Filipino Virtual Paralegal: The Complete Guide for Law Firms (2025)

Why Law Firms Hire Filipino Virtual Paralegals

Law firms — especially solo practitioners, small firms, and volume practices (PI, family law, immigration) — have been one of the fastest-growing adopters of Filipino remote talent over the last three years. The economics are compelling: paralegal support at $8–$15/hr from the Philippines vs $25–$40/hr from a US-based paralegal, with comparable quality on non-bar-admitted tasks.

This guide covers what Filipino virtual paralegals actually do, what they can't do (unauthorized practice of law), specific tools and workflows, realistic rates, and how to integrate a Filipino VP into a US or Canadian law practice without compliance risk.

What Filipino Virtual Paralegals Can Do

Within the scope of non-bar-admitted paralegal work — i.e., work performed under attorney supervision that does not constitute the practice of law — Filipino VPs handle a wide range of high-volume tasks:

• Intake and client screening: Initial client contact, intake form completion, scheduling consults, and lead qualification.
• Document preparation: Drafting standard motions, pleadings, discovery requests, subpoenas, settlement demands, and correspondence — all under attorney review.
• Case file management: Organizing case files in Clio, MyCase, Filevine, or PracticePanther. Maintaining calendar deadlines and statute-of-limitations tracking.
• Legal research: Basic research using LexisNexis, Westlaw, or Fastcase. Pulling statutes, case law, and secondary sources per attorney direction.
• Discovery and document review: Bates stamping, privilege review, redaction, production logs, and discovery response preparation.
• Medical record retrieval (PI practice): Ordering, tracking, and organizing medical records. Following up with providers. Preparing demand packages.
• Filing and service: E-filing documents through PACER, state court systems, and dedicated filing services. Calendaring hearing dates.
• Billing and trust accounting support: Time entry cleanup, invoice generation, trust ledger reconciliation, collections follow-up.

What Filipino VPs Cannot Do

This is critical: Filipino virtual paralegals are not licensed US attorneys. They absolutely cannot:

• Provide legal advice directly to clients (even when asked).
• Sign pleadings or court filings (attorney must sign).
• Represent clients in court or negotiations.
• Hold themselves out as attorneys.
• Work on cases unsupervised by a licensed attorney.

Every state's rules on the unauthorized practice of law apply. Structure your workflow so the attorney is in the decision loop for any client-facing legal judgment. This is standard paralegal practice — it just happens remotely.

Typical Rates

For reference, US-based paralegals at equivalent experience levels charge $25–$50/hour. A full-time Filipino VP at $10/hr costs approximately $20,800/year vs $62,400 for a US paralegal at $30/hr — a $41,600 annual cost advantage per position.

Tools and Platforms Filipino VPs Should Know

• Practice management: Clio (most common), MyCase, Filevine, PracticePanther, Smokeball
• Document assembly: HotDocs, Lawyaw, MS Word with macros
• Legal research: Westlaw, LexisNexis, Fastcase, Bloomberg Law
• Filing systems: PACER, state court e-filing portals, NetDocuments
• PI-specific: CaseGlide, Litify, Filevine-for-PI
• Billing: Clio Manage, QuickBooks Law, TABS3, Amicus

How to Structure a Remote Paralegal Workflow

1. Screen for Practice Area Experience

A personal injury paralegal and an estate planning paralegal have different skill sets. Screen specifically for your practice area — generalist VPs underperform specialists on every practice-area-specific task.

2. Set Up a Secure Document Workflow

Use a proper practice management system (Clio, MyCase) with role-based access control. Never email sensitive documents. Use NetDocuments or a secure DMS. Confirm the VP has secure home office storage practices.

3. Require Confidentiality and Privilege Training

Before granting case file access, the VP should complete your state's paralegal confidentiality training, sign an NDA, and understand privilege concepts. Most Filipino VPs with law firm experience already have this, but confirm.

4. Attorney-Review Every Filing

The attorney signs every motion, pleading, and court filing. The VP drafts; the attorney reviews and signs. This is the same structure used with domestic paralegals and creates no additional UPL risk from offshoring.

5. Use Time-Zone to Your Advantage

Philippine Standard Time is UTC+8. A VP working Philippine daytime hours (9am–5pm PHT) overlaps with US Eastern evening/overnight. This means: you leave them work at end of your day; it's completed when you arrive the next morning. Effective 24-hour firm operations.

Practice Areas Most Suited to Filipino VPs

• Personal injury (PI): Heavy volume, structured workflows, medical records retrieval, demand package preparation. The strongest fit.
• Immigration: High-volume document preparation (I-130, I-485, etc.), USCIS follow-up, client communication.
• Family law: Document drafting, discovery, court deadline management.
• Estate planning: Standard will and trust drafting from templates, document gathering, execution follow-up.
• Real estate: Closing document preparation, title review support, transaction coordination.
• Collections: Demand letters, filing follow-up, debtor skip-tracing.

Less suited: pure litigation trial work where presence at depositions or hearings matters, or highly specialized white-shoe transactional work where the partners prefer domestic associates.

Compliance and Insurance Considerations

• Malpractice insurance: Most US malpractice carriers cover work done by foreign-based paralegals as long as the attorney supervises. Confirm with your carrier.
• State bar rules: Most states permit paralegal work from any location with attorney supervision. A handful have specific rules — check your state bar's ethics opinions.
• Data residency: If your practice handles HIPAA-covered data, confirm your practice management system supports the access controls and audit logging required.
• Confidentiality: Require a robust NDA and secure home-office practices. Most Filipino VPs with law firm experience follow industry-standard security.

Where to Hire a Filipino Virtual Paralegal

Post your role on WorkFil — free for employers, with candidates filterable by practice management platform, practice area, and years of experience. Browse the talent directory for active paralegal and legal-support candidates.

For broader hiring context: Complete VA hiring guide • Contractor tax and legal guide • Managing remote Filipino teams.

The Bottom Line

A well-structured Filipino virtual paralegal hire delivers 60–70% cost savings vs comparable US paralegal work, with equivalent quality on non-bar-admitted tasks. Compliance is manageable with proper attorney supervision. The workflow pattern is established — thousands of US and Canadian firms already run this model successfully.

Start with one hire. Post your role on WorkFil free and screen for the practice area and tool fit that match your firm.