Law Firms Should Invest More in Paralegals to Drive Better Performance

Law firms routinely devote significant resources to conferences, certifications, and professional development for lawyers, but make little to no investment in their support staff. It’s a costly mistake. Firms should invest more in paralegals, according to Ryan McKeen of Best Era legal consultancy.

The imbalance persists despite the central role paralegals play in enabling billable work, managing files, maintaining deadlines, and supporting client relationships, McKeen writes in an article for JDSupra. As a result, there is a misalignment between spending priorities and operational impact. Firms fund high-visibility lawyer activities while neglecting the workforce that sustains daily execution.

This dynamic is rooted in traditional law firm economics that treat lawyers as revenue centers and paralegals as overhead. That framework developed when legal value was primarily derived from individual legal expertise rather than from coordinated systems.

Contemporary practice depends on repeatable processes for intake, case management, filings, and communication. Paralegals are responsible for executing these systems, yet many firms provide them with little structured guidance. Often, they are left to develop ad hoc workflows that vary widely in quality and reliability.

There is concrete operational and financial risk in not properly training paralegals. Insufficient preparation can lead to errors resulting in client dissatisfaction, reputational damage, and malpractice exposure. Companies often claim they can’t find qualified talent, when in reality the problem is that they’re not investing in developing their current workforce.

Firms that rely solely on hiring experienced paralegals face higher turnover and slower onboarding. Those that invest early in training infrastructure scale more predictably and maintain consistency during expansion.

For general partners, the implications extend beyond staffing. Treating paralegal development as an infrastructure investment supports risk management, improves client experience, and increases leverage from existing personnel.

Transactional planning, litigation support, and compliance functions benefit from standardized workflows and trained execution. Investment in paralegal capability can reduce outside spend, stabilize operations during growth, and align human capital strategy with long-term firm performance.