Paralegals are invaluable members of any law firm. Some of their primary functions include drafting documents for court, gathering evidence needed for trial, reaching out to current and potential clients, and interviewing claimants. But what if your firm is small, or you’re a solo practitioner who just started practicing law? According to PayScale.com, the average paralegal salary in 2016 is $44,500 annually. This does not include additional costs such as health benefits, 401Ks, and more.

If your firm is not ready to staff new employees, there are resources available for you. Case management software can be used to perform many of the essential functions of a paralegal, saving your firm time and making you as efficient as possible with a small staff.

Case management software can generate all of your documents.

If you’ve worked at a large law firm, document generation was likely left in the hands of skilled paralegals. Creating documents can take hours depending on how big they are. For example, the initial application for Social Security claimants is exceptionally long.

eLuminate, eGenerationMarketing’s case management software, has a powerful document generator that allows you to cut down on time that would be otherwise squandered filling out the same field over and over again, such as a claimant’s name, the name of your firm, your address, and more.

Case management software keeps your hearings, meetings, and court dates organized.

Paralegals are wonderful at keeping an attorney’s busy schedule organized. If you don’t have a paralegal working with your firm, you can always use eLuminate’s calendar and tasks to stay on top of your weekly event.

eLuminate’s calendar will be visible every time you log into your account. You’ll see all of your upcoming events, which can include hearings or interviews with claimants. In eLuminate, you can also use Tasks and Events to remind yourself of upcoming hearings. Tasks are like a simple to-do list, but with Events, you can have email reminders sent right to you inbox ahead of time to remind you to prepare for hearings.

Case management software can be used to interview claimants.

If you’re a solo practitioner, you may find yourself scrambling when a potential clients calls in to speak with someone with your firm. Intake staff and paralegals are great at taking initial calls, but if you’re working alone, you’ll likely want an outline or template to use when a caller reaches you or someone walks through your office doors. Case management software can be used as a guideline when screening initial leads. You can customize eLuminate to contain fields for whatever information is important to your firm: How long the applicant worked, what type of injury he’s sustained or disability he is applying for if a Social Security applicant, and more. Once you’re speaking with a potential claimant, you can just add a new lead and ask the claimant questions retaining to your custom fields.

With case management software, emailing contacts and clients is a breeze.

As an attorney at a small firm, you are likely pressed for time when contacting clients. eLuminate gives you the option to email dozens (or even hundreds) of clients and contacts at once.

With Mass Actions, you can quickly send a customizable email to everyone within a View. For example, let’s say you have a view containing all your clients who have outstanding paperwork. You could use Mass Actions to send them all a reminder at once. If you use a custom template, you can even insert the names of your clients or other personal information into the mass email.

Truthfully speaking, there’s no perfect replacement for a great paralegal. But if your firm wants extra assistance but doesn’t require a new employee, eLuminate may be a great fit for your needs. Give us a call today at 617.800.0089 to schedule a free demonstration of eLuminate’s most powerful features.