Remote staff, under your supervision and your rules
Using remote staff doesn’t change who is responsible for the work: your attorneys are. This page sets out the rules that apply, how our setup supports them, and a checklist for your firm.
Non-lawyer roles only
Every placement is a non-lawyer role: intake, case management, paralegal, assistant or receptionist. Staff work under the direction and supervision of your attorneys, never give legal advice, never appear for clients and are never presented as lawyers.
Your systems, your logins
Staff work inside your case management system, email and phone system, with accounts you create and control. You decide what each person can see, and you can switch off access at any moment.
Your confidentiality agreement
Before a start date, your staff member can sign your firm’s own confidentiality agreement, so the obligation runs directly to your firm.
Conflicts
A full-time seat works for your firm alone. For part-time seats, ask us whether the person supports another firm so you can run your conflict check.
The rules that apply
What the professional conduct rules expect
This is general information, not legal advice. Your state’s rules and opinions control; ask your ethics counsel.
Supervision: Rule 5.3
Under ABA Model Rule 5.3, partners and managers must make reasonable efforts to ensure the firm has measures giving reasonable assurance that non-lawyer assistants act consistently with the lawyer’s professional obligations, and a lawyer who directly supervises a non-lawyer must make reasonable efforts to the same end. The rule covers assistants outside the firm as well as employees. California’s Rule 5.3 follows the same structure.
Confidentiality: Rule 1.6
ABA Model Rule 1.6(c) requires reasonable efforts to prevent the inadvertent or unauthorized disclosure of client information. In California, Rule 1.6 and Business and Professions Code section 6068(e)(1) impose a duty to maintain client confidences inviolate.
Outsourcing: ABA Formal Opinion 08-451
The ABA’s 2008 opinion on outsourcing legal and nonlegal support says outsourcing is allowed, with conditions: the lawyer stays competent and supervises; vets the provider (for example, references, background checks and the security of its systems); protects confidentiality, which may require the client’s informed consent; checks for conflicts; and bills fairly for outsourced work.
Unauthorized practice: Rule 5.5
A lawyer must not help anyone practice law without a license. That is why every role we place is a non-lawyer role, and why staff route legal questions to your attorneys instead of answering them.
Checklist
Setting up a remote staff member the careful way
Most of this takes an afternoon before the start date.
- Create firm-owned accounts for every system the role uses. No personal email or personal cloud storage for client work.
- Give access only to what the role needs, and turn on multi-factor authentication.
- Have the staff member sign your firm’s confidentiality agreement before access is granted.
- Write down what the role must not do: give legal advice, discuss case value, sign or file without review.
- Name the attorney or manager who supervises the role and reviews its work.
- Decide with your ethics counsel whether your engagement letter should mention remote support staff.
- Run a conflict check if a part-time staff member supports another firm.
- Review access when duties change, and switch it off on the last day.
Questions about confidentiality
Do we need our clients’ consent to use remote staff?
It depends on what the staff member sees and does, and on your state’s rules. ABA Formal Opinion 08-451 says client information generally should not be shared with an outside provider without the client’s informed consent, and that disclosure may be needed when outside staff do significant work without close supervision. Many firms address it in the engagement letter. Ask your ethics counsel what your jurisdiction requires.
Can remote staff work for other firms?
A full-time seat works for your firm alone. If you use a part-time seat, ask us whether that person supports another firm so you can run a conflict check.
Where does our client data live?
In your systems. Staff work inside your case management system, email and phone system, with logins you create, control and can switch off.
Are your staff HIPAA certified?
We don’t make HIPAA compliance claims. Medical records still deserve strict handling: give access only to what the role needs, and keep records in your systems.
Tell us who you need. We’ll show you who’s available.
A short call covers the role, the hours, your software and your budget. You interview everyone before anyone starts, and you pay nothing until they do.