in Illinois. And that is growing. Okay. I know it's a role that we we started with experimenting with that role found success and now we're starting to scale it out. Is that right? Okay. In addition to the valet role you also have the E filers. Is that right. And what do they do and how many are there? So, the e filers will take any and every document that is electronically filed with the court. So every document and every case that we see, they are pulling from the e-filing system and sending the client for either the client's information or for the client to take action, notifying them of hearings or upcoming court events, just things that they should be aware of. So they're taking care of all of the documents that are filed in cases. The VLA role also takes on that responsibility and their job responsibilities. So, we have how many voice did I say before? I think we have five. Right. So. e filers, we would have three more. So a total of 19 teammates that you report into. You okay. That's good. Now let's go back a little bit to when you took on the role. What has been the one of the lessons that have that has stuck out to you have been has been the most impactful that you've learned in leading a team of this size? Doing what they're doing? Yeah. I mean, just to Rebecca to double down on that. Let me think a little bit. The fact that, this is your first management role and you have so many direct reports is a testimony and a testament to your ability to lead. So congratulations on that. But we would love to hear, you know, how you thought about leading this many individuals and being able to carry on the the purpose of this role? I think for me it is just knowing each of them and what their strengths are and what their weaknesses are. So however, I need to sort of find that out, whether it is the one to ones or just kind of observing what interests them, what types of tasks interests them. That's something that I really lean into and I don't know, I think that is what helps me with managing. Yeah, it's kind of a tough question because it's kind of just do what you got to do and keep going, you know? So let's walk through the typical onboarding process. And how do you go about selecting onboarding training. And then you know really releasing them to start working directly with clients and attorneys. So so starting first with our selection process I know that our, our, our team will do a lot of the initial recruiting and then they'll bring them the candidate to you after we've screened them for culture in particular. What what do you look for? What what are some of the qualities that stick out to you that as you're going through that process, you're hunting for? I think that what I look for is someone who is interested in the context of what we're doing. I think it's really easy to train people to just do the tasks, but to have an interest and see the why behind what we're doing, what we're doing day to day is really important. And I think you can tell that in an initial interview. Yeah, just an underlying interest in, and curiosity in what we're doing as opposed to just doing the work. Yeah. Curiosity around family law in particular. Not even family law. Just. Well, yeah. Family law. But again, the why behind. So the context of, you know, we have this document to draft, but what does it do? What does it do for the client? What does it do for, to move the case forward? Things like that. Family law is unlike other practice areas. Your callers are not shopping for a service. They're looking for someone who makes them feel safe enough to share. The worst thing happening in their life. The firm that hears them first wins every time. And that's what changed everything at Sterling. We eventually built that system into four actionable steps on this free training. Mary Sankey, who leads our sales team, is going to break down the entire four step sales system. She is sterling sales manager. She's the one who runs it every single day. So go ahead and register below for the sales secrets of an $18 million family law firm. I'll see you there. So what I'm if I were to unpack that a bit, you're looking for folks who have curiosity on why they're doing what they're doing, so they can learn that you don't have to explain later on down the road, the next steps. They just start to pick that up as they as they execute. Okay. Once a teammate comes on board, a paralegal comes on board. What is your process like to raise them up, train them, and still the sterling way into what they're doing. And what are some of the methodologies use you that you use there? I think so. Across the different positions, paralegals, VLAs it sort of starts the same where we are kind of going through a typical day, starting with time management. That's a really important thing I think, to have a foundation from the start. So we're looking at all of the tasks that need to be done in a day, how you prioritize those tasks. And I think it starts there. Then we'll get into how to actually deliver on those tasks. So it's a lot of 1 to 1. Training and onboarding, just going through examples. And you know, the I do you do method, so I think that there's a good mix of new hire observing and then also doing the work as well So when you say observing are they working side by side with another paralegal. Okay. Yes, that's a good question. So I would say the first week we're kind of going through everything that they might see, which is a lot to take in your first week on a new job. And then sort of from there we would have daily huddles, with me. And then from there, yeah, there would be some sort of like mentorship with another paralegal within the region that they're. So if you had your choice between choosing someone with a ton of experience that maybe has some different ways of doing things or someone is just completely fresh to family law, what your what is your choice? My preference is fresh to family law. Okay. And why is that? I think that Sterling has some very specific and unique standards. Just like the use of technology and, spanning different regions and different counties. And that foundation is really important. And I think that it's nice to have somebody, coming in that doesn't have their own way of doing things. So, really just yeah, having that clean foundation. I think is nice. And it's Know, prior bad habits, what you're saying. So when a teammate starts and she begins day one, not a whole lot of experience till she's at this point where she's able to take on clients directly, working directly with them. How long does that process take? I would say the full kind of training where we're having huddles every day, work product is being reviewed is probably three months. When a paralegal or legal assistant is starting to have that client contact is probably after a month or so. Again, just to get that foundation, yeah. And I back on the huddle thing. Are you personally huddling with all of your new teammates every day and in the early weeks? Okay. Wow. So you're giving them instant feedback on how things went for the day, that day in the day before? as I can do the daily huddles, that is really important to me, just going back to, like, picking up on what everyone's strengths or weaknesses are, and sort of leaning into those to sort of direct the training from there, I think I'm. And are you also consulting with the attorneys they work with? They can get their feedback on how the new teammates done. Yeah. So we'll have, an attorney paralegal kick off to kind of set the expectations between a newer attorney paralegal relationship. So, we want to really designate what's an attorney role or responsibility and what a paralegal role and responsibility is, and then also meet in the middle to discuss kind of what is important to the attorney when it comes to working their cases. Because attorneys preferences change and our paralegals are typically working with at least two. So that's two attorneys with two different preferences. So we want to make sure that, the expectations are start kind of are established from the start. You were talking earlier about your VLA teammates and the E filers. And the all eight of them are based in the Philippines. Am I getting that right that, that that requires a whole different set of management skills and practices. Can you walk us through what you do to manage teammates that are 12 hours away in terms of time, even on the on the clock, they're 12 hours different than I was most of the year. How do you do that? I guess kind of the same way I would manage us or local team members, a lot of communication, a lot of one to ones. Yeah, I guess I don't really do too much differently. Because they work us hours Correct. Yeah. So it's. I don't 12 a.m. for them right now. So with their practically speaking, is there any difference between how you manage and lead a teammate here in the US versus someone in the Philippines, other than the fact that they are sitting in a different place, you're still interfacing with them via Google Meet right? Okay. So is there any practical difference at all? Beyond that role being just a new position for them in general, it's all new and it's all different. The language is different. The kind of expectations can be different, than what they had been used to in different positions. So I try to keep that in mind and give as much contacts behind again. And the Y, you know, certain tasks or responsibilities as much as possible. We have many team members in the Philippines over Rocket Clicks, as well. And if you're considering leveraging some offshore talent on your team, the greatest advantage that we've found is that fully integrating these team members into your culture, into your hours, they should be treated the exact same as everyone else, same one on one, same coaching cadence. That has led to some incredible results. I think on both sides, both the firm and the agency. I think when we interview them, when we talk to them, they always talk about that feeling of camaraderie and being not an afterthought, but part of our culture. And so I would just encourage anyone thinking about this to really embrace, there's no difference here other than where they live. Yeah. I 100% agree. And I think that that's something that's really fulfilling with the or rewarding with the VLA program is that these team members are getting direct access to attorneys and paralegals as opposed to just kind of, you know, working behind the scenes. You know, they're slacking, you know, all day with their attorney and paralegal teammates. So I think that's really great. This has been really, really informative. Rebecca, let me just close with this question. So you, a lot of our audience, they're leading their leading, growing family law firms, and they're starting to scale where they're adding paralegals and leaders of paralegals. And if you could talk to someone that's just picking up her first role, leading a team, what are some of the what's some of the wisdom that you would pass on to her? Trust your team. If you trust yourself and the people that you are bringing into the team, you know, there's got to be a reason why you selected these people. Trust that they're part of the team for a reason. And then trust their work. I really that's like, all I can say is, you know, everyone's going to make mistakes, but trust that they, like, want to be doing what they're doing. And so if they want to, you know, do the best that they can for the rest of the team. Yeah. That's great. And what I've heard about you in particular is that you have a you've done a great job in not micromanage your team, but giving them enough support to do their work. But you're not standing over their head pointing out all the areas you letting them make mistakes, helping them correct them and moving forward. So you've done excellent with that. So I want to just point that out to. Thank staff. Yeah. I think that's really important is to give them a little bit of space to grow. Yeah. Well thank you for coming on the show and sharing with us on how you're leading a team of paralegals and virtual teammates, as well.