Legal process outsourcing to the Philippines, with a legal assistant you hire

Documents, deadlines and follow-ups are part of every matter, but they take experienced solicitors away from work that needs their judgement. When fee earners do their own formatting, bundling and data entry, the firm pays solicitor rates for administrative work, and time recording slips. Traditional legal process outsourcing sends that work to a provider’s team. Direct hire puts one person on your staff, inside your systems, working to your precedents.

A matter, from file opening to final bill

File opening. A legal assistant opens and maintains matters in LEAP, Actionstep or Smokeball, runs searches through InfoTrack where you allow it, records key dates and limitation periods for solicitor confirmation, and organises incoming correspondence.

Documents. They prepare first drafts from your approved precedents, apply formatting, check cross-references and proofread before solicitor review.

Review support. They collate source material, index documents, build chronologies and prepare bundles from matter-specific instructions, for your lawyers to verify.

Billing. They keep time-entry records current, prepare invoice information and follow up administrative queries through your approved process.

The partner’s day. An executive assistant manages diaries, court and client appointments, travel and the inbox, and prepares meeting packs.

Systems. An IT support hire looks after user accounts, Microsoft 365, devices and document management issues, and records each fix, with security-sensitive changes routed to staff you authorise.

What stays with your lawyers

The legal work stays onshore. Advice, strategy, final drafting decisions, court appearances, trust account authorisations and anything that needs a practising certificate remain with your solicitors. The legal assistant prepares, organises and follows up. They speak to clients only within limits you set, and never about the merits of a matter. Tarino doesn’t give legal advice.

How we screen offshore staff for law firms

Legal support is judged on accuracy, so the practical assessment comes before any interview. For a legal assistant it could include a proofreading exercise on a sample document and a matter-file organisation task. A pool of 1,000+ candidates, sourced through job advertising, headhunting and referrals from vetted local networks in the Philippines, is cut to about 100 by that stage. Around 50 then sit a structured interview and 20 reach finalist review. You meet the best 3–4, usually within about 2 weeks. Read how the five screening stages work. Over 95% of Tarino placements remain in the role at 6 months.

Client files, privilege and your logins

Your hire works in your practice management system and document store under a named account you create. Restrict access to the matters they work on, require multi-factor authentication and remove access when they leave. Client files and privileged material stay in your systems, not a provider’s. Your confidentiality, privacy and professional conduct obligations stay with your firm. Our offshore staff security checklist covers named accounts, MFA and offboarding.

Legal outsourcing without a monthly margin

Managed providers bill every month the person works for you. Staff Domain’s published rate is A$1,099 per person per month, about A$13,188 a year, plus A$1,200 per hire (checked October 2026). A legal assistant and an executive assistant on that model cost about A$26,376 a year in fees before salaries. With Tarino you pay one recruitment fee per hire, nothing monthly, and your hire keeps their full salary because you pay them directly. Compare both in the offshore staff cost calculator, and read how to hire Filipino staff from Australia for the hiring options.

Start in the practice area with the best precedents. A clean precedent library makes the first month far easier for the hire and for the solicitor reviewing their work.