How to Hire an Offshore Paralegal in Australia (Without Going Through an Agency)

This guide explains how that process works, what to look for and what it actually costs.

Why law firms are hiring offshore paralegals

The administrative load in legal work never lets up. Document preparation, court filing, client correspondence, matter management, deadline tracking, trust accounting support: almost none of it legally requires an admitted solicitor, but all of it requires someone careful, professional and trustworthy.

Philippines-based paralegals have been working in Australian legal practices for over a decade. Many are trained in legal software like LEAP, Smokeball and Clio. They understand what Australian legal work expects, and they work during Australian business hours. For firms paying local salaries for work that can be done remotely, the savings are significant. A senior paralegal in a major Australian city typically costs around $95,000 a year plus super. An equivalent offshore hire typically earns around $1,500 a month (about $18,000 a year).

The question isn’t really whether this works. It does. The question is how you find the right person.

The two ways to hire offshore, and why they’re not the same

When law firms look for offshore paralegal support, they usually come across two models:

The agency model: You pay a monthly fee to an outsourcing company. They hire the paralegal; you direct their work. You often have limited visibility of what the paralegal earns, and the agency’s margin comes out of every invoice, month after month. A markup of around 30–50% on top of salary is common. On an $18,000 salary, that’s an extra $5,400–$9,000 per year, for as long as the arrangement runs. There’s a full breakdown of how these markups work in What Your Offshore Agency Is Actually Charging You.

The direct hire model: A recruitment firm finds and tests candidates for you. You pay a one-time placement fee, then hire the person directly. You pay their salary, they work for your firm and there’s no ongoing margin to anyone. The relationship is yours.

Most of what you’ll find in Google is the first model. The second is less common, but it’s a better deal for the firm and for the paralegal. Our direct hire vs offshore staffing agency comparison sets out the differences side by side.

What the hiring process actually looks like

Hiring an offshore paralegal directly isn’t complicated, but it does need a structured process. Here’s what a rigorous search involves:

Start with a task brief, not a job title. “Paralegal” covers a wide range of work. Good hiring processes start by mapping out exactly what the person will do: which software they need to know, what types of documents they’ll handle, whether they’ll be client-facing and what skills matter most for your practice areas.

Screen for written communication early. Legal work demands precision in written English. Any serious screening process should test written communication before candidates reach the interview stage, not just review the CV.

Use a practical task. Have candidates complete a short document-based task that mirrors the actual job. It tells you far more than an interview. A candidate who produces accurate, well-formatted work on a timed task is a much safer bet than one who interviews well but hasn’t shown you their output.

Check for legal software proficiency. LEAP, Smokeball and Clio experience is common among Philippines-based candidates who have worked with Australian firms. Verify it specifically; don’t assume.

Do a thorough background check. Legal work involves sensitive client information. Any candidate handling your client files should have a completed police check and identity verification before they start.

Tarino’s process follows these steps at scale. We start with 1,000+ candidates per role and narrow them through CV and quality screening (40% remain), video screening (20%), a practical assessment (10%), a structured interview (5%) and finalist review (2%). You then interview a shortlist of 3–4.

What offshore paralegals can handle, and what they can’t

Understanding the scope matters before you start the search. A Philippines-based legal hire can take on a large share of your firm’s administrative and support work (see the full task breakdown for legal and paralegal roles, or our legal assistant role page). At a high level, this includes document preparation and formatting, precedent management, court document preparation, client correspondence, deadline and limitation tracking, time entry and billing support, trust accounting support and client onboarding documentation.

What they can’t do: give legal advice, sign off on documents requiring admission, appear in court or make strategic legal judgements. Those stay with your solicitors, who remain responsible for supervising the work. The point is to take everything else off their plate so your fee earners spend their time on work that actually needs them.

The cost structure, laid out plainly

A well-qualified offshore paralegal in the Philippines typically earns around $1,500 a month (about $18,000 AUD per year), depending on experience and specialisation. For a more detailed breakdown of what Filipino talent costs across roles and experience levels, the Tarino salary guide has typical figures.

Through an agency model, you’ll typically pay around $23,000–$27,000 a year for the same person; the difference is the agency’s margin. Over three years, that’s roughly $16,000–$27,000 in fees that could have stayed in your firm.

With Tarino, you pay one fee per hire: $250 upfront, credited back when you hire, and $4,750 on hire, so $5,000 excl. GST in total. You pay the paralegal directly. No monthly markup, no ongoing cost to anyone other than the person doing the work. Even after the placement fee, on these estimates a firm hiring directly rather than through an agency saves roughly $11,000–$22,000 over three years on a single hire. See pricing for the full breakdown.

Getting started

If you’re a law firm with solicitors spending billable time on admin, or a practice manager whose support staff are stretched across too many matters, an offshore paralegal hire is worth a serious look. Our page for law firms covers the roles firms hire most.

The practical first step is a role scoping conversation: working out exactly what you need done, in what order, and what kind of person would do it well. From there, Tarino typically delivers a shortlist of 3–4 candidates within about 2 weeks, each with a CV, video screen, practical task results and structured interview notes. Each placement includes 6-month replacement cover for the same role, under the conditions in your Scope of Work.

If you want to understand what this would look like for your firm, book a 30-minute call. One fee per hire, no ongoing fees.